Huddersfield Town had enjoyed a perfect start to the new League One campaign before last Saturday’s defeat to Rotherham United.
The Terriers won all three of their opening games in the league, conceding just once. Michael Duff’s side beat potential play-off contenders Peteborough United, before defeating both Stevenage and Shrewsbury Town at the John Smith’s Stadium.
Although results had been going their way, performances had not been the greatest, and they have now lost their last three games in all competitions.
They were knocked out of the Carabao Cup in the second round by Walsall, with centre-back Matty Pearson picking up a red card. However, their late defeat to Rotherham has cost them more dearly, with striker Danny Ward set to miss the next three league games.
This leaves Huddersfield with their options going forward even more limited, giving Duff a huge selection headache.
Huddersfield are lacking available strikers
Ward was able to play in their EFL Trophy loss to Doncaster Rovers, and even found himself on the scoresheet, but will miss their upcoming matches in League One, with the first coming on September 14 against Bolton Wanderers.
He was sent off after he was adjudged to swing an elbow at Rotherham defender Jamie McCart. It looked as though minimal contact was made. Nevertheless, he was shown his marching orders by referee Sebastian Stockbridge.
Huddersfield have been struggling with numbers in attack already this season after Bojan Radulovic was struck down by injury in pre-season and there is still uncertainty about whether he will be fit for the fixture against Bolton.
Instead, Duff has utilised Josh Koroma as his main starting striker, while Callum Marshall, Rhys Healey, and Ward have played alongside.
However, this is not what is needed for the Terriers, with Koroma a more natural left-winger than a striker, while Healey does not have the greatest of recent scoring records.
Marshall is a promising fixture in the attacking lineup, but at just 19, it remains to be seen whether he can lead the line for Huddersfield consistently
The rest of the team must work harder for results now
The concern is that Huddersfield may struggle for goals from their attacking players in the coming weeks and this is where the rest of the team must step up.
Set-pieces should be prioritised as a way of scoring and it has been proven in the past to be an extremely efficient way of producing goals in League One.
Last season, Derby County scored 24 times from deadball scenarios, equating to 31% of their goals over the course of the entire campaign. The Rams were promoted from League One, proving how important set pieces are.
If Huddersfield can recreate something similar – and they have a real set-piece weapon in MIchal Helik – then they can ease the pain of their striker woes, which were made worse after they failed to sign Joe Taylor from Luton Town in the summer.
The striker went to the club to talk about a proposed loan deal, but it went no further, and instead, the Terriers have been left with their current situation that could have a huge impact on their chances of promotion later this season.
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