I try to be positive about Town even when we lose. Last week’s defeat against Norwich featured plenty of encouraging signs and I felt relatively positive about the direction Town are now travelling in.
Yesterday’s defeat to Brentford was different, it was painful to watch at times. The gulf in quality between the two team was enormous and we played right into their hands.
Please stop reading if you’re hoping for silver linings or glimmers of hope. This article is a rant. I might try writing something more optimistic later but this article delves into why we were so terrible against Brentford.
A game plan that couldn’t have won the game
When Danny Cowley took Town to Brentford last season he knew his players weren’t as good as Brentford’s, so he had to set up to be hard to beat. The result was an attritional but effective victory.
Yesterday a far weaker and less cohesive Town team turned up at Brentford and let themselves be mauled by their opponent. Our gameplan seemed to be to try and out football them despite our players not being close to being up to the job. It was the footballing equivalent of rolling over and letting them tickle our tummy.
I appreciate we’re a team in the middle of a major overhaul right now and this new style will take time to bed in. It’s just the way we offered ourselves up to Brentford and let them have their way with us was very disappointing.
Defeat was a certainty in this game. If Town played 100 times with these players and tactics, it would lead to a Brentford victory in all 100 matches. I was actually quite surprised it took them so long to open the scoring but this was mostly because of wasteful finishing and a patient approach from Brentford rather than any credit being due to Town.
A poor Town team
I don’t blame Corberán for the team he put out because he had virtually no other first team players to choose from. But this was a really poor Town team that turned out by any standards.
The front three of Diakhaby, Mbenza and Koroma had all been shipped out last season because they weren’t good enough. While it has to be acknowledged that the attitudes of Diakhaby and Mbenza seem much improved, their abilities with a football do not.
The midfield behind the front three was non-existent for long periods of the game, Brentford could play simple forward passes to get their attackers one-on-one with Town defenders. Juninho and Pritchard are both too unreliable to play in central midfield, so having them alongside each other in a game against a quality opponent is madness.
Lack of fitness
When Town went behind they had a flurry of possession in Brentford’s half which looked like we were building up to a period of sustained pressure. Then we didn’t.
It looked to me like the principle reason we couldn’t build up meaningful attacks in the final stages of the game was that the team collectively ran out of steam.
It’s also no surprise that Town conceded twice during this period of fatigue, as players lost their markers more often and the shape of the team went quite ragged.
I don’t think Huddersfield Town are unfit, I suspect we ran more in this game than most others last season because that’s part of the new approach. However, the fitness levels aren’t there for the team to play this way for 90 minutes.
Either fitness needs to keep improving or we can expect to keep conceding late goals when tired legs stop responding to the instructions they’re given.
Possession with no purpose
I can’t remember seeing a more one-sided game where the inferior team had the majority of possession. Huddersfield Town having 53% of the ball wasn’t anything to be proud of because it was nearly all in our own half.
The ball got stuck in defence and we rolled it around harmlessly. Any passing forward was easily dealt with by Brentford, so for long spells we didn’t seem interested in using the forward players we had on the pitch.
I think the move to becoming a possession-based team is the right thing but I’d like to see a bit more flexibility when it’s clearly not working.
Town had three lightning quick wingers at the top end of the pitch and Brentford’s defence were pushing up high enough to leave space behind them to exploit. Yet we tapped it around instead of putting balls over the top for Diakhaby, Mbenza and Koroma to chase down.
Lack of goal threat
This was the third competitive game of the season and Town are yet to score. That’s 270 minutes without a goal and very few decent chances to score in any of those games.
This lack of goals is a problem Town have had for at least three seasons and badly needs addressing. Unsurprisingly, selling last season’s two top scorers (when Grant does finally leave) and not adequately replacing them hasn’t made us any more potent in front of goal.
It’s so obvious that Town need to sign some quality attacking players that it’s barely worth talking any more about. I’m sick of writing about how badly we need to strengthen.
I’m not sure the issues with Town can be solved as simply as buying a goalscorer because there isn’t enough quality in our midfield to supply the opportunities to score.
It’s exciting to see Carel Eiting arrive from Ajax and he should be able to play the deep lying playmaker role. However, we most likely need more attacking midfielders as Bacuna and Pritchard have proven in the last two games that they are a partnership that does not work.
The Karlan Grant saga
It’s starting to feel like nothing is going to change for Huddersfield Town until we sell Karlan Grant. The negotiations have been trundling on for weeks now and seem to have completely stalled. Leaving Town unable to play Grant but equally unable to sign a replacement.
I wouldn’t particularly mind if the negotiations broke down completely and Grant stayed at Town beyond this window. I’m confident he would be willing to come back into the team and most likely score a decent number of goals. Not because he loves us but because he’ll want to show other clubs that they should come in with a suitable bid in the January window. As much as this outcome would benefit Town, I can’t see it happening.
What did you think of the game? Have I been too negative? Were there positives in this game that I missed? Leave your thoughts in the comments.
To be honest I’m past caring at the moment. I was unfortunate enough to watch us plummet from the top of Div 1 to second bottom of Div 4 in a matter of 3 years. This smacks of the 70’s all over again.
In the 70’s we had Drabble as Chairman, this time round we have Hodgkinson fiddling while Rome Burns
I remember our most recent time in League Two and I’m in no rush to go back there.
I have had paranoid thoughts about whether relegation is part of the long term strategy so we can play at a level where the academy lads can shine. That would be absolutely mad though, so I’m just over thinking things.
You’re not alone in thinking that I can assure you. Freezing SC prices for the next 3 seasons fuelled the mistrust as well.
Its not all doom and gloom – 3 key players to add to the team and hopefully once Grant leaves we will sign a striker.
True, that midfield is very different with O’Brien and Eiting in there.
Your memory is going … From 15th in top division to fourth division took four seasons …
A good, honest assessment. It doesn’t matter which system or style a team plays, if the players are not good enough they will not win matches. Eiting and O’Brien in for Bacuna and Pritchard and the introduction of Sarr would be a big improvement but that alone does not solve the biggest problem, not scoring goals. I think Stankovic would have fitted the holding midfield role under the Corberán system. Living in Lincoln I have several friends who are Forest season ticket holders and they think that Diakhaby is the worst player they have seen. He and Mbenza are simply not good enough and I think we are still weak in goal. Time will tell.
Cheers Terry. Agreed about Eiting, O’Brien and Sarr, they can all improve the team and give us more of a platform to win games. But we need players at the top end of the pitch that can score goals.
I’m trying to give Diakhaby and Mbenza a clean slate this season but neither have been great so far.
You need a goal in life and you definitely need a goal in football. Until we employ a target man up front who is an already proven goal scorer, we’re going nowhere. It’s vitally important, whatever system you are playing. You can’t get supporting players forward until the ball is held up, and therefore nobody ever gets played in behind the defensive line. For goodness sake do a deal with West Brom, it’s a no brainer. 15 million for Grant and we’ll take Austin in a player exchange deal, or as close to that as we can get.
Hard to disagree. I’d be delighted if we singed a player of Charlie Austin’s ability but I’d just rather it wasn’t him. I still haven’t forgiven him for that stamp on Lössl.
If Austin is the only available deal out there, I’d rather bury our differences than end up back in the old third division !
Im willing to give the new manager a chance, what i saw in the 1st half was a team trying to play one touch football and move it about quickly, just lacking the true belief at times and quality.
I knew Kongolos days were numbered as soon as Sarr came, its his direct replacement, a left footed central defender.
Sarr, Eiting and O Brien (hopefully not sold) will add more to what we have, and I think if we stick with the manager and he can get the better quality in to replace Kids and misfits, Im reasonably optimistic we will have plenty of good times.
I just dont know if we will get any further quality in additions.
I did say in an earlier piece i imagine we are basically going to stick with the front 2, which is very disheartening especially when Carlos said this week that was the plan. Neither are renowned goalscorers, and lack the quality to produce themselves and the wide attackers also lack the finishing ability, if they didnt it wouldnt be so bad, but we will have a 4-3-3 and the 3 upfront couldnt hit a bulls arse with a banjo from a foot away
Grant stays fine, if he goes then Phil has to give the manager a chance upfront, spend some money for gods sake on some quality, he will lose the fans he still has otherwise
Well said John. Spot on.
I completely agree about our forward situation. Having Campbell and Mounié last season wasn’t as much of a problem when they didn’t score because Grant was a consistent source of goals. We need a like for like replacement if we sell him, which will be very hard to do with the budget we’re working with.
I have supportedTown for around 65 years. I live in Australia and watch Town on HTV.
Huddersfield Town fans are loyal beyond belief, we have been served up utter rubbish with the odd flicker of a reasonable season thrown in once in a while then it’s back to normal service. The performance against Brentford was a disgrace. The pathetic square ball across the back four with the last pass back to the goalkeeper then a dodgy clearance to one of their players is so predictable.
At the moment I don’t blame Corberan or the chairman, the blame belongs to the recruitment team who should all be sacked.
It really is
Hard To Be Town Fan
Stephen Bates
Australia
Thanks for commenting Stephen, it must be even tougher to watch from so far away at odd times of day.
Our pointless possession was tedious to watch yesterday. Brentford’s crisp passing and movement off the ball showed us what we should be trying to do.
The bad signings from the Premier League days are still hampering our ability to move on. Hopefully we’ll see some move on this window.
I also have been a fan for over 60 years and have learnt to realise that we are unlikely ever to be anything more than at best a good Championship team. We may gain promotion to the Prem again at some stage but would be unlikely to sustain that position. Thank goodness for another Chairman with vision. Personally I agree with most that the Grant saga has to move on and we have to reinvest the money. Mbenza and Diakaby I am sure are trying but just not good enough. Kids have huge potential but need time. We need at least one more quality midfielder to replace Pritchard, a quality winger and a proven goal scorer.
Phil is a fan and will want to retain Championship status. He knows what is required and I am sure will get it but in these difficult times will not mortgage the clubs future.
Thanks for commenting Mike. I think you’re absolutely right about our transfer priorities being a striker, winger and creative midfielder.
It’s a fair point about Phil. As fans we want to see big money signings coming in but the books have to be balanced. I trust Phil not to gamble the club’s stability on a tilt at getting promotion. I just hope we invest enough to survive at this level.
Having been aTown supporter for over 60 years my aspirations are that Town should be a good top half of the Championship team, often reaching the play offs and the occasional promotion for a season or two in the Premier League. I would be happy with that and thought we would have achieved that with the Cowleys. The Chairman obviously has higher aspersions and thinks we should be a Premier League side.I hope that he is right and not just deluded. Time will tell.
Have you changed your tune? What happened to ‘I welcome Corberán approach. Possession, pressing and attacking wingers. But it won’t happen overnight. Town fans will need to be patient while it beds in’
I always thought that was unrealistic. But if you thought it then why the apparent change of attitude? Isn’t this the ‘being patient’ time? Where we ignore the pressures of defeat and stick with the team while it comes good?
I think the approach is right but I’d like to see a bit more flexibility in the tactics while we’re in this adjustment period. It was like walking into a punch to play such open football yesterday, we should have been more direct and tried to get the speedy players on behind.
I think the long term plan is correct but would like a bit more pragmatism in the short term while we’re adjusting.
What do you think?
I think we all love a rant but Town fans realise none of us could do any better than fail like Siewert with the team Corberán has to work with.
I think you need to stick to calling for patience and understanding while the poor bloke tries to make the best of the dreadful hand he has been dealt. It’s likely his dreams of pressing, attacking football are not achievable at this club this season and that, like the Cowleys, he has to resort to dour, unattractive, pragmatic and canny methods in an attempt to keep us in the division. He will need to prove himself better at that than the Cowleys if he is to succeed without their advantages of a decent keeper, striker and loanees.
It is beginning to look as if our temporary owner has even less regard for the welfare of our club than Ken Davy had. At least Davy needed to keep us alive to fill his stadium and fund his Rugby team. The buck stops with our temporary owner, not with our manager.
Good point about calling for more patience with the new Head Coach. He doesn’t currently have the tools available to him to succeed but I’m hopeful we’ll be busy before the transfer window closes.
Only time will tell if Hodgkinson is better than Davy or not. I think he’s more of a true fan than Davy was but doesn’t mean he’s an effective Chairman.
It’s interesting you call him a temporary owner, suggesting he won’t stick around long. I wouldn’t blame him for selling the club, can’t be much fun being mocked for being skint and getting personal abuse from “fans” alongside the more legitimate and deserved criticism.
The way he’s managing this club he will have the same difficulty finding a buyer as Rubery’s hand-picked successor had. We have been here before. Remember?
And anyway – all owners so far have been temporary. This one will be too. Only the fans are permanent. Some of them.
What’s the point of watching these matches,when you realise that as soon as the opposition scores, we will have lost the game because of our inability to respond with a goal! It is so disappointing!
Since he came in ,Corberan has done nothing except concentrate on defence and style of play. An attacking and dangerous side like Brentford have the right idea which the fans find exciting and on the edge of their seat. This is the current dilemma and which has been with us for the past 3 years. Why on earth are we sitting on our asses accepting this rubbish!
Quite frankly, my biggest hope was with the Cowleys who were constantly trying to improve an trying to inspire the fans. This current situation is nothing but a farce and will do nothing but lead to yet another relegation fight at the end.
For goodness sake, accept that we have a huge problem and DO something about it before the fans disappear in droves!