Joel Lynch would be my choice as Huddersfield Town’s Player of the Year.
The big man is a quality central defender and, when he’s in David Wagner’s line-up, Town look so much more solid.
Lynch is one of those players who has really come to the fore in the Wagner system of playing – largely because he is very comfortable on the ball.
At 28, the former Nottingham Forest and Brighton player is in the prime of his career and he’s formed an understanding with skipper Mark Hudson which, while it might produce the odd clanger during a game, is generally providing a viable and reliable platform.
Lynch has figured in seven of Wagner’s nine wins (so has Hudson), and his overall form has been excellent.
The Welsh international reads the game extremely well and that means he buys himself time when making a challenge or intercepting an opposition attack.
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He is also fearless when challenging for the ball in the air, and he wins many of the aerial battles he goes into.
Lynch is also capable of causing problems at attacking set pieces and it’s a surprise that he’s scored only one goal so far this term, in the 4-1 home win against Bolton Wanderers.
Some of his goals in the past have been spectacular – hence the often heard chant of “shoot” when he gets on the ball in the opposition half – and maybe he should have more strikes on his CV, but those would be bonuses.
Lynch brings a physical presence to a Town team which isn’t the biggest and, when he is on the ball, he’s assured and doesn’t often waste possession.
While notable challenges will be thrown down by Nahki Wells, Dean Whitehead and probably Joe Lolley, I reckon Lynch has been the club’s most consistently solid performer, and the Hargreaves Memorial Trophy would sit very nicely on his mantlepiece.
