Away Q&A: Huddersfield Town – Matchday 38

Following last weeks return to action and securing a reasonable point at Sheffield Wednesday, there is a degree of pressure on Forest to kick start our promotion hopes against Huddersfield Town.

With 8 games left of the mini season – momentum is everything as Forest attempt to find another gear.

With Brentford winning last night to put pressure on the top 2; Forest have a must win game on Sunday if we’re serious about promotion.

Keeping everything crossed, Sunday will see the return of Ben Watson and Samba Sow to the Forest midfield. The latter is such a huge miss in terms of being the force  that allows the team to exert greater control of a match; particularly from an offensive point of view. I’m desperate to see Joao Carvalho get some game time and it does make me smile that this time last year; the previous incumbent had been completely lambasted for not picking him (myself included in that). It’s a funny old game.

 

I’d not realised that Adama Diakhaby was ineligible to play against Huddersfield and was hoping that he may well have a point to prove against his old team (more on him below). I’ll have my fingers crossed once more then that Diakhaby’s absence will lend an opportunity to Carvalho to show his undoubted quality which has been so few so far this season. Brennan Johnson certainly did enough last weekend to warrant another start and I fancy him to do well once more.

 

The Cowley Brothers will want to get another one over Sabri Lamouchi following their exchanges in the heated game back in December last year. Forest were really poor for large periods of that game and only turned up for the final 20 minutes (where we actually looked half decent). Unfortunately, the damage had already been done with lapses in concentration which gave Huddersfield all the encouragement they needed when looking completely devoid of confidence themselves in the early part of the game.

 

After a disappointing defeat last weekend, I’d expect to find them in a similar frame of mind and Forest must learn their lesson from the previous game and it’s of concern that we continue to repeat mistakes and ignore the warnings. Huddersfield will be well aware that if they can get at Forest early on; we are more than beatable.

Huddersfield have some talented players and with 16 goals already this season; Karlan Grant will no doubt be attracting suitors. I’m expecting that Forest will be in for a tough battle and we simply have to show more attacking purpose at home. Fingers crossed Joe Lolley can pick up where he left off last week and Lewis Grabban only needs one goal to set him off on the goal trail once more.

Whilst the behind closed doors games have certainly been a little drab in the Premier League; the Championship games have been marginally better. It’s going to be a fascinating run in and hopefully we’ll have strengthened our credentials going into next weeks Derby game following our next next 2 home games.

I fancy us for a nervy 1-0 win on Sunday in a tight affair.

I caught up with Mark from The Huddersfield Town Family in the week to get his thoughts on the restart and the Forest fixture.

 

How did you find Huddersfield’s restart behind closed doors and how would you summarise your opening game?

In a nutshell, last week was a disaster. Our team looked 2nd best all over the park, we looked ill-prepared and unfit which was incredibly disappointing to see. Wigan had more hunger and desire and that was unacceptable some players gave nowhere near enough.

 

Which player do you think will have the most impact on Huddersfield’s remaining games and who will Forest fans need to keep an eye out for?

The obvious name people look to is top scorer Karlan Grant. He is a goal scorer and can hurt teams. The other player who was really making the team tick at times was Emile Smith-Rowe. An immense talent on loan from Arsenal.

 

How are the Cowley brothers getting on since joining earlier in the season?

They seem to divide lots of fans. They certainly gave us a chance and changed the mood of the club, there is no doubt but have been consistently inconsistent. We had to really shithouse some results to get out of the actual relegation zone but we just haven’t been able to pull away from the bottom. Some games we look good, other games we look clueless. They talk a good game that’s for sure and work incredibly hard behind the scenes but its a results business and games are running out.

 

What do you think about Adama Diakhaby?

Bambi on roller skates! Here is a confidence player if ever there was. He might be good in the French League and certainly has pace but I don’t think English football is for him. The scouting and the sanctioning of this deal was appalling (like several others) which is why we crashed out of the prem.

 

If there was a Forest player you could have at Huddersfield – past or present player – who would it be and why?

I’m going to be greedy and say on behalf of many fans, we’d take Joe Lolly and Michael Hefele back! Again, awful transfer activity letting both of these players leave.

 

What are your hopes for Sunday’s game?

I expect a reaction on Sunday, the manager, the chairman also! Its a strange league and you have had some pretty shocking performances at times also and given that there isn’t really any home advantage with no fans, I think we might get a point but we really need to go for all 3 given how tight it is down near the bottom.

Many thanks to Mark for his thoughts; it’s very much appreciated at Munich and Madrid.