Promoted Teams Analysis FPL 2017/18 Huddersfield
After watching supposed smaller teams like Wigan, Swindon, Blackpool and Bradford make it to the premiership in the past, 2017/18 is Huddersfield Town’s turn after 45 years away from the top division!! Personally, I’m still in shock and never thought I would see it in my lifetime, though I did dare to dream and admit to shedding a tear, along with a lot of others, when that final penalty went in, in the playoff final at Wembley! Only after the Premier league fixtures came out and Town started signing players for £10m+ did it begin to sink in we are Premier League!!
It could be said that Huddersfield exceeded all expectations after finishing the previous season in 19th place and were tipped by Ian Holloway to be relegated. With a budget of just £12m to play with Town finally finished 5th in the championship as Wagner rested players towards the end of the season when the play-offs were assured and somehow became the first side to reach said play-offs with a negative goal difference.
Huddersfield clinched a Wembley showdown against Reading by beating Sheffield Wednesday on spot kicks after their two-legged semi-final finished level at 1-1. The final was a tense affair and finished goalless after 120 mins, but the Terriers held their nerve again to win on penalties with Chris Schindler being the hero slotting the final spot kick past Ali Al Habsi. Quite rightly David Wagner was voted last years championship manager of the year!
Because quite a few of you probably haven’t even heard of Huddersfield, I thought I would include a few facts about the town and the club.
The Town
Located in God’s country (Yorkshire) Huddersfield is the eleventh largest town in the UK and is a former mill town known for its roll in the industrial revolution and for being the birth place of Rugby league, labour prime minister Harold Wilson and film star James Mason.
New Dr. Who Jodie Whittaker and Game of Thrones star Lena Heady are from the town, as is Star Trek and X Men star Patrick Stewart who was seen down at the John Smiths stadium most home games last season cheering his team on.
The Club
Formed in 1908, in 1926 Huddersfield became the first ever English club to win three successive titles, a feat which only three other clubs (Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United) have achieved. They also won the FA Cup in 1922 and have been runners-up on four other occasions. They last played in the top flight in 1972 and have in the past had some iconic managers including Herbert Chapman who revolutionised Arsenal so much they have a statue outside the Emirates Stadium and Bill Shankly who was so successful at Liverpool they have a statue of him outside the Kop.
Flood lights were installed at the old Leeds Road ground in 1961 financed by the sale of a certain Denis Law to Manchester City!
Famous former players apart from Law include Ray Wilson, Frank Worthington and a certain Sam Allardyce, who I remember watching from the terrace as a lad, running half the length of the pitch to punch an opposition player (Jeff Hopkins) after a reckless tackle on his teammate David Burke. Oh how we sang his name after he received a straight red and was seen to be chasing Hopkins, who also got a red, down the tunnel.
In 1994 Huddersfield Town moved to their new stadium, now known as the John Smiths Stadium and in 2003 the club went into administration narrowly avoiding liquidation.
Local man and former card factory owner Dean Hoyle took over as Town Chairman in 2009.
November 2015 David Wagner was appointed as Town coach.
Huddersfield are the thirteenth most successful club in English football in terms of league titles, ahead of Tottenham Hotspur!
So now you are all educated on the town and the club let’s get to the important part, the players!
David Wagner’s most used formation last season was a 4-2-3-1 formation that morphs into a 2-4-3-1 in possession and 4-1-4-1 without the ball. When attacking the wingers tend to tuck inside, allowing space for the full backs to get forward and offer support from deep.
So this is more or less how Wagner’s team set up last season:
Ward
Smith Hefele Schlndler Lowe
Hogg Mooy
Kachunga Palmer Van La Parra
Wells
Onto the players…
Goal Keeper and Defenders
Keeper
Town only managed 12 clean sheets last season with just 6 at home, conceding 56 goals in their 46 championship games. With on loan Danny Ward returning to his parent club Liverpool. The Terriers moved to sign Danish international Jonas Lossl (4.5m) on loan from Bundesliga side FSV Mainz. The 29 year old 6ft 5in stopper made 27 appearances last season keeping 5 clean sheets. Although Mainz had a difficult season, the great Dane is highly thought of and supposed to be “a great shot stopper and good with the ball at his feet”, according to the Town coach.
Centrebacks
Mathias Jorgenson (Zanka) (4.5) is another Dane, signed from F.C. Copenhagen this summer. The experienced 27 year old centre back made 33 league appearances, 6 champions league appearances and 3 Europa League appearances (2 goals) last season for the Danish league winners. He also has 11 caps for his country and is expected to push Michael Hefele for a place in the back four alongside Chris Schindler.
Hefele (4.5m) made 31(9) appearances at centre back last year grabbing 3 goals and became a cult hero with his “Its a F*cking dream” comment when interviewed by a Sky interviewer after grabbing the winner to beat bitter Yorkshire rivals Leeds United at the John Smith’s stadium in February. The German was occasionally moved up front when Town were chasing matches late on and as a result a total of 28 efforts on goal is more than double that of Chris Schindler.
Schindler (4.5m) was nearly an ever present last term as he made 46(1) appearances for The Terriers helping himself to 2 goals and 2 assists and was a commanding presence at the back winning 4.4 headers per appearance, more than twice his central defensive partner Hefele. The German, who has represented his national side at U21 level, was signed from 1860 Munich in 2016 where he made 152 appearances scoring 4 goals.
Fullbacks
At leftback is another German, Chris Lowe (no not the Pet shop boy !) (4.5m). Signed from Kaiserslauten in 2016, Lowe made 99 appearances over 3 years for the Bundesliga side scoring 4 goals. Last season in the Championship he made 42(2) appearances for Town, grabbing 2 goals and 2 assists. One of these goals was a penalty as he took over spot kick duties towards the end of the season from previous penalty takers Van La Parra and Aaron Mooy who managed to miss 2 out of 3 between them. Lowe’s place will be under serious pressure from another new recruit Scott Malone (4.5m)!
Malone is an attack minded full back who can also play on the left side of midfield. The 26 year old had a fantastic season last term helping The Cottagers to clinch a play off place grabbing himself 6 goals and 3 assists in 36(2) games in the process. Indeed one of those goals was against his new club at the John Smith’s stadium! His performances earned him a place in both the EFL and PFA’s Championship team of the season and if Malone can nail down that left back spot he could be a very shrewd investment, though this is what Wagner had to say after the signing “we already have a very good left back in Chris Lowe, but as we enter our first Premier League season it is so important to have competition and the ability to rotate our side, as we did so successfully last season “
Another attack minded full back is Tommy Smith (5m). The jewel in Towns back line last season, Smith arrived from Manchester City’s academy in 2010. He broke into Towns first team in 2012 and last season helped himself to an impressive 4 goals and 10 assists in 45(2) appearances and made a total of 53 key passes more than any defender in the championship also earning himself a place in The Championship team of the year.
Midfield
Another player earning himself a place in the Championship team of the year was Aaron Mooy (5.5m) The Australian international started his career at Bolton. Not able to break into the first team there he moved to St Mirren in 2010 where he made 21 appearances scoring 1 goal. In 2012 Mooy moved back to Australia signing for Melbourne City where he made 53 appearances scoring 18 goals before Manchester City signed him in 2016 and then loaned him straight to Huddersfield. The 26 year old playmaker was one of the main pieces in the jigsaw of David Wagner’s play-off winning side scoring 4 goals (1 pen) and grabbing 7 assists in 45 appearances. He averaged 1.4 shots per game with a pass success rate of 82.6% and was on most set pieces including corners and penalties until Lowe took over spot kick duties.
The arrival of Tom Ince (6m) from Derby appears to have taken away set piece duties from Mooy although at the time of writing they hadn’t appeared on the pitch together in a Town shirt. Signed from Derby for a fee thought to be close to 11 million, Ince is best known for his time at Blackpool where he scored 31 goals in 100 appearances for the Tangerines. After leaving Blackpool Ince’s career seemed to stall. After an unsuccessful loan at Crystal Palace, Hull City signed him in 2014 before loaning him to Nottingham forest in the same year after making only 7 appearances. Again things didn’t work out at Forest as he only made 6 appearances before moving onto Derby in 2015 again on loan. Here Ince’s career kick started again as he made 18 appearances scoring 11 goals. Derby took him on a permanent contract that summer splashing the cash in a 4.75m deal. Last season Ince was a revelation, scoring 14 goals (2 pens) and grabbing himself 6 assists in 41(4) appearances and averaged 2.9 shots per game with a pass success percentage of 83.5 %. The versatile midfielder can play CM, LM or RM and will, in my opinion replace Rajiv van la Parra (5.5m) on the left side of midfield, with VLP dropping to the bench. Wagner will be hoping Ince can boost Towns goal output if they are to stay in the Premiership. Indeed Ince has already scored 3 goals in 3 friendlies for Town in the pre-season build up.
Another player who will be hoping he can carry on from where he left off last season is Elias Kachunga (5.5m). Signed initially on loan from German team Inglostadt last summer, the pacy attacker was snapped up on a permanent deal in March for 1.1m. Playing mainly on the right where he linked up well with Tommy Smith, he occasionally played as striker and finished the season as Towns top scorer with 12 goals and a couple of assists from 44(1) appearances.
Another new signing is Danny Williams (5m) from Reading. He doesn’t really have any FPL relevance with just 4 goals and 1 assist from 39(5) appearances last season and will probably compete with Jonathan Hogg (4.5m) for the double pivot role alongside Mooy.
One player flying slightly under the radar is Kasey Palmer (5.5m). The Chelsea youth team player, tipped as one of the academies most promising talents, is an England U21 star and joined Huddersfield on loan last July making 16(9) appearances notching 4 goals and 3 assists in just over 1300 minutes of action before an achilles injury in February ruled him out till returning for the playoff final as a substitute. Playing in the AMC role, Chelsea must rate him quite highly as they extended his contract on July 3rd, tying him to the club until 2021, before loaning him back to Town a day later for next season. If Palmer kicks on this season he definitely could be one to watch.
Forwards
Now anybody that watched Huddersfield last season will know it was blatantly obvious from early on in the season that the club were crying out for a decent striker. Nakhi Wells (5.0m) only managing 10 goals in 34(12) appearances and the club only managing 56 goals in 46 games reflected the problem. Colin Quaner (4.5m) was bought in the January transfer window to try and rectify the problem, but could only grab a paltry 2 goals from 9(10) appearances. Wagner knew that bolstering his attack was a priority and moved to bring in Steve Mounie (6.0m) from Montpellier for a club record transfer fee of 11.4m. The Benin international arrives as hot property having bagged 14 goals(6 headers) and 3 assists in 32 starts in his first full season in the French top division. Previously the 20 year old spent a season on loan at French league 2 side Nimes where he notched 11 goals in 32 appearances. Mounie posses good movement and pace for a player of 6ft 3in and is able to drift out wide and play as a winger if required. Given his fee I’d expect him to start in the lone striker role ahead of another new signing Laurent Depoitre (5.5m)
Depoitre was Wagner’s first signing of the summer from Porto for a fee believed to be in the region of 3.5m. The 6ft 3in Belgian international made his name at Gent where he amassed 27 goals and 14 assists in 70 league outings and also made 7 champions league appearances, scoring once. He joined Porto in August 2016 for 6 million euros, but failed to establish himself in the first team making only 7 appearances scoring once. Depoitre has been described as “a physical target man” who’s major strength is his aerial ability and has been likened to compatriot Christian Benteke.
Hopefully the signings of Mounie, Ince and Depoitre will add the much needed firepower Huddersfield need to keep them in the Premiership and with their favourable opening fixtures of cpl,NEW,SOT,whm,LEI there is every chance of them getting off to a good start.
In Summary
This is the way I expect Wagner’s men to line up:
Lossl
Smith Zanka/Hefele Schlndler Lowe/Malone
Hogg/Williams Mooy
Kachunga Palmer Ince
Mounie
Thanks for reading Promoted Teams Analysis FPL 2017/18 Huddersfield. This article was written by Brookyboy
The Fixture Tracker…
Alright folks?
Just signed up – love the look of the site, looking forward to the season. At the moment I’ve got:
Foster
Cedric/Trippier/Hefele
Alli/Mane/Knockaert/Ritchie
Kane(c)/Lukaku/Rooney
Bench: Fabianski/Lascelles/Dunk/Carroll
At the moment it looks like a hospital ward. Any feedback appreciated
Welcome
Not entirely sure what a Hefele is but you’ve got a few newly promoted teams covered there and Mane who isn’t likely to start the season (I think)?
Welcome to the site patanderson nice looking team this , not sure I would start with Roo , Eve fixtures not so great to start , maybe J Rod , Gayle , Chic , Knock has a slight injury keep an eye that.
Not sure I would have Las , Dunk & Hefele all new comers look in Bur / Wba & CRY maybe , good effort though 😉
Thanks mate – I hear ya re: rookie defenders……still waiting on who is looking like regular starters for the likes of Bou/CP/Wat in order to hopefully get some value there
Welcome to the site Pat
The others have already said what I would have said re: Rooney and, perhaps excessive, coverage of the newbies. Not convinced Hefele will start this season. He might be a fan favourite but Schindler and Zanka (Jorgensen) would be my bet as to their centre-back pairing.
I’m currently toying with having Rooney in for GW1 and then switching to Chica or similar after that game. Bit risky hitting GW1 ‘knowing’ your first expected / planned transfer though as it’ll probably never happen.
Agree its risky but that’s what i’m planning to do, Rooney out after GW1 for the Pea. If you can get a team of starters then it should be fine.
Excellent, I’ve now got someone to blame too
Kane + Willian
Or
Morata + Eriksen/Alli (or Salah/Coutinho?)
Hey Webstar I would say Kane & Willian as I have them both in my draft
but lots gone other way.
Very tough, and I really don’t know. I have Morata and Alli (may switch to Erik) at the moment. Coutinho on the cards to leave, so just monitor that situation.
I’ve gone with Morata and Alli right now. It just seems more nailed on to me as Chelsea have more of a uncertain midfield.
Morata and Alli. I can however see why someone will go the other way though
Does anyone have any kind of template fund wise they are thinking of following for their team? I think I seen someone have something similar up a week ago but I can’t find it now.
I don’t have one, but I gave someone a template a week or two ago. Think I did anyway.
I actually think it was you now that you mention it.
9.0 for GK
25-26 for Def
38.5-39.5 for mids
27.0 for forwards
Something like that. But I don’t follow those rules, This year in particular I am unlikely to be anywhere near on the forwards one.
I’m around the ball park of those numbers right now but still not sure on the team.
Will you be over the 27? Going for the big three
As it stands it is 33
or as Silvers would call it, a midfield.
Haha right now I’m at 27.5
I also saw that Matt, although I don’t find them particularly helpful. The values usually reflect the values of the players in that person’s current draft or create a destructive strait-jacket. Choosing players should not be about slotting players into a preconceived template where one merely looks down the £6m midfielder column and selects the one they like most. I believe it is more about weighing players up across positions, choosing Aguero or KDB, Willian or Alonso etc., for what it’s worth 😉
Yep, that’s why I don’t follow one.
Lol, so you gave one out but don’t follow it? “Yeah Matt, £30m on the defence sounds about right” :hippo:
Yeah and I mentioned on the original post that I didn’t follow it, if I am not mistaken. I never lobbied for it, if I done that, that be different.
I usually just use to after I have picked my team to see if others are spending money in places I might not be or to see if people are investing in attack or defence. That’s my major issue this year whether to pump my funds into attacking defenders or to just stick with the big name attackers
I usually pump money into attack and midfield and go with the cheapest defence but this year I see value in defence but not much in midfield
Yeah right now midfield is the worst place for players but it just doesn’t look right when you have a 4.5 and 5.5 mil player in midfield haha
I have one of each, you take that shite back! 😉
So do I! It just doesn’t look right haha
Oh dear so do I currently who’s the 5.5? It looks awful
I have Fraser right now, but was going to go look around to see if he looked like the starter in GW1 before I committed my first big mistake of the season.
As of right now it’s JWP but it will change to Walters or Mooy if JWP doesnt look like getting a place in the starting XI
Yeah I have Walters but was also looking at Fraser
I dont think Fraser will start to be honest
Oh really I thought he would start but my Bournemouth knowledge ain’t great
I could be wrong but just don’t think he will
I am thinking they will line-up
Bego
Smith-Cook-Ake-Daniels
Arter-Gosling
Fraser-King-Junior
Defoe
I would go with that but think Francis starts over Smith
Yeah, you could be right, forgot about Francis or they could move Smith to midfield and drop either Junior or Fraser.
See what you done Smash?!
Haha
Ha ha well that’s the problem with Fraser. Though I still think he starts
I tend to stick to £100m 😉
+1 :smiling:
No I think I’ll try get that loan this season 😉
GK 9.5 , DEF 26.5 , MF 33 , FWD 31 are there about 😉
Who have you got in midfield Silvers?
2 guys from the PL and 3 guys from Norwich.
Hey guys,
Who would you pick: Wijnaldum,Lallana or Fabregas?
Fabregas
+1
If Coutinho leaves, I might be inclined to vote Lallana
Cheers guys, I was thinking Fabregas too, even if Coutinho leaves.
Yeah if Coutinho goes Lallana could be very good
I have not seen anyone go with Davies and Trippier? Not sure when Rose is back
I thought Rose was due back in a couple of weeks? Could be wrong though, thought I read GW2 or thereabouts. If you come up with the answer let me know
Hmm I just had a quick look and could not find anything
Dinnery’s site says potential return is 19/8/17
Ah ok thanks so looks like just a few games so not worth it
I was finagling around with my roster and I sent out Lacazette & Bertrand for DeBruyne & Chicharito. Thoughts? TIA.
Forster–Trippier, McCauley, Daniels–Pogba, DeBruyne, Alli, Eriksen, Snodgrass–Chicharito, Lukaku (C)
Snodgrass probably wont play. Rest looks fine
Yeah can’t see Snoddy playing at all I would not be surprised if he’s sold
Great midfield Gene. Snoddy may be an issue for you there as I’m not convinced he’ll get into the team anymore, plenty of other options around that price though – Ritchie, Ince, Knockeart if fit.
@Gene, has anyone told you Snodgrass might not play yet? 😉
What? Snodgrass won’t be playing??? HOW LONG DID YOU PEOPLE THINK YOU COULD KEEP THIS FROM ME???
😉
We were hoping right after the deadline.
:thumbup: :beer: