Tonight Sunderland will play Huddersfield Town in another must-win game to keep our play-off hopes alive. So we spoke again to The Yorkshire Post's Chief Football Writer, Stuart Rayner, for his insight ahead of the game.
Huddersfield currently sit 19th in the table, how would you review the season as a whole?
Crikey, this might be a long answer! They started it shell-shocked by Carlos Corberan's resignation in pre-season and with a first-time head coach and new signings having to step up to a new level but did not give them time. Danny Schofield was sacked just nine games in, having been unable to convince anyone he could get close to maintaining the high standards of the previous season.
Then came Mark Fotheringham, another with no managerial experience, chosen because he had worked with Felix Magath and other top coaches. That didn't work either. Formations changed regularly as they had done under Corberan but this time there did not seem to be a clear idea where things were going, he could praise a player to the hilt in one press conference, throw him under the bus the next.
The results weren't a total disaster but having panicked in sacking Schofield, Huddersfield needed someone who could give them a bit extra to lift them out of the relegation zone and Fotheringham never did, so he went in February.
Then came Neil Warnock and suddenly there was hope. Huddersfield fans knew what he could do and so did the fans of all the other teams down there. He won his first game and we all thought it was on. He couldn't win any of his next five and we wondered if he had bitten off more than he could chew.
Then came a run of 11 points in five games against play-off contenders and the belief is there again, helped by the news the club has found a buyer (Kevin M Nagle, just waiting to be rubber-stamped), and of Reading's points deduction, not to mention QPR's continuing collapse. I think that just about covers it...
Your two top scorers this season have been Matthew Pearson and Jordan Rhodes, how would you assess their seasons so far?
Rhodes has for a long time been trying to prove he was still the striker who got passed around from promotion-chasing Championship side to promotion-chasing Championship side each summer at his peak. He isn't. He hasn't scored in 2023 but then he hasn't started under Warnock, who much prefers his former Rotherham and Cardiff striker Danny Ward.
Pearson is a fantastic old-school defender (all Huddersfield best defenders fit into that bracket) but he scored four in three games before the Swansea defeat on Saturday because - same as last season - Huddersfield have got good at set-pieces again.
You currently have eight first team players out injured - a situation Sunderland fans know all too well. How has this affected your season?
Terribly. Fotheringham would probably have loved to have only had eight first-teamers injured! Tino Anjorin was signed on a second loan from Chelsea to be the star No 10 and showed signs early on only to get glandular fever, then a season-ending ankle injury at the very end of the World Cup break. That's kind of been par for the course.
The big (in every sense) summer signing was Tyreece Simpson, who was injured when he joined from Ipswich. He did not make it onto the field until after the World Cup and his only start has been in the FA Cup. That one was more bad judgement than bad luck. Anthony Knockaert signed injured in January and with personal issues not helping either he has only started twice. Pearson was such a key figure last season but got injured in the run-in, then again in pre-season, keeping him out until January. Fellow centre-back Yuta Nakayama got a season-ending injury days after being named in Japan's World Cup squad. Lee Nicholls, the Championship goalkeeper of last season, has not played since injuring his shoulder in January. I could go on but you get the idea...
If you do stay up how do you think you will fare next season in the Championship?
Too many unknowns. Who will the next manager be, what funds will Nagle put up and will director of football Leigh Bromby be made the scapegoat when the new regime comes in?
If you went down would you come back up?
Not in the first season, no. You do not need me to tell you how hard it is being a big club in League One, the graveyard of former Premier League sides.
You’ve enjoyed a mini revival under new manager Neil Warnock with three wins in five, what has he been doing differently that have improved your fortunes?
He's just done what Warnock does, only a tad less angry with fourth officials now he's into his mid-70s. As I mentioned earlier, they've remembered how to score at set pieces, they defend for their lives, the flair players have had a bit of a cuddle and they don't worry about entertaining. They've had an average 25.5% possession in the last six games.
Are Huddersfield going to stay up this season?
Yes. Because Neil Warnock is the manager. And, to be fair, because QPR are imploding and Reading have just as much bad momentum. Only one of them needs to go, with Blackpool and Wigan looking doomed.
Which SAFC player are you most worried about and what reception will Alex Pritchard receive from Terriers fans?
Amad Diallo is the obvious threat. At least Huddersfield have Jaheim Headley back (another who got injured almost as soon as he made an impression) because the left-back apart, pace is not a real strength of the defensive unit.
I don't recall Pritchard being welcomed with open arms at the John Smith's earlier in the season! Fans don't usually need a reason to boo their old players, but Pritchard never lived up to expectations at Huddersfield and spent a lot of time in the treatment room at a club used to seeing Tom Lees and others regularly doing Terry Butcher impressions for the cause.
Which Huddersfield player should we be worried about?
I'd keep an eye on Pearson at set-pieces but Jack Rudoni, really. He's had a cracking season as an attacking midfielder except for the fact that he's been unable to score. He finally broke his duck in game 41 on Good Friday and scored again on Easter Monday so I fancy him to get a few more before the season's out.
Score prediction?
Draw. And about 80% possession for Sunderland.
Finally, where do you think both teams will finish in a few games’ time…
Huddersfield to stay up, Sunderland just to miss out on the play-offs, I'm afraid. But another year building is probably no bad thing for your young side.
