Huddersfield Town 1 v 0 Derby County

Terriers v Rams

Saturday 22nd October

John Smith's Stadium

3pm kick off

After losing top spot following 2 straight defeats we're back in action against Derby County, who are currently well below us in the table, 19th compared to our 4th. I never thought I'd be typing those words believe me as on paper they have a better squad and I fully expected them to be contesting up at the top. Even though we all know they'd blow it at the end of the season, again. Sorry Derby fans I couldn't resist that little dig.

Derby have had a poor start to the season, and also suffered the loss of their manager following a bust up with their owner. This, apparently, was caused by the owner sending drones to record their training sessions. That is unbelievable and though I've never been a fan of Pearson I feel he was fully justified in losing it.

Following his suspension and subsequent sacking our old friend Chris Powell took temporary charge until a permanent (?) manager in the shape of Steve McClaren was appointed. If any Derby fans are reading this how do you feel about his reappointment? Genuine question.

Back to us. Some are already saying 'the bubble's burst' and 'the wheels have fallen off' but I don't think so. I genuinely feel we are having a bit of a blip and will bounce back, hopefully tomorrow.

The big question is does Wagner make wholesale changes after our horror showing on Wednesday night or just make a few tweaks? I really don't know which would be the better option, what I do know is that we need a win to get back on track.

If you had told me at the beginning of the season we would be fourth after 13 games I would have been ecstatic but after being top it really does feel a disappointment. The realist in me knows it is unlikely we could sustain top spot till the end of the season but the dreamer says 'why not?'

My prediction is 2-1 to us with Palmer and Payne the scorers. I have to be right sometime

Sorry it's so short but I've had a really busy week and just got home.

Over to you to discuss tactics, formations and whatever else you think is relevant.

If anyone wants to guess the crowd I'm going for 21,964.

Come on Town give me something to cheer.

I've tried to post this on the Derby board, hopefully been successful but not holding my breath.