All signs pointing in right direction for Town

NOW we have a decent sample size with 45 minutes shy of a quarter of the season gone, we can start to draw one or two tentative conclusions about this year’s Championship.

What we mean by that is we can look at Huddersfield Town’s performance, and others in truth, to then throw forward and set some relatively cautious expectations. There is a long way to go, and football loves a twist at the end, but we can at least start to see some patterns.

The Terriers themselves can tell you that life can change quickly. Last season they were comfortable in 12th on New Year’s Day. By late February they were in trouble.

What we did see is a few problems/patterns coming home to roost from earlier in the season - not scoring enough goals, too few draws meaning most games felt like all or nothing and they’d already conceded more than once in nine of their 21 games when Auld Lang Syne had just finished.

So what are the patterns this season, and should we be readying an open-top bus for May?

Before we even get to the good stuff after Town have made this very tidy start to this season, let’s look at the bottom of the table. The Terriers don’t need to at the moment, but we will just in case.

Last season 11 games in Town were on 14 points – ironically just after a draw with Luton – three shy of their current total. At the bottom Coventry sat in 21st with eight points, below them Wycombe (7), Sheffield Wednesday (6) and Derby County (6).

This season the benchmark is a little higher on both counts, nine points seeing Hull in 21st and Barnsley and Peterborough below them on eight. Derby sit at the bottom on 2 after their points deduction and, well, we have no idea how they will do or where they will end up this season.

The bottom three have collectively all scored more than last season at the same point with 26. Last season 11 games in they’d only scored 17 - a significant difference.

Partly, that’s the adrenaline a crowd gives you but along with the points total, it does suggest the threshold for relegation this time will be slightly higher than last season’s 43 points.

Peterborough will likely fade after what has been, all things considered, not that bad a start.

Barnsley are an unknown, clearly suffering after key departures but still with enough to not be sitting in 22nd as they are. Hull could drop in but there is a slightly higher standard this season, so anyone in that bottom six, even arguably eight, needs to be careful.

But no matter, because Town shouldn’t be worried about that should they? Before we look forward it’s worth doing the