Huddersfield Town and Preston North End played out a completely unremarkable nil-nil draw on Saturday. It was the kind of game that the NHS could use as a cure for insomnia it was so devoid of noteworthy moments.
In recent times Town’s performances have always guaranteed either enjoyment of the football or bitter outrage at the lack of performance. This game wasn’t good enough to be entertained or bad enough to be outraged. It was a workman like but unspectacular display which is hard to generated any depth of feeling about. We just have to acknowledge it was a good point and move on.
Chess
While it was far from a thriller, there was a chess-like quality to the little battles being played out on the pitch. Both sides had periods where they dominated the other but never enough to make the decisive breakthrough. Preston just about edged the first half, with Town seeing little of the ball. The second half saw Town slightly more threatening until a late flurry from Preston saw them come close with a few speculative attempts. To use a piece of chess terminology – this game was a classic stalemate.
Danny Cowley deserves some credit for understanding the opposition we faced yesterday and setting up his team to get a result. The plan was most likely to be more of a threat going forward but at least the defence carried out their instructions and gave us a point that could prove vital at the end of the season.
Defences on top
This was a game where both defences were on top and goalscoring opportunities were minimal. Given the lacklustre performances at the beginning of the restart, it was pleasing to see a tougher Town defence and some of the grit we were missing.
Town produced a disciplined performance and it’s impressive that we restricted a team 10 places in the league above us to so few real chances. In fact, Preston did not have a single shot on goal all game.
A large part of this improvement can be credited to Christopher Schindler’s huge improvement over the last two games. The beautiful German looks to be playing himself back into form now and the whole defence looks better as a result. He received some justified criticism (including from this blog) after the Forest game but deserves credit for the character he’s shown in recapturing his best form.
Physical opposition
This was one of Town’s better performances against a physical team. We’ve struggled this season when we’ve come up against direct and pointy-elbowed opponents, so it’s good to see Danny Cowley has now got a tactical approach that can counteract this kind of threat. It mostly consists of soaking up pressure and looking for opportunities on the break. It might not be pretty but at least it got us a point.
I also liked that Cowley was positive with his substitutions today, both in the timing and the selection of players. He looked to freshen up the front line and give Preston some different problems to deal with. While these changes didn’t actually win us the game, it showed an intention to try and break the deadlock. Had we sat back and tried to cling on to a point it would have likely backfired, so this ambition gave us a stronger chance of getting something from the game.
Toothless attack
Preston had a well organised defence and our creative players weren’t able to find a way through them. We tried to play on the break for long spells but didn’t have the combination of speed and skill required to open up decent chances.
Tiredness was a likely explanation for our lack of cutting edge but it’s a problem we’ve experienced in plenty of other games this season. Emile Smith Rowe was probably our most threatening player when he replaced Pritchard but those around him didn’t seem to link up properly and ultimately our attacks fizzled out.
If Town survive, then the top of the shopping list, in my eyes, will be a creative force that can open up opposition defences. Pritchard should be this player for us but has not yet shown he’s able to consistently create goalscoring opportunities for our forwards.
Looking ahead
Town now have a massive week ahead of them. We could be safe by this time next week or back in the relegation zone and staring into the abyss (or League One, as it’s otherwise known).
Before yesterday I would have assumed that Reading’s players would have their flip flops on and we could expect an easy three points given they’re safely midtable. After they battered Luton 5-0 yesterday, it’s obvious my assumption was wrong and we’re facing a team in good form.
I’d be stunned if we were thumped in similar fashion on Tuesday but it may be another ugly, scrappy kind of game. That’s how I would approach it if it was Danny Cowley, try to stifle Reading and hurt them on the break. We can worry about playing beautiful football once we’re safe.
Have you just realised. Football is boring. It’s about the only sport except hockey where nobody scores for 95% of the time. In other sports such as rugby, basketball, tennis, even cricket, scoring is continuous. Most of the time in football you are waiting for something to happen and every so often, as in the Preston match, nothing does. That doesn’t detract from the game but you have to be prepared for no goals. Obviously there are skills to admire and the excitement of the nearly goals but the most important thing is that your team wins – at almost any cost. That’s the fascination of the game. So put this match in perspective. You can’t win ’em all. Just be happy with the entertainment and the fact that didn’t lose either.
Leyton Orient!