Preview: Forest v Huddersfield

Expectations are often inflated at this time of year, and with exciting new signings completed and memories of their last visit still fresh, fans of The Garibaldi could be forgiven for looking forward to seeing their team get stuck into The Terriers again. Huddersfield fans for their part seem apprehensive on the whole, but as usual this should not be seen as an automatic three points.
Lest any Forest fan look down on our first opponents – unwise in The Championship– we should remember that even considering our flirt with promotion, Forest finished only 9 points above them. Indeed, Huddersfield finished the season strongly under new manager Mark Robins, losing only one of their last six games.


Another consideration should be the fact that Huddersfield, despite not appearing against us, were the third best side in the league last season at defending a lead when away from home. Their opponents equalised on only 33% of occasions, and The Terriers won on a very impressive 78% of occasions. If we let them edge ahead again, we may be less fortunate than in our last encounter.

This improvement was due to Huddersfield tightening up their defence, but this remains their weakness. They conceded a large amount of goals – only Peterborough and Bristol City let in more – and had an alarming tendency to capitulate entirely, letting in four or more goals on six occasions, which is more than any other team in the league.

Where Forest have gone to the transfer market to improve their weaknesses, Huddersfield appear to have taken a different approach and ignored it – preferring to bring in strikers (four at the last count). Their fans seem to think this will be their downfall and expect “another hefty goals against column” this season. I’m told they will also be without their regular left back for the opener – which should weaken them further.
Joel Lynch will probably slot into this position, also his bane at Forest. We saw glimmers of quality from him at centre-back – indeed he was part of the meanest central defensive pairing since Forest’s return to The Championship – but a full-back he is not, and I’m told he’s struggled at Huddersfield when playing here, and seemed unsettled. It will be interesting to see how he does against one of our shiny new wingers.


With Forest’s quality, and considering our opponents’ poor record last season against the better teams, and their neglected defence, Saturday should see a positive start. Huddersfield were able to scrap with the mid-table teams and their relegation rivals with some success – this is where they picked up their points – but again they will struggle to keep out the goals against the best. Billy Davies has a plethora of attacking talent at his disposal – whichever team he picks should be capable of scoring goals, and although their strikers pose a threat and will need to be marked tightly, Huddersfield may still have a few crumbly defensive performances in them yet.
Looking at various forums, many Huddersfield fans fear a thrashing, Forest fans generally expect a goal feast – this should be simple, right? In any other league perhaps, but this is The Championship. Anything can happen, it will happen, and we at Forest Boffin can’t wait for kick off!
Thanks to the Huddersfield fans at Down at the Mac forum for their knowledgeable and kind help, thanks for reading, and COYR!
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