Football Season Guide

Huddersfield tied three of their solid performers last season to permanent contracts this summer, plus coach Wagner resisted tempting job offers from other clubs, but this is probably where the good news stops for the Terriers. After narrowly surviving last season thanks to their good early form and several key wins against direct rivals at the bottom Huddersfield know that they need to improve in order to establish as a top flight team, but so far the transfer activity hasn’t been hugely impressive. Not that any regulars left the club, just apart from the loanees that decided to stay permanently none of the other new signings seem clear cut options for the starting line-up and this is an issue. That said Wagner is popular as a manager for his knack to extract impossible-looking abilities from seemingly average players and the German defied the odds two consecutive years to see Huddersfield promoted and then retain their elite status. Definitely the team’s main asset is their coach, but he will have to find ways to improve the dreadful scoring record from last season and hopes are that both Mounie and Depoitre will have a better conversion rate this time around. Third option for the centre forward role was added in Diakhaby, but he is also an unproven striker and shouldn’t see much playing time in his first year in England. Mooy remains the main creative force in the middle of the park, with pretty much all other inner midfielders lacking the technical abilities of the Australian. Huddersfield have one of the youngest teams on paper, the recently signed 30-year-old goalie Hamer is the oldest member of the current squad, and tiredness shouldn’t be an issue during the course of the campaign. This, combined with Wagner’s ability to use rotation during busy periods, should keep the freshness in the legs until springtime, but the main challenge will be staying out of trouble until then.