Before Huddersfield Town’s game with Mansfield, I was doubtful whether our two wins before the international break were a flash in the pan or a sign of genuine improvement in the team. These doubts were put to bed against Mansfield Town on Saturday, when the game was effectively over when Lasse Sorensen lashed in our third goal after only 16 minutes.
Town played some lovely football in this game and weathered a minor fightback from Mansfield when they pulled one back and had a bit of a go. But Town looked pretty comfortable right through to the end and I’d consider this the best performance of the Lee Grant era, certainly in the league.
Here’s how I rate each individual player’s contribution to this impressive display…
Owen Goodman – 6 out of 10
Couldn’t be blamed for their only goal and otherwise didn’t need to make a save. His passing out from the back continued to be ambitious and risky but there were no major mishaps in this game. I’ve noticed that the rest of the team have learned to scramble to get into space when Goodman has the ball at his feet, because if they don’t give him an easy option he might just try a Hollywood ball to a marked man. That fear factor is probably helping us to play it out from the back but it’s still giving me kittens whenever he tries intricate through balls to marked men.
Lasse Sorensen – 8 out of 10
Maybe he was a bit lucky with his goal when it took a hefty deflection but deserved it for making the swashbuckling run forward and having a go. Was generally a useful source of width and dynamism down the right flank. The only thing blotting his copybook was his poor defending for their goal, where he seemed to get his feet tangled rather than making a simple tackle.
Josh Feeney – 5 out of 10
Booked for a cynical late challenge early on but at least he didn’t let his man past him. Maybe the booking played on his mind at times, as this wasn’t his best game for Town. The low point came for their goal, where he made one poor headed clearance which got sent straight back at us and then jumped under the ball and created the opportunity to score. He’s been good enough up to now to allow for an off day.
Radinio Balker – 8 out of 10
He’s such a nice player to watch with the ball at his feet. It looks like he’s seeing the game in slow motion, with how effortlessly he can move the ball around players trying to tackle him. His passing and his carrying the ball up the field really helped us to have possession in the right areas of the field. His defensive work was solid too and he completed the full 90 minutes. He’s now played in Town’s last three games and had one international game without picking up an injury. If he can keep this up, he could make a huge difference to our season.
Ruben Roosken – 7 out of 10
Made some intelligent under/overlapping runs to support Miller in front of him, as well as tracking back well in defence. The partnership between Miller and Roosken seems to be really blossoming the more time the pair have on the pitch together.
Ben Wiles – 7 out of 10
Busy and positive throughout even if he didn’t always get it right. One of the best features of Town’s plan in this game was the quick interplay between the forwards, with neat little triangle passing moves often helping to carve open space; Ben Wiles was typically one of the points (vertices for anyone who remembers primary school maths) of these triangles so he deserves a bit of credit. I’ve been quick to criticise Wiles lately but he deserves some credit for his performance in this match, even if he wasn’t the most eye-catching of our players.
Marcus Harness – 8 out of 10
Very effective at pinching the ball whenever there was a heavy touch, which really helped us to get possession in their half. He was man marked at times but worked hard to get into space so he could get on the ball. His distribution was excellent and he looks very at home in the centre of the park. While it was an injury crisis that saw him move to this position, it will now be hard for the recovering midfielders to force him out of this role.
Ryan Ledson – 8 out of 10
He played a clever ball to Wiles to start the passage that led to our second goal, though it came as no surprise, as he played dozens of similar ones throughout the game. Whenever he received the ball he would look up and try to play an early ball forward. It has to be said that his job was made easier because he had plenty of good options in front of him in this game but it was pleasing to see a more positive approach. A completely different player to the sad sack that was lolloping around the pitch only a few weeks ago. He also did a lot of ratting about in front of the defence and helped to keep Mansfield away from our back line.
Mickel Miller – 8 out of 10
A superb floated cross to pick out Radulovic for the opener, which I suspect was intentional rather than him just trying to get the ball in a vague area. He really should have scored from one of the handful of quality chances he was on the end of, one was saved at close range and another couple of long shots on his right foot from far out went pretty close but didn’t land on target. After expressing repeated doubts about Roosken’s credentials at left wing, Miller looks pretty comfortable in this more advanced position and even looks like he’s enjoying it.
Bojan Radulovic – 9 out of 10
Lovely far post header to score the opener, which gets better if you watch his movement in the build up to the cross, where he peels off to the far post and arrives at just the right time to nod it in. He followed this up with a selfless lay off to play Charles in for the second when most other forwards would have taken on a lower percentage shot themselves. Then he contributed another assist with a lovely curled pass from deep into the run of Sorensen, both the execution and the vision to pick the pass were excellent. It wasn’t just the beautiful side of the beautiful game that he did well; he showed good commitment to go into a challenge when it was obvious he was going to get a whack. He’s jumped out of similar situations in the past.
Dion Charles – 8 out of 10
Had quick feet to finish the second goal, the kind of chance he was fluffing previously but now he’s confident, he looks clinical in front of goal. OK, maybe a deflection helped him but, like Sorensen, he deserved the luck for getting into that position. He looks like a completely different player now he’s got a bit of confidence and was a real handful. Almost scored a goal-of-the-season contender with a powerful shot to the top corner but their keeper, who was excellent all afternoon, managed to keep it out.
Substitutes
Cameron Ashia – 7 out of 10
Full of running, as usual, which helped us to move up the pitch and took pressure off when Mansfield were having a better patch. While he didn’t have the success going forward that he has had in previous games, he’s still exciting to watch and is always looking to take on his fullback. He could benefit from looking up at where his teammates are on the pitch more often but it’s hard to begrudge him being a bit selfish when that approach has paid off pretty well for him so far.
Antony Evans – 7 out of 10
I expected his introduction to the game to be more about getting him some minutes in a situation where we were pretty comfortable and didn’t expect much from him. However, he was actually pretty decent and looked sharp. After we’d looked a bit leggy as the second half progressed, Evans injected a bit of impetus into our play which was much needed. His long range curler went pretty close too but just went wide of the post.
Joe Taylor – 6 out of 10
Didn’t do a great deal wrong but looked a bit frustrated and out of sorts, no doubt partly down to watching two other strikers play better than he has done lately.
Lynden Gooch – N/A & Leo Castledine – N/A
Both came on at 85 minutes and helped us to manage the game with some useful bits of possession but the only notable contribution was Gooch’s shot from range which almost went in.
This is more like it.
I’ll excuse you, TS, if your next piece entitled “Predicted starting XI v Luton” does simply say “Same again”. The only doubt must surely be overplaying one or two of the more injury-prone, they being the likes of Balker & Miller.
The introduction of Evans was interesting. It seemed to me that he, no doubt like others who now come off the bench, was determined to make an impact as otherwise, barring injuries, it’s going to be difficult for him to get a starting spot.
And what about May? The best he can hope for is a seat on the bench. He could pay a heavy price for his daft red card just as Goodman did.
I think you’re right that Grant will pick as many of the same team as Saturday as he can but too many are delicate flowers, so I’m expecting a few changes.
It’s really good that we’re getting these injured players back and have genuine selection headaches coming up. Not long ago it was a tricky job to pick eleven fit players from the first team. Our good run at the start of the season was partly down to how we were able to bring high-quality players off the bench to turn games. Hopefully those days will return.
May will have to bide his time to get a chance but I think he’ll eventually get back to starting games. He’s a quality player but also has the right fighting spirit and mentality. Taylor I’m less sure about, as he seems so frustrated when he’s on the pitch. Though with his pace and shooting ability, I think there’s a lot more to come from him when it all falls into place.
Excllent all round. Glad to see two strikers and no headless chicken high press. These strikers are good target men, can control the ball and shoot. Sorry Taylor, not much hope if you don’t improve.
The pressing does seem a lot more purposeful. Even in our poor spell, I got the feel we were still trying to press but there wasn’t that intent, so we were jogging up to opposing players rather than racing after them. I wonder if those GPS trackers encourage players to keep moving so their stats are high but don’t always translate to effective running.
Bojan Radulovic & Dion Charles the unlikely two up front making it work and contributing to play and unselfishly involving others to score goals, the team look much stronger with both these up front!
We can’t win if we can’t score,
Balker in defence or if need be move him to DM position as his vision and intelligence on the pitch is very good.
It’s been great that both Radulovic and Charles have found form at the same time. They’ve been pretty awful at times but it goes to show that there’s hope for players even when it seems like they’re not up to it. Though I wouldn’t want to see us give Diakhaby another go!
Balker in defensive midfield might be an interesting experiment. He’s definitely got the vision and passing ability. Though with his fitness issues, it might be a bit much for him to cover the amount of ground that position requires.
TS I have to quibble with vertices at primary level, surely GCE or GCSE dependent upon age!
Radinio Balker is a gift from the footballing gods. OK he did leave the team in potential trouble by losing possession during one of his surging forward runs, he could be more physical in some of his defensive challenges and he wasn’t even Town’s best player on the day, that honour, as your score deems goes to Bojan Radulović; but he is a positive influence on the team and a central defender who is a proper footballer. League 1 is definitely not his natural habitat, we need to get promoted or he’ll be on his bike.
For a very pleasant change the whole team was competent, some of the passing moves were a delight to watch, if the more adventurous forward passes had been more accurate the scoreline could have been even more emphatic.
As you suggested TS the retention of the front two paid dividends.
The left side was impressive, the right side might match them with the introduction of Kasumu out wide.
If we could arrive at Christmas with just one additional defeat at the most I will be very happy.
Balker does like a footballer that would perhaps be even better playing at a higher, more technical level of football. He’s not really built for the rough and tumble of League One and would almost certainly have left already if he had been able to stay fit for any length of time. While he’s ours though, he’s a very useful tool and gives us something very different. He does have weaknesses, as you mentioned but currently they’re more than offset by his better qualities.
It would be excellent if we could string a long run of positives results together. After feeling close to Grant being deemed a failure and having to start from scratch with a new manager (again) it is pleasing that patience has paid off so far and he’s looking a bit more like he knows what he’s doing.
Yes, at last the team has shaken off the cautious approach that has been dogging them; great to see them enjoying their football and playing with more freedom. My only concern is our defensive weakness down the right side; it has been clear, for some time, that Sorenson needs more back-up to support his forays forward – there is too much expected of him in his defensive role. The solution would seem straightforward by playing 5-3-2, particularly as we now have Balker being able to move the ball forward down the middle. I’m very pleased for Lee Grant in the way that he has answered his critics by producing the goods (just hope he takes note of my suggestion!)
Three at the back would be an interesting set up. It solve the problem of Sorensen often getting caught too far forward and allow Balker licence to bomb forward even more if he had more cover at the back. The tricky thing would be to make sure the wingbacks pushed high enough to give us proper width as it can be a bit stodgy when you play that shape, as we saw under Duff at times.
Square pegs in square holes. Incredible what a difference that has made albeit a formation (4-4-2) that was more or less forced on LG. Harness is transformed and Ledson is looking summat like. I have allus felt from Balker’s first game that he is a class above. Always has so much time on the ball & is assured and moves it forrrard. Given an injury-free run upper Champ-Lower Prem player. Like having an extra midfielder. Bojan a new man and credit to him for sticking with it. He has now adapted to the physicality of English footie. Charles ditto on sticking with it. . And the luxury of May on the bench! Evans showed some of his early promise : a languid player but two sublime curlers on Sat that were just inched wide. And then Mr “invisible” McGuane, what impact will he have when fit?
I just wrote in an earlier comment that I think Balker might actually be better playing at a higher level where the pace of the game is less frenetic and more technical. He does have the odd mistake in him though, but that could be more down to the fact he’s never played a good run of games to play himself into form. If he stays fit then he could help to get us out of this league, in which he could be a top-end Championship player for us next season.
Evans had a huge amount of potential when he was younger but never really fulfilled it. If he can get back to full fitness then there’s a lot of potential for him to be really influential for us. And McGuane should be an upgrade if he gets fits too. And there’s Kane on the long-term injury list. With a full set of fit midfielders it will looks like an embarrassment of riches. Which is mad, considering Harness is only in that position because we ran out of fit players and even the first make-shift option (Gooch) was injured before we stumbled across Harness as the solution to that problem.