Five-nil? Really? Yep, Huddersfield Town beat Port Vale 5-0 on Boxing Day thanks to a good Town performance colliding with a woeful Port Vale team. It feels a bit miserable to overly focus on how bad Port Vale were though and it was Town’s good play that helped to expose their frailties. And while they really did stink, this was their heaviest defeat of the season, so we’ve battered them more than any other team they’ve faced.
This result puts Town’s season in a strange sort of limbo. Prior to the last two games, Town could be easily written off as enduring another bad season with another failed managerial appointment. But two strong performances against admittedly weak opposition have stoked up a bit of hope in Town fans. Without knowing what the rest of the season holds it’s tricky to know if this is the start of a turnaround or just another false dawn.
Here are a few of my thoughts on this game…
Castledine – WOW!
The Chelsea loanee has really blossomed in the last month or so, scoring seven goals in seven games, most of which have been brilliant goals too. After looking a bit lightweight and ineffective at times early on, he’s gone from strength to strength in the last couple of months and is now enjoying a brilliant streak of form.
Port Vale went into complete panic stations whenever Castledine got on the ball and he seemed to swagger past them at times, not having to use much skill to beat a man because they were so willing to let him past anyway.
I can’t remember enjoying watching a loanee play for Town this much since Emile Smith-Rowe helped us stay up in the Danny Cowley season. Like Smith Rowe, when Castledine gets the ball I sit forward and expect something to happen. Seeing attacking footballers getting on the ball and playing with freedom is one of the best bits of watching football, so it’s felt like a treat to watch Castledine lately.
The big question among Town fans is: how long will we get to keep watching Castledine in a Town shirt? More optimistic fans hope we can secure his services for the long term with a permanent deal but the pessimistic/realistic ones are more worried that he’ll be recalled in January rather than seeing out the full season of his loan.
I’d love to be wrong, but I just can’t see Chelsea being willing to sell him for a fee we’d realistically be willing to stump up. Then there’s the fact that the player may not be willing to settle for League One football when his recent form suggests he’s capable of playing at a higher level.
We’ll find out whether he’s staying or leaving in the next few weeks but for now, while he’s still a Town player, I’m going to just enjoy the minutes he plays for us and not worry too much about what the future holds.
Too easy?
Watching Town dominate a game and win by a large margin was a bit of a Christmas miracle but the actual experience of watching the game wasn’t quite as much fun as I would have expected if I’d seen the scoreline. While we scored some lovely goals and played very well, the game as a contest was a bit dull because it was effectively over as a contest within the first five minutes, as our early goal knocked the stuffing out of them.
Winning by five goals and keeping a clean sheet was very satisfying and good for our goal difference but I think the novelty of this sort of game would wear off if we did it regularly. My favourite types of games are the ones where you win 3-2 after coming from behind with a last-gasp winner. Seeing two well-matched teams cross swords and your team coming out on top is a much more enjoyable afternoon than hammering a team that roll over and let you tickle their tummy.
Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed seeing us win handsomely but the game as a spectacle wasn’t great because Port Vale offered so little. This was compounded by the fact Town, once they were comfortably in front, took their foot off the gas and managed out the game rather than going after more goals. There’s some sense to controlling the tempo and flattening out the game, as it conserved energy during a time with a lot of fixture congestion. But the last half hour was one team going for damage limitation and the other protecting their clean sheet.
So, it was nice to see us spank a team and score plenty of goals but I think I’d get a bit bored of this sort of game if I supported a team like Man City that can go on long runs without ever looking like being put to the test. Lucky that I support Huddersfield Town then, where these sorts of games only come around every five or six years.
Why are Town now looking good?
There feels to have been a bit of a shift at Town in the last few weeks and we seem to be playing a lot better, what’s happening? The aggregate score of our last two games is 8-1 in our favour, so something is going right, what might it be? Here are a few of my thoughts:
- The pessimist in me wonders if we’ve just come up against two very poor teams at just the right time. Rotherham and Port Vale have been woeful in their games against us, with only Exeter coming close in terms of how bad they’ve been. Funnily enough, Exeter away was probably our best performance of the season prior to these two games, which suggests we’re a team that enjoys themselves when up against weaker opposition.
- Switching to a back three looks to have helped too. After all Lee Grant’s technical talk in the press, he’s playing a shape and system that is remarkably similar to Michael Duff’s preferred wingback shape. It’s not a revolutionary system but three central defenders mean mistakes are easier to recover from and having most of your players in the middle areas of the pitch makes it harder for opposition teams to play through you.
- The above tactical tweak only works though if you can still be an attacking threat and thankfully, regardless of system, we’ve had some of our attacking players hit form at just the right time. Bojan Radulovic has been superb lately, Castledine plays like a ringer we’ve brought in from a higher level (which I suppose he technically is) and players like Gooch, Harness and Ledson have all stepped up lately.
- While we’ve still not got Redmond, Alves, Kane, McGuane, Evans, Whatmough and Miller available to us, the injury situation has improved since a month or so ago, when we were back to having double figures of first team players unavailable. Having genuine competition for places really helps keep players in the first team on their toes and means we don’t see our quality dip when bringing subs on. Much of our early-season success was down to having high-quality subs that swung games in our favour late on. With Kasumu, Sorensen, Roosken, Charles and Ashe coming off the bench in this game and Taylor not even getting a run out, it’s clear our strength in depth has improved lately.
- I think another factor in our improvement has been that we’ve been able to pick players that are more technically able with a football. I couldn’t confidently describe exactly what Lee Grant’s style of football is but it does require players to be able to take the ball in tight spaces and move it quickly and accurately. With Harness in midfield, Balker in defence and Radulovic up front, our recent lineups have had players more comfortable on the ball in key areas, which helps us to build attacks and get into good areas on the pitch. It may seem obvious to say we’re playing better because we’re able to field better players but I’m talking more specifically about the ability to master the more technical side of the game.
Who’s Barmy Army?
I am almost certain that I heard the Cowshed singing “Lee Grant’s Barmy Army” during the closing stages of this game. It wasn’t exactly a full throated chant from the whole stand but it was loud enough to carry to me in the far side of the Riverside stand. What a nerve! The same section of the stadium that was saying his football was poo and he should be sacked the following morning in literally our previous home game were now declaring themselves the same man’s “barmy army”.
Having written the above, I now wonder if those fans were singing ironically and mocking themselves for being so critical of the manager. Or maybe this barmy army is genuinely barmy, so much so that they’re willing to sing about how much they hate someone one week and then sing about how much they love the same person less than two weeks later.
My personal feelings about Lee Grant’s job performance are a little bit less changeable. These last two results have been encouraging but they follow a really terrible run of form. We don’t know how close he came to losing his job but if the stories about us approaching a manager in the German second-tier were true then it sounds like he was hanging by a thread. These two wins should buy him a bit of time but we need to build on this.
Maybe I’m being greedy but I don’t think I’ll be signing up for Lee Grant’s Barmy Army for a good while yet. The problem we’ve had this season is that we’ve lost every big game we’ve been involved in. Convincing victories against bad teams helps to keep the points building up in the league table but if we’re really hoping to do something this season we’re going to have to start beating the league’s better teams too. Games against Stockport, Bradford and Luton are all coming up in January, if we get a decent points return from those games then I may well take a trip to the recruitment office to join Lee Grant’s Barmy Army.
Any other business
Shirt stripes not continuing onto the back – As a fan of a team that wears stripes for their home kit, I really disliked Port Vale’s striped away kit. The stripes didn’t continue onto the backs of the players’ shirts, making them look cheap and tacky. Obviously, this makes it easier to read the number on the players’ backs but I have hated every Town shirt that has done this and also hated Port Vale’s. And I can always tell it’s been a good game for Town when tiny things like this wind me up.
We can see you sneaking out – Bojan Radulovic scored our third goal on the 32nd minute of the game and it prompted a mass exodus from the away end. Maybe they’d all synced their bladders and needed the facilities, or perhaps more likely, they needed a stiff drink under the stands to settle their nerves. However, I suspect the bulk of those away fans climbing the stairs didn’t return and decided to rescue their Boxing Day by getting as far away from this game as possible as quickly as possible. With the vast number of coaches Port Vale brought with them, it also occurred to me that some fans may have left the game early to either sit on an empty coach or wait in a cold car park rather than watch the team they love.
Fan behaviour – I found it a bit surprising that there was some backlash about the message that was taped to some fans’ seats for this game. Apparently some people have been using foul, abusive and discriminatory language in the stadium as well as vaping in the stands. Some may see this polite message as an attack on their freedom but it seems to me more like a harmless reminder for people to behave themselves at the game. I doubt this sort of thing would have been posted if it was just general “swearing” as that’s fairly common at games, the abusive and discriminatory part is the bit where some are crossing the line. Nobody wants football to be sanitised to the point where going to a game feels like a trip to Alton Towers but I also think it’s important football is a place where people feel comfortable bringing their kids without the risk of having to explain a range of new vocabulary to their offspring on the ride home. Vaping in the stands is pretty gross too, I’d rather not inhale a cloud of vapour that was inside someone else’s lungs moments ago, particularly when it smells of some sickly sweet flavour. Thankfully, in the Riverside stand it’s mostly grumpy old men and it would take a cattle prod to get an atmosphere going.
Credit to Grant for changing the formation, especially playing 2 up front. He’s not an experienced manager but hes learning on the job.
We have some lower and some upper placed teams coming up in January, let’s see where we are at the end.
I think you’re right that Grant has shown some flexibility and adapted as the season has gone on. I think he had complete confidence in the system we started with in the summer (probably because it was based on what worked at Ipswich) but this switch to three at the back seems to have made us better. My concern is that we lack the creativity and flair that natural wingers bring but Castledine’s form and our lack of fit, specialist wingers means that 5-3-2 is probably the best option for now.
My personal highlights from the last two performances – three sublime touches from Radulovic.
1 Chest control on the run, the hold up, then a sublime lay-off pass into the stride of Gooch for Gooch to score. It reminded me of Geoff Hurst, 1966 World Cup, semi-final v Portugal, Hurst battles for the ball, holds it up, lays the ball perfectly into the stride of Bobby Charlton to thump the ball home.
2. The vision and the execution of the crossfield ball to Roughan who lays it into the stride of May who scores.
3. The backheel one-two with Castledine who requires no second touch to score.
What conclusions do I draw from these highlights?
1. Having ‘a big lad’ upfront is great when he’s in form.
2. The role of ‘the big lad’ is not just about his goal tally.
3. One of my biggest beefs is often about the standard of passing in League 1. Quite apart from the inaccuracy of passing failing to find a teammate at all, all too often you see the ball played TOO straight to a man, losing that valuable second enabling a teammate to escape his marker and momentum maintained. These 3 examples highlight how it SHOULD be done. In all 3 cases, the receiver didn’t have to break stride, in 2 cases the recipient only required a single touch, and in all 3 cases a goal was scored.
Of course Castledine deserves lots of praise for his recent performances, as does Gooch and Harness, but for me, Radulovic has been the biggest difference.
Thanks Simon, a similar comment about Radulovic on the player ratings article saw me bump him up from an 8 to a 9. He’s like a completely different player to the one we saw for most of the last two years. He really suits the intricate passing moves that we try to pull off and his ability to receive the ball under pressure and quickly move it to a better placed teammate is a large part of why we’re attacking better.
I also think he’s benefiting from having quicker players around him who are willing to make runs past him. If he’s a lone striker and he drops off without any runners going the other way, everything he does becomes easier to manage. With May, Castledine, Gooch and Harness all being willing to move for him, he’s suddenly looking far more dangerous.
Astute comments on top of TS’s observations. Great stuff!
Towns pre season, was probably the best for years. Playing well against top opposition. Bo looked stronger, nasty and his stand up play was really good . So why did Grant start the season and change , to 1 lone striker up front . I thought Jay Sway was very good as well . Plus Asha and Vost plus a few others . These players are fleetingly used, mostly from the bench now. ?? .Start of the season Huddersfield looked Good ready to take league 1 on . Ok started not bad. After 4 or 5 games , the wheels fell off . Winning starts from having a solid defence . Which in the last 4 games , appears to be working. All though we shall see in the weeks to come against Top 6 opposition . How good our revival is . Interestingly Grant as changed Huddersfield’s formation , to 3-5-2 ?
A Duff formation.!! . Interesting point raised by fellow Town fans, not playing Goodman at all . Bearing in mind, his disastrous mistakes have cost Town , at least 10 points. We would be in second place now. !!!!
UTT- ⚽️⚽️⚽️⚽️⚽️
The most obvious change that I am surprised is that you have overlooked that Town have stopped tippy tapping the ball out of defence.
As for fickle fans chanting Lee Grant’s barmy army, I think you need to consider that the only people appearing to want LG be shown the exit are the toxics and social media who like to stir things up with talk of staff being under pressure of the sack. I certainly haven’t heard anything along those lines coming out if the club. Rumours are just rumours
Hmmmm my comments seem to keep being removed for supporting LG. So let’s just mention the other bits.
The most obvious change in tactics in the last two games is that Town have stopped the tippy tappy football out if defence and hoofed the ball out of defence.
Hmmmm my comments seem to keep being removed for supporting LG. So let’s just mention the other bits.
The most obvious change in tactics in the last two games is that Town have stopped the tippy tappy football out if defence and hoofed the ball out of defence. A blind man can see that, so let’s quit the technical guff and keep it simple rather than trying to make a science out of it.
I only ever edit comments if they include swearing, so I can promise you I’ve not censored any of your posts. Maybe it’s a technical problem at your end as all your posts have been published when I check from my browser.
Only one defeat in our last 6 league games and a win tomorrow could put us into the playoffs. I cannot remember the last time I saw the sort of quality attacking play we saw against Port Vale. The confidence going forward was a joy to watch. The last 30 minutes would have been a better watch if we had kept pushing but with the game won it was sensible and a clean sheet is another confidence boost.
It is easy to knock Grant, and I have done it myself, but even with the chants after the Wigan game he kept the same starting lineup except for swapping Charles for Radulovic and has them playing really well. Bojan is a revelation. The back 5 seem to be gelling, Ledson looks like a decent footballer and Castledine and Harness must be scary for the opposition.
They need to maintain this confidence as the games get tougher. I do hope we keep Castledine but I fear we won’t.
Seasons greetings T.S
Many thanks for your last two pieces I think we all miss your in-depth analysis when you don’t publish a piece of journalism. From my perspective at the I/2 way stage I am still not sure what’s to come going forward. I will be at the end of January after we have taken on Stockport and Lincoln away and Bradford at home. These are the teams to get points from to define our season and frankly we haven’t been able to do that yet.we really are the proverbial curates egg top scorers in the division currently the attacking football promised so well done LG on that front but almost the worst defense. If only our defence had just been average we would be well into the play off positions.
It’s interesting looking at our defensive players I don’t think any of them as individuals are poor but as a collective at times it just hasn’t worked. Often just one lapse of concentration has been the catalyst for collapse. It does look better at the moment and have always thought Balker like Radulovic had what it takes and is a different option to Feeney and Whatmough.
Fingers crossed that we keep Castledine. Marcus Harness the nearest player we have had to Aaron Mooy, able to hold the ball in the tightest of spaces, great work rate and does have goals in him just needs a little more luck. Necessity or a LG stroke of genius brought him to mid field but it’s worked well and I think he is part of why the team plays better.
Three more points today would be great. Happy New Year to all on the blog and keep the faith!
Interesting comments and I wholeheatedly agree but I would like add a little about the goals for and goals against column.
People want attacking football, me too. I go to watch Town score goals, but does cavalier football make for defensive exposure? Do wingbacks leave gaps at the back?
Getting the balance right is the tricky bit I fear. Balker has always shown he is a class act when fit but the reason he plays at L1 level is because he also has an error or two in him and he isn’t the only one. Miller is another case in point, an excellent player with injury after injury. Dont get me started on Rhys Healey.
As for Radulovic – Town signed him at the end of the domestic season in Finland – he will have needed a rest but instead he joined Town mid-season. Again injury followed injury. He didn’t get a run in the team, 5 minutes here, 10 minutes there. He had a good pre-season this time, but started 4th choice (would have been 5th choice if Healey had been fit?). So all credit to the lad. Maybe Town have too many strikers and rotation means none of them got a run. I have no doubt Taylor is class, I’m less sure about Charles. But one thing I am sure is that we need at least one taller player starting, and that has to be Radulovic.
So what’s my point? I haven’t really got one. Just observations.
You have turned the conversation onto injuries. It’s an interesting topic – I’m sure TS would do the subject justice in a future blog. I’m sure we all have our own theories as to why players these days suffer more injuries than in days gone by. And before anyone says “that’s a myth”, it absolutely is not. I could cite many examples but let me take a Hudds Town stat as a starter. Promotion year 1969-70; there were 42 league matches plus FA & League Cup (albeit we didn’t have much of a run in either); of the starting XI, 7 played in all 42 league matches, another (Trevor Cherry as it happens) played 40 and another (Jimmy Lawson) played 38. Those were the days of only 1 substitute allowed. Show that stat to the likes of Healey, Miller, Balker & Co (sounds like a Huddersfield firm of solicitors!).
First clean sheet for weeks. Unless the defence becomes watertight – no chance.
The Northampton keeper needs more tactical work – needed the trainer for injury to his ribs on the right hand side, the trainer then proceeded to work on his left leg