[SHEP_HTAFC]

HUDDERSFIELD TOWN v WEST HAM UNITED......SAT 10th NOV.....K.O 15:00

GAME DETAILS / CURRENT FORM / HEAD TO HEAD

Monday's home result v Fulham could not have come soon enough for Town. A 1-0 win gave us our first win of the season at the 11th attempt.
The result lifted us off the bottom of the table, to be replaced by Fulham. We are only in the bottom 3 due to a worse goal difference than Newcastle, and only 2 points from 14th. It was important at this stage of the season not to be too far adrift of safety.
Town in the game v Fulham have done what we have done for most of this season...played better in the 1st half. I can only think of Burnley away where we seemed to play better in the 2nd half. Town fully deserved the win though.
And yet again, in the media, the talk is not of how well Town did, but how badly Fulham are doing after spending over £100M in pre season (and to be fair, they are rubbish).



So of the last 6 games, Town have won 1 and drawn 1. The 4 losses sound bad....however with the exception of that dreadful away pasting at Watford, we have lost to Spurs (good performance), Liverpool (we were the better team) and Leicester (just bad defending).
The only draw in that time was away to Burnley, where we were by far the better team.

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West Ham currently sit in 13th place, 5 points above Town. After a dreadful start to the season where they lost their first 4 games to sit bottom of the league, they got their first win away v Everton.
The last 6 games have shown they are consistent at being inconsistent...winning 2, drawing 2, and losing 2.

West Ham last 6 games
Burnley(H)  W 4-2
Leicester(A)  D 1-1
Tottenham(H) L 0-1
Brighton(A)  L  1-0
Man Utd(H)  W 3-1
Chelsea(H)  D 0-0


West Ham's last game was a 4-2 home victory v Burnley. Their line-up that day was:-

Fabianski  -  ex Arsenal. Relegated last season with Swansea

Zabaleta  -  ex Man City legend. Capped 58 times by Argentina
Balbuena  
Diop        -       signed for £22M. Played at every international level for France except full.
Cresswell  -  Played 3 times for England !!!
Rice       -           Played 3 times for Rep of Ire, but can still play for England. Reportedly wants to switch.

Diangana
Obiang
Snodgrass  -  ex Dirty L666s. 26 Scotland caps

Felipe Anderson - record signing for £36M. 1 Brazil cap.
Arnautovic   -  ex Stoke. Austria international with 75 caps. Main goal threat.


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We have played West Ham on 34 previous occasions in the league.
Huddersfield have the advantage winning 18 times to West Ham's 9 times....with 7 draws.

West Ham were one of only 5 clubs to do the double over us last season (others were Spurs, Liverpool, Arsenal and Everton).
Our first loss of last season was away to West Ham (2-0...Obiang, Ayew), and our home match was a bit of a mullering (1-4....Lolley - Noble, Arnautovic, Lanzini, Cresswell).



OUR OPPONENTS

The club was founded in 1895 as Thames Ironworks and reformed in 1900 as West Ham United. They moved to the Boleyn Ground in 1904, which remained their home ground for more than a century. The team initially competed in the Southern League and Western League before joining the Football League in 1919. They were promoted to the top flight in 1923, when they were also losing finalists in the first FA Cup Final held at Wembley.

West Ham have been winners of the FA Cup three times, in 1964, 1975, and 1980, and have also been runners-up twice, in 1923, and 2006. The club have reached two major European finals, winning the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1965 and finishing runners-up in the same competition in 1976. West Ham also won the Intertoto Cup in 1999.

They are one of only eight clubs who have played in the top flight and who have never fallen below the second tier of English football, spending 61 of 93 league seasons in the top flight.
The other seven? Arsenal...Everton...Man Utd...Liverpool...Spurs...Chelsea...Newcastle.

The club's highest league position to date came in 1985–86, when they achieved third place in the then First Division.
They've never won the top division....best place 3rd in 1985-86.

The club re-located from the Boleyn Ground to the London Stadium in 2016.
It was a very controversial decision given that the closest league team to the ground is Leyton Orient.
Add to the fact that their rent of £2.5M per year doesn't even cover the cost of staging matches.
And the taxpayer is paying £4M per year to move seats when there is a change of use for the stadium.
 




CLUB LINKS

Not too many that I can think of....

Lou Macari....managed both clubs.



Sam Allardyce....played for Town and managed West Ham.



Robert Green
Diego Poyet (son of Gus)......played 3 times for them, twice for us.
David Unsworth
Simon Webster



TEAM NEWS

Danny Williams is still out with his knee injury. Hopefully he will be back after the international break.
Eric Durm should be back after his slight groin strain.
As opposed to what was shown on Sky, Big Phil Billings was not booked v Fulham and is not banned for this game.


West Ham have long term injuries to Andriy Yarmolenko, Carlos Sanchez, Manuel Lanzini, and Winston Reid.
This game comes just too soon for Jack Wilshere and Andy Carroll. They should both be back in contention after the international break.

[Lord Snooty]

Nice one, Shep.

Wagz has just said the whole squad are available, including Danny Williams.

[theo_luddite]

Bostin' effort that SHEP. It would be terrierific to put 2 wins together especially after we let them bully us off the ball in both last seasons matches.

Can't afford to let Arnitchybitch have any room especially around the box. Snodgrass will likely get a 'warm' welcome back to Yorkshire. Other than that we need to be in their faces from the off and not get caught on the break. A home player scoring the winner for us would be an absolute bonus. I take it they are bringing their own eel pie and mash with them for lunch?

[theo_luddite]

Wagbo obviously doesn't get it all his own way.

DW on dealing with difficulties as a manager: "Sometimes I speak to my wife about it - and she speaks a lot! Some times I speak to my dog because it is easier!"

Mitzi, Amchaff, over to you.

[jjamez]

According to the fish and chip paper the sun, we're wanting to add tom heaton to our ranks in January. Our goalscoring record is woeful this season so a new goalkeeper will solve that...

[theo_luddite]

Wagbo: "We need our supporters to be on it from the first second."

We need your first choice 11 to be in it from the first freekin whistle., HELLO!!!!

[Amelia Chaffinch]

Little Alex 1-0

[Lord Snooty]

Cracking first half. Great goal from the little un.

[Lord Snooty]

Would've been delighted with a point beforehand, but the lateness of the equaliser and the others getting points, makes it look like points dropped.

[jjamez]

Hader hadernother nightmare. Cant defend, takes too long to produce a poor cross and is very lightweight. Durm a far better option there but he'll be filling in for lowe now. time for smith to step up, better defender and produces a better cross when in that area