HUDDERSFIELD Town looks like an appetising fixture on paper right now – they are struggling for form and missing some key players... but have we really got the hunger to polish off teams like that?

December will be a huge month for us. We’ve played a lot of the so-called big teams and fared pretty well against the Leicesters and the Cardiffs who come to play football.

Where we continue to have problems is against hard, physical teams who get in your face.

Saturday was a home banker, no matter what anyone said. Mick McCarthy set his side out not to get beat and let us have all the room in the world to pass the ball about in areas where we couldn’t hurt them. We passed the ball around for the sake of it at times, and lacked penetration. There was no killer instinct in possession and with the players we have at our disposal, there should be.

What the problem was, I don’t know. But speaking from a player’s perspective, I don’t think the rotation system helps.

I know the lads come out in the Press and say they don’t mind, but what else are they expected to do? They can’t very well have a go at the manager because they will be straight out of the team, and maybe the club.

If you played well at Blackburn and then missed out on the next game, how does that affect you? What is the reward?

Rotation looks great when results go for you but I’m of the opinion that our squad does not have the depth to handle it.

On Saturday we seemed to be accommodating players rather than putting our best team out and saying “go and win the game”.

There are some players, naming no names, we just can’t do without. If they are 100 per cent fit, then you’d have to give me some compelling statistics to say why he should be out of the team a few days after playing so well at Ewood.

We’re playing a lot of teams around us over the next few weeks and by the new year, when Dougie Freedman will be looking to make signings, our season could be over with if we don’t start getting results soon.

*******

I’D sell Mark Davies for £6million – or anyone else for that matter – provided we invest the money in a proven goalscorer.

We might have to create our own business in January because simply paying out of the pocket for a new striker doesn’t seem to be an option.

Davies has been in decent form this season. He has scored goals and seems to suit the system Dougie Freedman was playing up until the weekend.

If Swansea want him for that money then I’d be inclined to see if they’d part company with Danny Graham, because he’s not getting a game and has scored wherever he’s been.

Midfield is a position we could probably cope with. There are other players who could come in and do a job, and Stuart Holden isn’t too far off, fingers crossed.

It’s up front where we really need someone to give us an edge.

*******

IT doesn’t surprise me to see Dougie Freedman making sweeping changes to the backroom staff, after all a manager needs to be with people he trusts.

It seems he is bringing a few new faces to the club from Crystal Palace and it’s nothing personal, just a fact of life for a club in transition. Again.

It shouldn’t have a negative impact on the players either, but the ones who might feel the changes most are Adam Bogdan, Andy Lonergan and the younger goalkeepers. They are a different kettle of fish from most of the squad.

Keepers’ training sessions are more intense, more specialised, and they tend to build up a more personal relationship with their coaches.

That was certainly the case with Jussi Jaaskelainen, who had worked with Fred Barber for ages.

I think Phil Hughes did a decent job with Adam and has brought him on well but it’s a new manager’s prerogative to change his staff and that is what we are seeing at the moment.

*******

LOANING players from Premier League clubs is always fraught with danger.

They are here for one of two reasons – either to get fitness or because they are not getting games at their parent club. It can help you out, but it definitely goes both ways.

That has been the case with Jacob Butterfield. He hasn’t done that much for me, little flashes here and there, but he definitely goes back to Norwich fitter and more able to challenge for a place in the team.

We might see him again in January, by which time he might be further down the line and able to play a more regular part, but I’d be more interested in seeing a few of the players who will definitely be here later in the season when we play at Huddersfield this weekend.

*******

SUNDERLAND seem to have caught the same bug we have this season.

They were expected to kick on after struggling last year but for some reason that hasn’t happened.

They will be heading to the Reebok in the FA Cup in a few weeks but you’d wonder whether Martin O’Neill will even be in charge by then.

He could just as easily walk away from the job there. I rate him highly, but he has got an unpredictable side and you wonder whether he really needs the bother.

It is a tough tie, but a winnable one.