Saturday’s visitors to the John Smith’s Stadium for Darren Moore’s home game had the statistics in their favor with their place in the automatic promotion group no coincidence.
The Terriers will welcome Darren Moore to their bench for the first time on Saturday afternoon when the manager takes charge of the John Smith’s Stadium for the visit of high-flying Ipswich Town.
Tractor Boys produced a convincing early season performance to compete for consecutive promotions:
they are kept top of the table by Leicester City solely on goal difference after picking up 21 points from a possible 24 so far this season.
So it could be a tough day for Huddersfield Town; But if their recent tendency to score late tells us anything, it’s that this team doesn’t shy away from a challenge.
Here are the key talking points to look out for ahead of Saturday’s tough 3pm kick-off.
Ipswich Town scored the most goals in the league (17), and there was no such thing as luck or accident:
they have both the highest expected goals and the most shots.
Ipswich are adept at creating these opportunities with their high-pressing style:
According to Opta, they have created two-and-a-half shots per game from moves that start in or around the opposition’s third half, a remarkable rate that is unmatched by anyone in the league.
No wonder they are the only Championship team with a faster attack speed than Huddersfield.
That is perhaps the biggest issue Darren Moore needs to resolve after seeing his side struggle to play through the Coventry defense on Monday night and had to turn to play through them in the second half.
Ipswich will likely try to keep Huddersfield further back than Coventry; Moore’s team will have to find a way to solve this problem without haste or lack of purpose.
The away team on Saturday won 9, drew one and lost one in all competitions.
They entered this match with a 2-goal lead over their Premier League opponents (Wolves) to win 3-2 in the Carabao Cup.
They have not lost an away match since January 21.
You’d understand it then if Kieran McKenna’s team turned up at the John Smith’s Stadium feeling invincible; But then, Huddersfield also has reason to feel good about themselves after going four matches unbeaten and getting good points against Coventry earlier this week.
Both coaches want their players to win this psychological battle; in fact, McKenna said so, and TWTD quotes him as saying:
“We have to be really ready because we are facing a team with a new coach who is going into their first home game.
It always brings crowd energy and opposition that we must prepare for and face.
“Our preparation, in terms of how we do the work, has remained pretty steady.
But what we can expect from Huddersfield is likely to change a bit.
But perhaps the most important thing is to be prepared for the psychological change that [a new coach] can bring.
We must fight it and use it to our advantage if possible.
That hasn’t hindered the Tractor Boys’ results – but although they score a lot of goals, they don’t tend to win more than one game.
Ipswich have won just one league game by a margin of two goals or more this season, beating Bristol City 2–0 in August; Since then, in all competitions, they have achieved a 2-2, two 3-2s (both wins) and two 4-3s (one way or the other).
But… all but one of those high-scoring matches took place at Portman Road.
Away from home, in general, it’s a different story:
three wins 0-1 and 1-2 against 10-man Sunderland, which remains the only goal they conceded on their away trip – and that was all day.
Ipswich’s level of organization is best summed up by the fact that they are the only Championship team yet to concede a goal this season.
Some say Ipswich have been lucky at times, with Vaclav Hladky being the only goalkeeper in the division with a higher expected goals record than Lee Nicholls:
Clearly, there were times when Ipswich had to rely on a combination of good goalkeepers and the opponent’s poor finishing ability.
Huddersfield have not been assessed as clinically viable so far but will need to be here.