Huddersfield Town were completely blown off the park by their noisy neighbours at Elland Road on Saturday lunchtime. While it would be nice to reach for some sort of excuse to try to disguise the pain of being beaten by our near-by rivals, we were comprehensively outplayed by the better team. I’d even go as far as to say Leeds weren’t even the better team on the day but quite obviously a higher quality team and would beat the team Town put out on almost any day.
You could potentially reach for the consolation that Town won the second half, as Helik scored and Leeds failed to add to the four goals they put past Nicholls in the first half but you’d be kidding yourself if you thought that meant anything. While Town showed slightly better organisation and weren’t quite so wide open in the second half, Leeds also took their foot off the accelerator too and could easily have raised the tempo if they wanted to put us to the sword.
Here are some more detailed thoughts on the game…
Fullbacks the worst of a bad bunch
Nobody in a Huddersfield Town shirt came out of the first half of the match with a great deal of credit to their name but Tom Edwards and Yuta Nakayama had a torrid time. Edwards in particular was absolutely eviscerated by Sumerville, and it was probably one of the worst mismatches I’ve ever seen in a game of professional football. The Leeds winger got the beating of Edwards early on in the half, using his pace and skill to get past him easily. This became a regular source of joy for Leeds and Edwards looked, not for the first time in his brief loan spell at Town, like he was completely out of his depth.
Yuta Nakayama’s struggles with Dan James came in flashes rather than the relentless embarrassment Edwards suffered but he was still badly exposed when James found it easy to shrug off his marker and create the space he needed to shoot or cross without any pressure. I had the idea that Nakayama was pretty quick but this last couple of games he’s looked very sluggish and has been waltzed past by his winger on several occasions. He also doesn’t always seem entirely aware of where the danger is, and fails to cut out threats when a more switched on defender would know to at least make a foul.
I’ve already said that I thought Leeds were better than Town in every department, but I think it was their excellent wingers and our awful fullbacks that really swung the game in their favour. The pace and skill overwhelmed us and we couldn’t cope.
I’m a little bit concerned that Darren Moore left it until half time to address the problem of Edwards getting embarrassed by Somerville. We were 4-0 down by that point, so there was no chance of saving the game. While few coaches would have subbed a player in the opening ten minutes when they can see he’s not up to the assignment he’s been given, Moore could have made a tactical switch to avoid the one-on-one matchup of Summerville and Edwards happening quite so much. Moore talks a lot about the players being capable of playing more than one position, so he could have pulled Edwards back to the right of a back three, pulled Sorba into the wingback role he’s often played and then there’s at least a numerical advantage when we get attacked down the flanks.
As it stands, Edwards and Nakayama have shown themsleves to be liabilities on the flanks and should be dropped. But then again, their likely replacements, Jackson and Headley aren’t certain to be improvements either as both are capable of lapses and can struggle when up against quality opponents too. Though at least they have the pace we sorely lacked in wide defensive areas against Leeds.
It’s too early to be calling for Moore’s head
Losing games 4-0 and 4-1 in the same week is a bad week for any team and when one of those games is against your biggest rivals it’s even worse. But I don’t think Darren Moore is the main reason we lost this game. I think he made mistakes but even a flawless managerial performance wouldn’t have changed the fact that our players were nowhere near the quality of their opposite numbers and if every player is losing their individual battles there’s not much a manager can do from the sidelines.
While I’m not convinced by Darren Moore yet, I also don’t think you can blame him when our already thin squad has several key injuries and we were up against a team that was obviously better than us. In time I’d expect Moore to be able to pull off against-the-odds results against the league’s top teams but at this stage of his time at Town I don’t think he’s really got to grips with how to get a tune out of this squad.
Neil Warnock himself admitted earlier this season that we had a starting eleven that could compete with most teams in the league but when injuries creep in we would struggle and that’s why we had results like this one and last Tuesday night against Cardiff. If you put Rudoni, Koroma, Ruffels, Turton, Ward and Kasumu back into the squad then we’d probably still lose but we’d make a better fist of it. Until we see some of these experienced players return, Moore needs to work out how to get the players he has available into a system that can get points.
I’ve seen quite a lot of anger directed specifically at Darren Moore but the problem runs deeper than a manager that’s new to the role and is picking from a very limited squad of players. And I mean limited both in terms of numbers and ability.
However, I think Moore’s performance was also poor against Leeds, just as his players performed badly on the day. The only discernible tactical adjustment I saw him make in the first half was to rotate Harratt, Bergzorg and Thomas in the front three attacking positions. But he failed to address the huge issues we were having in stopping Leeds when they broke against us with pace.
I think we’d have lost the game with Warnock as manager but I’m certain he’s have not had us pressing so high up the pitch all the way through the first half when it continued to get exploited by Leeds. Equally, I think he’d have been more likely to sub Edwards before half time when it was clear he was having a horror show of an afternoon. It worries me how willing Moore was to watch Leeds tear us to pieces and change nothing other than fiddle with the forwards positioning.
Is it a good idea to try and play good football with this squad?
If I was Darren Moore I would be asking myself some hard questions before the Watford game next weekend. The board brought him to the club with a promise of bringing an attacking style of football to the club, but I’d argue that trying to play nice football is likely to be counterproductive until we can sign better players. If Moore wants to stay in his job long enough to build an attacking team, he may have to grind out some ugly results in the short term.
While the executives at the club might want to try and develop a more marketable brand for Huddersfield Town so they can chase a more cosmopolitan, global fan base, Moore is in a results business. Trying to get this current group of players to pass out from the back and build beautiful attacking moves is most likely going to lead to very few wins in the Championship and get him the sack before he delivers on the promise of attacking football. This team just isn’t good enough for that based on what we’ve seen lately.
We went to Leeds with a gameplan to try and play football, or at least I think that was the plan. I know our possession stats were awful but the team selection and the way we tried to get out and play suggested the aim was to get forward and attack Leeds. If I’m completely honest, we were so badly beaten, I don’t think you could really say what the gameplan was. But it wasn’t “park the bus” or even, “sit deep and counter” because we might have managed to soak up some pressure if we showed any signs of understanding Leeds’ strengths and trying to counteract them.
So, my honest feeling is that Moore may need to reel back some of his footballing ambitions and play a more direct type of football between now and Christmas. This doesn’t have to be overly negative if you make sure you have pace on the counter and move the ball forward quickly when you get it back. But we need to make sure we don’t keep conceding so many goals every game. These last two games have been embarrassing to watch.
Some begrudging credit to Leeds
I’ll finish by saying that as bad as Town were, Leeds were very good. I absolutely hate it when opposing teams start “ole” passing the ball around at the back, because it means that you’ve been so thoroughly beaten that the game isn’t even a proper contest any more and they’re conserving energy and toying with you.
It was deserved though, because Farke and his team had clearly done their homework on us and knew exactly where our weaknesses were and ruthlessly exploited them.
It hurts to say it, but they look like one of the best teams I’ve seen Town face so far this season. Even more so, after my bold preseason-prediction that they would go down. The good news is that Leeds fans are famously not ones to hold grudges, so I’m sure they’ll forgive me for mistakenly underestimating them.
There was a time when Town had a reputation for producing fullbacks. Your older readers like me will maybe go back to Ray Wilson (of ‘66 fame), then Atkins & McNab (the latter went for a record fee to Arsenal), followed by Parkin & Catlin (both broke transfer fee records to Wolves & Coventry respectively). The line went on; the reputation was established. And now look what we’ve got!?
As for Moore, I’ve heard & seen more than enough. He might well be a thoroughly decent guy but to me, from the moment he gave his first interview on arrival, he has sounded like someone who has eaten a coaching manual for breakfast – this is what you say when you’re asked what it feels like to become Town manager, this is what you say when can’t get a win for weeks, this is what you say when you finally do get a win but are actually mostly outplayed by lowly opposition, and this is what you say when you get crushed by your biggest rivals and are 4-0 down at halftime! “I take full responsibility.” Please tell me what that means. Please tell me what you have done to bring this about. Please tell me where & when you think Town can win another game. Town’s squad is massively substandard; we all know that; and it requires an exceptional manager to extract anything from it. Warnock managed it; Moore hasn’t and won’t. And to add insult to injury, Warnock appears to be going to QPR so they’ll be out of trouble pretty soon.
So, TS, I totally agree with you about the appalling fullbacks; I don’t agree with you that Moore has a future.
You’re right that Darren Moore is pretty unimpressive in the press box and that’s even more obvious when he’s following Warnock who was often far more entertaining in his interviews than his teams were on the field. In all honesty though, we wouldn’t care about his boring answers if he was producing results and performances on the pitch. Carlos Corberan was as dull as dishwater when interviewed but took us to the playoffs, so it didn’t matter.
I think there were errors of judgement in team selection in the last two matches. Against Cardiff Moore should have started with Lees on the left of a back three, with Nakayama at left back. Against Leeds he should have reverted to a back three with Pearson instead of Edwards.
I wasn’t unhappy with the appointment of Moore who has a successful track record as a manager / coach with an 47% win ration, and should be given time. We have flirted with relegation in 4 of the last 5 seasons with a below average squad and no depth. Warnock gave us hope and I personally would have given him another season. He played with a solid defence based system hitting on the break, and it worked. I think Moore has to swallow his pride and revert to this system until we have stability. However, neither manager cannot be responsible for individual player errors which has blighted many games, and a weak squad.
I wasn’t against Moore’s appointment based on track record but was quickly disillusioned when I heard what he had to say.
His problem is this. When you start any new job, particularly in a managerial role, how you start on that first day, that first week, probably the first month, that sets the tone, gains the confidence of your team, and most of all, shows them they’re backing a winner. That period is over for Moore. From hereon, with both the team and the fans, he’s going to face criticism and scepticism. He won’t be in post by the end of November as (a) results will demand a change, and (b) the Board will want to bring in someone new before the January transfer window.
It’s an interesting point, because there comes a point where you have to say a manager most likely can’t turn around a slump and needs to go. Personally, I feel like Moore’s not at that point yet but I’d like to see a bit more fight and spirit both from him and the teams he puts out.
I would have preferred we kept Warnock on for longer. I think he was too big a personality for the board to control though and they wanted their own man in. Now look where it’s got us! In fairness, Darren Moore’s CV was excellent before he arrived at Town and made sense on paper but so far it’s been a bit disappointing. I’m hoping he can turn it around and I think reverting back to a pragmatic approach like Warnock used could be the way to turn around results.
Moore doesn’t strike me as the sort of manager who is able or willing to do a tactical U-turn. I really do hope I’m wrong.
To be fair to him, he inherited a weak squad and it looks even weaker without Rudoni. At least he won’t need a decent striker because the team won’t be creating any chances!
I was not happy with Warnock being asked to leave so early in the season.The blame for Towns demise lays firmly at the feet of Kevin Nagal.He has not thought it through and now he has to suffer the consequences DM is hopeless this comes across in his post match interviews all he is describing is what has happened in the game.No tactics No personality he just comes across as a YES man
It seems bonkers to me that we had the most experienced ever manager at this level and got rid of him. Have most likely paid him handsomely for managing only a handful of games and now he’s most likely going to go and strengthen a relegation rival.
I’m not won over by Moore yet but it I’m getting the feeling I’m more patient than most Town fans. He’s been unimpressive so far but I’m hopeful he’ll improve given time and backing in the January window.
Only having seen the two Wembley games in last few seasons, am not really qualified to comment.
Was astounded that Warnock managed the impossible last season – and was seemingly on track to keep us above relegation zone this time. Assume he had the ability and personality to impose some kind of crude but effective ‘backs to the wall’ defence- based strategy, on a team of strictly limited abilities whereas Moore seems to apparently have a more ‘football based’ strategy utterly unsuited to the players at his disposal.
Also he seems unable to think on his feet and change strategy/personel during the game.
Whether he is sacked or not – now seems no easy way out – other than buying a whole new team in January, which isnt going to happen .
Does indeed look like a Nagle-created mess. If he ‘accepts responsibility’ will he buy a new team and manager by end of Jan…? Doubt it
The issues we suffer from have been coming for some time. How many seasons have we been looking for a player to score goals? Is our new manager up to the job, I would like to think so, but he has a lot of fans to win over. However, he has around 10 major issues, those being the squad of players we have. Personally, there are around two players I would keep, the remainder are drift wood. To continually remain halfway up the Championship, the squad is not good enough. Bumping along the bottom end is not what the fans expect, but sadly that is the reality. Blaming the manager so early into his tenure is not right. He can give tactics and try to change the game through the use of substitutes and on field changes of formation etc, but he cannot give players skills they do not possess. I don’t know if it was just me, but I thought the team lacked effort on Saturday. Here’s hoping improvements are on the cards. UTT.
Excellent piece at usual but it’s becoming difficult to use up energy thinking too much about the current situation. We are probably now in a worse position than before NW arrived last season and Town fans were resigned to dropping a league then.
Nagle burst our enthusiastic bubble getting rid of Warnock so early in the season and this situation will be like turning round an oil tanker even with urgent investment in the squad.
As a Leeds fan in Huddersfield, I originally commented on your prediction on Leeds going down in August which I thought was just total way off the mark and you could clearly see that today. Of course I’m not holding a grudge (the result yesterday speaks for itself) the issue is clear to see what is going on at Huddersfield. You have a board who are more obsessed with improving the stadium and taking control of anything around the ground to attract supporters to the club (and eat Marstons) as opposed to performances on the pitch (how would you keep these new areas around the ground outside of match days busy?) You have a Chairman who is always spouting off in public on Twitter (X) on various subjects for which he should keep them to himself. This Board thought they’d have sussed the Championship already so they got rid of the man who was making a limited squad play out of their skins and bring a manager in who does not have the personality, charisma and people skills to make these players over perform. Nagle and Edwards have totally deflated the hope and expectation of the season by casting Warnock aside way too early and wanting to build the area around the ground instead of the success on the pitch.
It seriously concerns me that our coach could not see in advance that the Leeds wide men would have far too much pace for our two full backs. Edwards in particular is obviously not fit.
Geoff, I have been saying for some time that our defenders lack pace. And the Leeds game showed up those frailties. HTFC always prided itself on its quality of defenders, not any more.
Personally I can’t bear to listen to DM’s match conferences he’s not very articulate and does not come across as someone who could motivate this team or any other come to it. Warnock is the only manager in football who can actually polish a proverbial. Only Nagel and his close aids could say why such a ridiculous decision was made to replace him with DM. The situation we find ourselves in amounts to nothing more than league standing and financial suicide. We had a manager who brought light to our club during dark times. He made the fans want to go to games, he created a buzz around the place we haven’t had since Wagner. He brought the best out of every player and more. Why destroy everything he created? Perhaps it was differences of opinion in the end or being too outspoken when fighting his corner. We the fickle fans are just left with the old lies, “had to move quick” the parting was amicable. Why should we settle for mid table mediocrity with NW when we can be involved in another relegation battle with DM. Suppose we’ll have to wait for Warnocks next book or stage tour to find out what really happened behind the scenes with him and “the American”.