Huddersfield fan here in peace...
League cup first round is always a weird game, a lot of teams (and fans) treat it like a delayed pre-season friendly and last night was no exception for both teams.
Thought your support was pretty good for such a nothing game, and I'm sure our board are regretting not gambling on opening more of the ground... but if we'd started the season badly there could have been 300 rattling around in there like there is when the egg-chasers play!
Felt your players seemed to just be going through the motions, you could tell that you had more quality than us but most of your team (Monga and that lad with the big hair were notable exceptions) seemed reluctant to get out of second gear. We've definitely been there in terms of having a group of players that didn't seem to care, Grant has managed to re-establish a bit of team spirit and togetherness that we'd been lacking since we got cheated out of promotion in 2022 (apart from a brief period when Warnock returned).
The big difference was during the shoot-out. At each changeover, Lee Nicholls was approaching our next taker and offering advice and encouragement whereas Stolarczyk just chucked the ball at his teammates with barely a glance. Obviously there's the caveat that it was only the league cup, but you seem to have a few too many who aren't concerned with the result as long as they get their wage packet. Hopefully it was just a bad day at the office for you and you'll come good, as your achievement in 2016 gave (perhaps false!) hope to all teams outside the "big 6" that it's still possible to upset the odds.
Good luck for the rest of the season.
