Huddersfield Town News 24/7 

Huddersfield Town Squad Depth 2021/22 analysed

04/08/21

Town are approaching their third season in the Championship after relegation from the Premier League, with it being the first summer where there were no more Premier League transfer fee/ wage obligations. It was a reset, 16 players in the first-team squad were out of contract at the end of last year. Town had a chance to totally clear out their squad if they wanted to.
Town have so far signed Lee Nicholls, Josh Ruffels, Ollie Turton, Levi Colwill, Jordan Rhodes, Matty Pearson, Tom Lees and Danel Sinani, while Town have only loaned out Kieran Phillips and Rarmani Edmonds-Green.
So what does Town's squad depth look like? and do they need to strengthen any further?

Defenders

Last season Town had a very strong defence on paper. Pipa and Toffolo were seen as two of the best attacking full backs in the division while Stearman, Sarr, Schindler, Edmonds-Green and Keogh were solid options as centre-back, with Elphick out injured for the entire season. The main issue in defence was the imbalance due to injuries, with the player's who were out being on so much money, that there was not much room in the wage bill for replacements, hence Town signing Keogh. For as bad as Town's goal concession was (71 against), Christopher Schindler who was out injured for the second half of the season only allowed 10 goals to be conceded in his 801 minutes on the pitch, so you wonder how much different the defence could have been if he was available all season. Keogh and Stearman may be approaching the end of their respective career's, but they are two of the best defenders in Championship history, so they should have managed to perform better than they did.
Nonetheless, Town have certainly strengthened their defensive core during the offseason. Ollie Turton and Josh Ruffels have joined the club as backup in the fullback regions. This is a huge step up from Brown and Duhaney who were backup last season, in turn this should allow Toffolo and Pipa to be rotated, easing the pressure on them and stop the injuries that ruled the pair out of the last few games of last season.
The criticism of the centre backs lasts season was that they were in the twilights of their careers. Town have signed Tom Lees and Matty Pearson to be the right hand side, while Levi Colwill has been brought in on loan to play on the left side. Town have today lost Rarmani Edmonds-Green to Rotherham on loan for the season, although The Terriers do hold an option to recall him in January. Romoney Crichlow is expected to follow suit with a loan move. I would have said this was Town's most competitive defensive lineup since their return to the Championship before Edmonds-Green was loaned out and probably still is, but it looks like Town will be playing a flat back four rather than a back three.