Rival Lines: "I hardly look online now after a defeat," says HTFC-World

Rival Lines
Match Preview
Huddersfield Town v AFCB
Blogger Interview: HTFC-World
Twitter: @htfcworld

It has been some time since the Cherries have gone up to Huddersfield for a match and I have been retracing a few past Huddersfield bloggers to see who I could ask to come on Rival Lines. I then hit upon Daniel Gee again who runs HTFC-World and his fabulous artwork of Huddersfield games which is just a unique website in the football world. Here is what he had to say about the Terriers season.

CC: Do you share David Wagner's continued optimism about Huddersfield being better off as a chaser than being just outside the bottom three?

HTFCW: Not really, I’d sooner be outside of the bottom 3 though it hasn’t really affected my optimism one way or the other as I’ve always felt like we’re in a relegation scrap and still do.

CC: David Wagner seems to say you have to accept the situation Huddersfield are in after every press conference. Is battling enough for the fans or do you want to hear something else from your manager now?

HTFCW: I accept the situation. Many fans don’t – they want to see us having more of a go at other teams and while I fully understand this point of view, it’s much easier said than done. We’ve tried setting up with a seemingly more attacking mindset (2 strikers against Liverpool) but if we can’t get out of our own half then it still looks defensive. Plenty of fans look on teams around us such as yourselves and Watford beating Chelsea and ask ‘why can’t we do that, why aren’t we attacking top 6 teams?’ To be honest, the tactical master-classes from Town fans on social media and online forums are one of the worst things to endure this season, every bit as tedious as some of the defensive performances we’ve put on and I’ve found myself withdrawing more and more from them as the season’s progressed to the point where I hardly look online now after a defeat.

CC: With the performances that the team is putting in at the moment and recognising that Huddersfield not having won in the league since before Christmas, are you being unlucky or is it much worse than that?

HTFCW: I don’t think luck has played a significant part in where we are. We’ve had good luck and bad luck this season. There aren’t many games which I can look back on and think we didn’t get what we deserved, whether it be wins, draws or defeats. Our home form kept our heads above water in the first half of the season and we need to rediscover that form starting with Bournemouth on Sunday if we’re to have any chance of survival. Lose that and many fans may well throw the towel in. Some already seemingly have done after January’s results and will simply jump up and down on it screaming about having a go and going down without a fight. If we lose while playing well then they may be a bit more forgiving but that’s been a rare occurrence this season, once we go a goal behind we never really look like getting back into games.

CC: Huddersfield fans are among the best at home for the atmosphere they create but has there been any grounds in the Premier League where you have been impressed by the home support?
HTFCW: I’ve missed two games this season – Bournemouth and Leicester away, so can’t really comment on those but I’ve found the atmospheres at Premier League games to be woeful. Swansea was about as close to a ‘normal’ atmosphere as I’ve seen despite them having struggled before and after their win against us. Liverpool, West Ham, Manchester United, Arsenal and Everton didn’t feel like the home fans really cared much. They all beat us by two or more goals but the home fans were the ones leaving with 10 minutes left and most of them looked miserable. I don’t really understand it, I’d be staying at home and watching on TV if I was so disconnected from the game going on in front of me. Burnley at Turf Moor is probably the best atmosphere I’ve experienced this season but it still wouldn’t even get in the top 10 of those from last season.

CC: Has Scott Malone (ex-Bournemouth of course) been a good buy?

HTFCW: No. [Ed- a lot of AFCB fans will agree with you there!] Fans have recently targeted him for ridicule, particularly on Twitter. Twice for Fulham last season he had a field day down our right hand side which not many teams/players did, to be fair. I think we were expecting far more attacking threat from him but that was always going to be difficult with our set up. Our own right back, Tommy Smith, who was contributing goals and assists throughout last season has struggled this term, too, so it may be harsh to judge Malone on that criteria. However, he really has struggled to cope so far. The problem is that we paid several million for him which we never would’ve done previously for a ‘squad’ player and having the price tag on his head hasn’t helped his cause. We’ve rarely paid seven figure fees before this campaign and when we have, they’ve been a cut above the rest of the team – Marcus Stewart and Christopher Schindler. I guess if we do stick around at this level, it’s something we’d have to get our heads around.

CC: Has the FA Cup been a bit of a good breather from the premier League or has it been a hindrance with a replay against Birmingham?

HTFCW: Well, I can answer this one with hindsight thanks to it being just after our extra time 4-1 victory; it’s probably been a help. We played fringe players in the 3rd round against Bolton and the 1st game against Birmingham and looked almost as toothless as we had done in the league. However the team for the replay was almost a full strength line-up and it will probably have done them some good to get some goals (eventually) despite having to play 120 minutes. I can’t say I’m that excited for the 5th round against Manchester United despite having wanted that tie to be drawn every year since I started following Town. I would’ve sooner we played another lower-league team but I’d rather be in the competition than out of it and ‘concentrating on the league’.

CC: You have some massive matches in March and April - are you ready for the intensity and nerves these matches will bring?

HTFCW: It’s odd because I’m really not that nervous. I don’t fear relegation. I’m concerned that I’m not enjoying some of the performances as much as I’d hoped I would and the early season excitement at everything ‘Premier’ has worn off somewhat now. Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t swap this season for anything but I said it at the time that last May in Wembley would be as good as it ever got for me watching Town. Beating Palace to go top on the opening day and beating Man Utd at home was special. I hope we get plenty more of those sorts of memories but nothing this season has matched the intensity and nerves of last. I’ve come away from thrashings at Arsenal and Liverpool and just thought ‘meh’. I don’t want to feel like that, I want to be emotionally involved in the games. I was p***ed off with the manner in which we lost to Stoke in a relegation 6 pointer so maybe I’ll rediscover my emotional investment in the upcoming games.

CC: What have you made of Alex Pritchard since his arrival?

HTFCW: He hasn’t featured much on account of him being cup-tied for the Birmingham games and left out against Liverpool and Manchester United as we went on the back foot with 3 central midfielders all looking to tackle and defend rather than create and score goals. Hopefully, he’ll get a chance against yourselves as having seen him previously with other clubs, he’s always impressed me. I do worry that we don’t have the sort of movement that his game benefits from so he may have to score a few goals himself.

CC: Do you expect Terence Kongolo to get a good run of games at centre-back?

HTFCW: Christopher Schindler, who’s been by far our best player this season, went off injured against Manchester United so Kongolo may well fill in for him. He’s looked great so far and has featured on the left side of a back 3 (FIVE). He’s offered some versatility to our set-up so Eddie Howe may be left guessing as to whether Town will go on the defensive with a flat back 5 or a flat back 4. If Schindler’s fit then Kongolo could see himself at left-back as, unlike Malone, he looks like he can defend. And mark. And flatten kids from Manchester United like a pancake.

CC: Are there any major injuries for your team?

HTFCW: Schindler would be the big doubt but other than that we should be ok. He was a big miss for the game at Dean Court though not sure he would’ve made much of a difference to the result.

CC: Is there a player in Bournemouth's team that you could see fitting in well at Huddersfield Town?

HTFCW: Nathan Ake seems to get good write-ups. I’m not really clued up on that many opposition players these days to be honest, and I haven’t watched Match of the Day since the 16th December. Marc Pugh and Harry Arter always looked good against us in the lower leagues, I like that you still have players from that era. But I’d much prefer to take one of your strikers either Defoe or Wilson to give us something different. I like both our strikers but they don’t really complement one another as a partnership or offer much of an alternative from the bench when the other isn’t getting much from the opposition. I would still rather we’d been able to keep hold of Nahki Wells to offer that outlet, given we didn’t replace him like for like when he left for Burnley.

CC: How do you expect Huddersfield to line up against AFC Bournemouth?

HTFCW: I’m hoping it’s four at the back with two defensive midfielders (Hogg/Mooy) then Ince/Van La Parra on the wings, Pritchard in the 10 role and either of our strikers up front would do for me... so long as we give them some service.

CC: A big thank you to Danny Gee who clearly has a great affection for his team and has given us a good glimpse into how Huddersfield fans are feeling at the moment. I wonder if their rollercoaster start led David Wagner into a false sense of security but they have to pick up points now. Whether an inform Bournemouth side is the best kind of opposition for them to be up against we will see and the midday kick off might make it feel a bit of a strange game for both teams. All I can say is I don't fancy a nil-nil for this one.

Do cast your eyes over the HTFC-World website as it will make your day if you have never been on it before. Hopefully, Danny will do a match report after the Bournemouth game as well so don't forget to check back on the site  in a week or so after the game to see what he might have written about AFCB players!

T-shirt competition
To win a Cherry Chimes T-Shirt this week you have to tweet @CherryChimes the correct number of yellow cards issued by Michael Oliver in the game between Huddersfield and AFCB. If we have more than one correct entry we will draw a winner out of the hat. If you want to know how many cards Michael Oliver has already awarded this season check out AFCB's official website. Good luck!

I've also been a bit busy this week!
Cherry Chimes match preview for Huddersfield v AFCB on Ask Fans

Catch my preview piece with the Huddersfield Daily Examiner

Cherry Chimes also gives an opinion on Lewis Grabban for the Express and Star

HTFC-World offers Cherry Chimes some Rival Lines

Rival Lines
Blogger Interview: HTFC-World
Twitter @htfcworld
Match Preview
Huddersfield Town V AFCB

Rival Lines is back for the new season! We are going to concentrate on the away games this year and some cup games for Rival Lines and we are starting off with AFCB's visit to Huddersfield and a little chat with Daniel Gee who runs the HTFC-World website which is among the most colourful blogs on the Internet. Comic lovers are always in for a real treat when they visit HTFC-World and I expect Dan will have his pen ready at the weekend to give AFCB characters a good write up after they come up against the Terriers in Yorkshire.

CC: It looks like you have a lot of fun on your site and it's certainly unique. How did you get started?

HTFCW: I read a similar style report on a game between Huddersfield and Fulham which was drawn with stick figures by a Fulham fan going under the nickname ‘Ormondroyd’. He used to do Fulham reports of his own as well as a feature in the Guardian covering England games and the Premiership. I decided to cover one game for a laugh and it got such good feedback I just kept it going... 15 years later it still is :)

CC: Have you had much feed back from Huddersfield Town FC or any of the players on your site?

HTFCW: I’ve had plenty of support from the club in that they don’t shut the site down (which they’d technically be entitled to do as I need their permission to use photos of the games). I’ve also done one or two official features such as videos for their ‘end of season awards’ events. They did ask me to do some cartoons for the programme but they were deemed a bit too offensive toward the players (even though I’d toned down the material I’d use on the site itself) so they never saw publication though they are tucked away in the site’s archives.

CC: Huddersfield have released a lot of players after last season including former captain Peter Clarke so do you feel excited or worried about a new look Huddersfield Town?

HTFCW: I’m a little concerned that Mark Robins’ signings this time last year turned out to be fairly poor – both Jon Stead and Martin Paterson were on their way out of the club on loan before the end of the season while Jonathan Hogg struggled to put in many good performances. If he doesn’t strengthen his squad sufficiently before the window closes at the end of August, it’s likely Robins himself will be on his way, rather than his signings.

CC: Mark Robins has some help now with coach Steve Eyre and Steve Thompson so do you expect a bit of a fresh approach in how the team plays?

HTFCW: The rumours were that the old coaching staff weren’t doing enough and that Robins was taking on most of the workload. Hopefully, Steve Thompson will bring in some fresh ideas as the football toward the end of last season was terrible. Steve Eyre had great success with our youth team last season so he deserves a chance at first team level – I think he could well have been poached by another club to work with their first team if we hadn’t given him the opportunity.

CC: Which players have you signed that you feel will make a big impact?

HTFCW: Radoslaw Majewski has just signed on a season long loan from Nottingham Forest. He’s a player who has taken us apart while at Forest – he scored a first-half hat-trick against us a couple of seasons ago. He could well offer the link between midfield and attack which we lacked last time around. The potential for him to link up and get the best from James Vaughan and Nahki Wells is exciting.

CC: How has pre-season been going in terms of results and performances?

HTFCW: Results and performances have been ok - we’ve won all but one at the time of writing. The biggest worry is that injury worries have resurfaced, particularly with James Vaughan who has missed a couple of games with ‘slight niggles’... the same excuse used for him missing several weeks of the 2013/14 season.

CC: You had 8 wins at home last season including a big one against the Cherries, but was the team playing too open at home last season or unlucky at losing 9 games at home?

HTFCW: We were poor and we lost James Vaughan. At the turn of the year, things looked great. We were in the top half of the table and playing some decent football, we even strengthened the team with the signing of Nahki Wells. However, that’s when complacency and injuries struck. The message coming out of the club from the chairman through to the management, was that we’d done well to achieve safety. This was in January and everybody appeared to take their foot off the gas. We loaned players out without bringing new players in, thinking we could rely on youth players, and the downturn in both results and performances left us securing safety with only a couple of weeks remaining.

CC: Vaughan and Ward did well last season, but do you expect Wells to start more games?

HTFCW: Ward was used as a striker mainly because of the reasons listed above – Vaughan was injured while we loaned out Stead and Paterson as they’d failed to deliver and it appeared we were trying to get them new clubs before the start of this season. Wells has real potential, he’s yet to partner a fully fit Vaughan but when he does, and they’re both on form, they could trouble any defence in the Championship. The problem is that Vaughan is rarely fully fit for more than a few weeks at a time. I think Wells is likely to start more games than any other striker at the club.

CC: Where do you think Huddersfield will finish in the league and which three teams do you expect to struggle this season?

HTFCW: I think we’ll be lower mid-table if we can stay injury free. However, if Vaughan does struggle to make the team, then I can only see us fighting for survival again. My predictions are terrible as I really don’t pay too much attention to the goings on at other clubs over the summer. It’s been impossible to miss Blackpool’s plight so I guess they’ll be down there, I’d expect Birmingham and Rotherham to struggle, too.

CC: What do you think the score will be for your first game of the season?

HTFCW: 1-1

CC: For AFCB supporters having their first visit to the John Smith stadium what can they expect to find in terms of ease of parking, pitch views, food and drink?

HTFCW: I’m not too clued up on the parking as I’ve had a season ticket holder’s car park space since the stadium opened. I’ve never read much feedback on the forums from away fans who have struggled to park so I’m sure it must be fairly easy to find somewhere. The pitch views will be fine – you’ll have the whole of the South Stand to yourselves which holds 4,000 so no problems there. Food and drink at the ground is average quality and overpriced. There are a few pubs and bars within walking distance of the ground – the Aspley is situated on the canal-side about a 10 minute walk away and is near a car park which opens on match days (used to be £5) though it may get busy on the opening day.

CC: Thank you Dan for such open and informative view on Town. I thought you might have been a little braver in predicting a home win for the first game of the season, but a draw would not be a bad result for either team and perhaps there is a good deal of respect between fans of both clubs following recent meetings. I hope for another entertaining game and for me it will be my first visit to the John Smith's stadium so I am very excited about the day and I will be keen to see how the cartoon shapes up like on HTFC-World after the game. May be there will not be so many lollipops as we had out in last year's cartoon - see HTFC reports for that.