[Lord Snooty]

Huddersfield Town v Manchester City
The Premier League
Sunday November 26th - 16:00 ko
at the John Smith's Stadium

Huddersfield Town host Manchester City at the John Smith's Stadium on Sunday afternoon, in a match live on Sky Sports that they're bizarrely calling part of this weekend's Christmas triple header.  
Town lost again on the road at Bournemouth in the last match. City won again on the road on Saturday, making it a club record seventh consecutive league win away from home. It was their 16th consecutive victory, in all competitions, if you include beating Wolves on penalties in the League Cup. They made that 17 wins on Tuesday night beating Feyenoord 1-0 in the Champions League. The only team to take league points off them this season are Everton, who got a 1-1 draw at the Etihad back in August.
It will be important for Town to score first in this game, similarly to the United game, because if we don't, it could be Spurs all over again. We don't do well when we concede first, usually getting tonked while pushing forward for an equaliser. The only match we've won this season from behind was against Rotherham in the League Cup.
But with our team at home, in the atmosphere we create these days and with the confidence of the reality of us holding them to a goalless draw in the Cup last season, anything can happen. And of course, Christopher Schindler and Jonathan Hogg will be back.

A brief history of Manchester City: Founded in 1880 by members of St Mark's Church in Gorton, as a means to stop local gangs beating the crap out of each other. They had a few mergers and name changes in the next few years and built up a rivalry with another Manchester based club called Newton Heath. They went on to become Manchester United and in 1894 the team that had morphed into Ardwick AFC by now, renamed themselves as Manchester City.
Ardwick had been founder members of the Football League's 2nd division a couple of year's earlier and in 1899 the newly named City won it to gain promotion to the First Division. They won the FA Cup for the first time in 1904, beating Bolton Wanderers 1-0 at Crystal Palace.
In 1923 they moved from their Hyde Road ground to a new one in Moss Side, with a capacity of 80,000, Maine Road. They reached the 1926 Cup Final, got relegated in 1927, but got promoted straight back again.
The 1930s started as a good decade for City, reaching two Cup Finals, winning it in 1934 and then in 1937 they won the League title for the first time. Strangely though they were relegated the following season and won promotion back in the first season after the 2nd World War.
In 1956 they won the Cup again, beating Birmingham City 3-1, the game being remembered for goalkeeper Bert Trautmann playing on despite having broken his neck in a heavy challenge.
Back down again in the early 60s for a couple of seasons, but they came back under the management team of Joe Mercer and Malcolm Allison who guided them to promotion and then to their 2nd League title in 1967/68.This was turning out to be a golden era for City as they won the Cup again in 1969, the European Cup Winners Cup and the League Cup twice.
One of the most famous games of this era was when former Town player Denis Law scored the goal for City at Old Trafford to relegate their neighbours United in 1974.

Not much on the honours board in the next couple of decades. They were founder members of the new Premier League in 1992. They moved from Maine Road to the city's Commonwealth Stadium in 2003, known now as the Etihad. The club were just treading water, not very financially sound, until in 2008 they were bought out by the Abu Dhabi United Group, which transformed them immediately into the millionaire moneybags club they now are.
They won the FA Cup in 2011, the Premier League in 2012 and 2014, the League Cup in 2014 and 2016.

Head to Head



City lead in the overall head to head with 25 wins to Town's 22, with 29 draws.

One of those draws was last season in the FA Cup when our second XI earned a creditable 0-0 draw against high flying, big spending Manchester City. And we almost won it, with Philip Billing unluckily having a goal disallowed.
We would've won the replay too if the ref had blown for full time after 10 minutes. Harry Bunn giving the Terriers a deserved lead. But some pathetic hounding of the referee by City's under performing superstars pressured him into giving them every decision going and we ended up departing the competition.

We also lost to them in the FA Cup in 1987/88. It was one of 5 games we played against them that season. The first was a narrow City victory at Maine Road. Then we met in the Cup and almost got revenge. Duncan Shearer scored twice, only for City to get a very late equaliser to take it to a replay. That ended 0-0 and so we played what turned out to be our last ever 2nd replay before they were scrapped in favour of penalty shoot outs. We lost that though, but did eventually beat them when they returned once more to Leeds Road for the league match in April and got beat by Carl Madrick scoring the only goal of his 8 match Town career.

There have been other Town victories against City in living memory, this isn't a Man Utd situation. Despite the fact that they now are one of football's biggest club's, in 1998/99 they were actually a division below us. They came straight up in their League 1 season, beating Gillingham on penalties in the Play Off Final and when we went to Maine Road in the next season under the management of ex Man Utd star Steve Bruce, we absolutely battered them and the 1-0 scoreline flattered them we were that much more better. Chris Beech scored the goal, a brilliant header from the edge of the area.
The season before, we helped relegate them by winning at Maine Road, with Rob Edwards scoring what is generally accepted as one of the finest goals in the club's history. Have a look at this.

This is the first meeting of the two clubs in the top flight since the 70s of course. In our two season stint back then we drew twice, lost once at theirs but beat them 1-0 at Leeds Road in April 1971 with a goal from Trevor Cherry. Earlier that season we drew at Maine Road 1-1 on Boxing Day with City's captain Tony Book sticking the ball in his own net for our goal.

So what's happening at the Etihad Stadium?  Managed nowadays by Pep Guardiola, the former manager of European giants Barcelona and Bayern Munich. As a player he was a defensive midfielder, considered amongst the best of his generation and a part of the European Cup winning team at Barcelona under the management of Johan Cruyff. He was capped 47 times for Spain.
After taking the Barcelona B team job, he then succeeded Frank Rijkaard as coach of the first team, going on to win the Champions League twice and La Liga three times. He finished at Barcelona and took a year off before taking on the job at Bayern Munich where he went on to win the Bundesliga three times. Then at the start of last season he was tempted away to join Man City and so far has won sod all, struggling even to beat little Huddersfield Town in the FA Cup.



Notable players in their squad:- Fabian Delph, is probably the best known of their squad. Officially the worst player to ever pull on an England shirt, he first came to prominence at Leeds United, where he was made to look absolute garbage by the immense performance of Huddersfield Town's Jim Goodwin in a memorable victory for the Terriers at Bellend Road back in our centenary year.
Despite this, he still managed to con Aston Villa into paying Leeds half a dozen Mars bars to secure his services the following year. He spent six years at the Villa, causing several managers to get the sack for being unable to offload him. Eventually they got relegated. Not before Delph had snuck out unnoticed though. Unbelievably he got set on at the Etihad Stadium. Even more unbelievable is that he's still there and Pep kept him on and let Aaron Mooy go. Unbelievable!

There are others in their squad who you may have heard of - John Stones, the former Barnsley defender, now an England international. They're so proud of him in Barnsley that he has his own dedicated lamppost in the town centre opposite Marks & Spencer's and next in row to the great Charlie Williams.
He signed for Everton for £3m when still a teenager, having made his Barnsley debut as a 17 year old. Won nowt there so signed for Pep at City at the start of last season and still hasn't won owt, apart from a huge hike in wages and his transfer fee rocketed to a reported £47.5m. Not bad for a Barnsley lad.
However, he got injured on Saturday at Leicester, with Pep saying he will be out for six weeks.

Recent form: Town are 10th in the Premier League with 15 points, but seeing as we're last to kick off this weekend it's possible that by 4 o'clock on Sunday we may be a bit lower. City are top with 34 points, a lead of 8 pts over their local rivals, Newton Heath FC.

Last 6 matches:

Town 0-4 Spurs
Swansea 2-0 Town
Town 2-1 Manchester Utd (Mooy, Depoitre)
Liverpool 3-0 Town
Town 1-0 West Brom (van La Parra)
Bournemouth 0-4 Town

City 0-0 Wolves (City won on pens) (EFL Cup)
West Brom 2-3 City (Sané, Fernandinho, Sterling)
Napoli 2-4 City (CL) (Otamendi, Stones, Agüero, Sterling)
City 3-1 Arsenal (De Bruyne, Agüero [pen], Jesus)
Leicester 0-2 City (Jesus, De Bruyne)
City 1-0 Feyenoord (CL) (Sterling)


City's line up at Leicester on Saturday:

31 Ederson - Brazilian goalie recently made his full international debut.
2 Kyle Walker - ex Sheff Utd and Northampton, plays for England.
5 John Stones - injured and will miss this match.
4 Vincent Kompany - captain, should've been suspended today but ref missed blatant red card at Leicester.
18 Fabian Delph - ex Beeston Utd, plays for England.
17 Kevin De Bruyne - not a bad footballer, plays for Belgium.
25 Fernandinho - Brazilian midfielder, spent a long time in Ukraine.
21 David Silva - World Cup winner with Spain, over 100 caps for them.
7 Raheem Sterling - a bit of a knob, plays for England.
33 Gabriel Jesus - ex Nazareth and Bethlehem Town striker, good with crosses.
19 Leroy Sané - just a shit Izzy Brown.  

Substitutes:
1 Claudio Bravo - City fans love him.
3 Danilo - Brazilian international right back.
8 İlkay Gündoğan - played for David Wagner in the Dortmund 2nds.
10 Sergio Agüero - scores goals, quite a lot and quite often.
15 Eliaquim Mangala - French centre back, likely to replace Stones in defence.
20 Bernardo Silva - Portuguese midfielder.
42 Yaya Touré - big softie, cried when City forgot his birthday.

One other name worthy of a mention, who could get a game against little Huddersfield is Phil Foden, the 17 year old star of England's recent under 17 World Cup win. He made his City debut on Tuesday night against Feyenoord, coming on as sub in the 75th minute.

[Lord Snooty]

From BBC Sport:

TEAM NEWS

Huddersfield welcome back centre-back Christopher Schindler, who has completed a one-game ban.

Jonathan Hogg is also in contention - he missed the defeat at Bournemouth to attend the birth of his son.

Manchester City defender Nicolas Otamendi returns from a domestic suspension and may replace John Stones, who hurt his hamstring last weekend.

City's only other injury absentee is left-back Benjamin Mendy, who continues his recovery from knee surgery.

Manager Pep Guardiola will recall several key players who were rested against Feyenoord, such as David Silva, Leroy Sane and Vincent Kompany.

The City boss admits he plans to rotate strikers Gabriel Jesus and Sergio Aguero, meaning the latter could be a substitute on Sunday.

WHAT THE MANAGERS SAY

Huddersfield Town head coach David Wagner: "We have to step over our borderline to have a chance, and that's what we aim to do.

"We are aware what is in front of us and we will create an atmosphere where, hopefully, we can be successful. We will try everything."

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola: "We played last season against them. We were not able to win there in the FA Cup, we realised how complicated it is to play there.

"What [David] Wagner has done speaks for itself - promotion from the Championship. The result against United.

"But not just that. At home, they have had good results. When they decide to make high pressing, they are so well-organised."

MATCH FACTS

Head-to-head

This will be the first league meeting since a second-tier game in February 2000, when Clyde Wijnhard opened the scoring for Huddersfield before Shaun Goater equalised for the visitors.
Manchester City have claimed just one league win away to Huddersfield since 1985 - a 3-1 victory in the second tier in March 1998.
Manchester City beat Huddersfield 10-1 in a second division game on 7 November 1987, with three City players scoring hat-tricks - Paul Stewart, David White and Tony Adcock.
That scoreline remains City's record league win and Huddersfield's biggest defeat - and is the last time a club has scored 10 goals in a single game in the top four tiers of English football.


Huddersfield Town

The Terriers have won back-to-back home games in the top flight for the first time since 1971.
They have kept clean sheets in three of their six home league games this term, conceding six goals - four them coming in one game against Tottenham.
In Huddersfield's first six Premier League games their opponents scored just 4.5% of their shots (netting three times). But in the subsequent six matches, the Terriers have conceded 14 goals and their opponents have converted 21.9% of their chances.
No player has had more shots without scoring in the Premier League this season than Huddersfield's Tom Ince (30, including blocked efforts).


Manchester City

Victory would equal City's club record of 11 consecutive league wins, set between April and September 2015.
Their 10-match winning streak is already their longest run within a single season.
A win would ensure City become the first team to claim 37 points from their opening 13 Premier League games.
Gabriel Jesus has been involved in 20 goals in 21 Premier League games, with 15 goals and five assists.
David Silva has eight assists in 12 league appearances this season, compared to seven in 34 games last term.

[theo_luddite]

Been a work-work-busy-busy kind of week. Not helped by numpties and halfwits, or feckwits if you ask Mrs Brown, who shouldn't be allowed anywhere near our motorway network making a complete Horlicks of the M6 in Muddled England this week. I can drive to Leeds Road of a Saturday faster than I've got to or from Coventry most of this week. Unless Man U are at home when we are and their Lardan contingent destroy the M6 for everyone.

All in all, it's my pathetic excuse for not putting in the hard yards on analysing our opposition this week. Fortunately the Snootsmeister has done yet another fine job

Still can't make my mind up tho'. The Pepsi boy is still smarting from that FA Cup game at ours last season. He's not looking for another 0-0 and his Eurpean problems are on hold. Can we put another 20 odd pass move together and score another worldy? Or will we still be in our half with Lossl eventually knocking it into row Z? Then we cough up the ball and two passes later we are 0-3 down?

Well we don't want another 10-1, unless it's to us. Give it a go boys, we can't score in our half. What's the worst that can happen? Another Spurs job?

[theo_luddite]

Apparently both keepers sent off today at The Shay and it only finished 3-3. Come on boys, how many free shots do you need?

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PS the Man Ure southern contingent screwed up the M6 again today. They were obviously wondering whether snow would affect their paintwork as it was the first time they had seen it. Fer crying out loud get a plane or a train you useless toss pots.

Rant over.

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Any chance of one of you 9 guests making an appearance? Thought not. Ho hum.

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Well that got shut of 4 of 'em

[jjamez]

Success today is keeping them below 5. The quality in their squad is unreal and its no wonder they are running away with it. They might do an arsenal, I struggle to see who could beat them

[Lord Snooty]

Right. Let's kick Pep up the arse.

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What's going on? In the ground at ten to three, hardly anybody here.

[Lord Snooty]

Three changes. Smith, Schindler and Hogg in for Crainie, Kachunga and Hadajonagonads.

[Lord Snooty]

Well that was a good first half.

[St Charles Owl]

Well that was a good first half.

Yes, shame about the first minute of the 2nd half though!!!!

[Lord Snooty]

Cheating bastards.