15-09-2023, 00:09
The international break is finally over, and in fairness it probably couldn't have come at a worse time for Town. Fresh off the victory away at West Brom, Town would have been forgiven for wanting to keep the games coming to try and get a run going. It wasn't to be and we have had to wait what feels like ages to get onto the next game. Oh well it has given a bit of time for players to recover from knocks and get a bit more training into the squad, lets see if it has worked and if any of the minor problems we were having have been ironed out. That being said, Rotherham too, would have liked the season to keep rolling on as they also registered a surprise victory, a 2-1 win over David Wagner's Norwich City, who had put 4 past Town the weekend before. That put the two sides on equal points in the league with Town just below on goal difference, although there is very long way to go in this season and I am sure the league table will look different on a number of occasions over the course of the season. There is normally one early runner that drops away and one slow starter that comes up on the outside when no one is looking. Who will those be, who knows.
Rotherham began last season as one of the favourites to go down having just won promotion from League One. Things weren't helped when Paul Warne elected to leave the club to drop back down a division in order to manage Derby County. This just put the bookies even more assertive that Rotherham would end up in the drop zone, but the South Yorkshire side proved them wrong by achieving a 19th placed finish under the guidance of former Exeter manager Matt Taylor. The Chorley native is still in charge of the Millers and has overseen a relatively busy transfer window. There was a number of incomings at The New York Stadium, with Fred Onyedinma checking in on loan from Luton, former Forest winger Arvin Appiah joining on loan from Almeria of Spain, whilst youngsters Sebastian Revan and Dexter Lembikisa made the the trip up from midlands side Aston Villa and Wolves respectively. On a more permanent front, midfielder Christ Tiehi joined from Slovan Liberec of the Czech Republic, keeper Dillon Phillips joined from Cardiff of the Peoples Republic of Wales, Grant Hall joined from Middlesbrough, Andre Green returned to these shores after playing for Slovan Bratislava in Slovakia, Cafu joined from Forest on a free transfer, whilst the big move from Rotherham in this window was to sign striker Sam Nombe from Exeter.
As for outgoings, Joshua Kayode moved on loan to Carlisle, Peter Kioso made the switch to Peterborough, whilst Jamie McCart made the trek north to Barnsley. Permanently they saw veteran Richard Wood leave for Doncaster, Josh Vickers moved to Derby, Wes Harding was tempted to the capital to play for Millwall and last seasons top scorer Chiedozie Ogbene saw out his contract and joined Premier League new boys Luton Town. Their main outgoings saw Conor Washington also join Paul Warne at Derby whilst Ben Wiles joined us near the end of the window and arguably enabled Rotherham to complete the Nombe deal.
Just a little quiz to get your grey matter cogs whirring, all these are famous Millers, unfortunately Windy didn't make the cut.
1- Not sporting, lists films like Layer Cake, 21 Bridges and GI Joe on their acting CV
2- Scottish international forward, that had an ill fated spell at Town that didn't last too long
3- Irish midfielder that has teams such as Celtic, Sunderland and Manchester United on his CV
4- Wrote a play regarded as one of the best in his country. Had a famous wife that is still an icon and an Oscar winning actor as a son in law
5- Retired midfielder that was old when he came to Town, but offered an experienced head in a promotion winning side
In terms of head to heads, it is a picture that is very much in the favour of Town with the Terriers winning 50% of the fixtures played. For reference that is 30 wins, with 18 draws and 12 defeats. The first fixture between the two sides came back in 1952 when Town won 1-0, but most recently last season Town won at home 2-0 thanks to goals from Duane Holmes and Jordan Rhodes. The fixture in New York earlier in the season saw Rotherham get the better of Town through goals from Washington and Georgie Kelly either side of Danny Wards goal.
Town appear to be going with the same squad as before the break, however Tom Lees could feature having played for the B team midweek, whilst David Kasumu and Sorba Thomas are expecting to be ready come the weekend. Ollie Turton remains the only real long term absentee for the coming game. Could little Kyle Hudlin be given a chance this weekend after scoring for the B team against Newcastle? who knows.
As for Rotherham, they too seem to be at full strength with Jordan Hugill once again expected to lead the line against Town, although Nombe may get a bigger role after having a couple of weeks with the squad now.
Huddersfield Pre match presser
Rotherham
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Another day, another door, another high, another low