“Cumbersome and off the pace” – Player ratings for Huddersfield Town’s opening day defeat to Plymouth Argyle

Huddersfield Town came away from the south coast empty handed, after falling to a 3-1 defeat to Plymouth Argyle on the opening day of the season. It was a mildly infuriating result, as while the defeat was deserved, Town were the architects of their own downfall with poor finishing and sloppy mistakes the biggest factors in why they lost. Plymouth deserve credit too, because they exploited our weaknesses and finished their chances but this still felt like an avoidable defeat.

Having said that, there were some positives to be taken from the game. It’s easy to think the sky is falling in after this sort of result but there were glimmers of hope for optimists to cling on to in this performance. And I’d be genuinely stunned if we concede three goals as bad as that in a game again this season, as I can’t ever remember a Neil Warnock managed team being so easy to score against.

Anyway, here are my individual player ratings for this game. 

Lee Nicholls – 4 out of 10

As our best player and an experienced keeper, I’d expect him to have come and claimed the high ball into his six yard box in the build up to the opening goal. His positioning and reaction afterwards are also a bit suspect. He couldn’t do much with the other two and he made a few saves that you would expect him to make but nothing to really redeem the momentary lapse of judgement for the first goal. 

Tom Edwards – 7 out of 10 

Had a tricky time defensively, up against Plymouth’s Bali Mumba but  just about managed to keep him under wraps (the winger’s solo goal came when Sorba was marking him). I think he contributed well going forward, with some decent long balls forward to pick out our wingers despite the wind making it tricky to go long. His crossing was also pretty decent too, as well as his long throws. So there were a variety of ways he was helping Town to push forward and get the ball into the box. 

Matty Perason – 6 out of 10

Was having a fairly steady game until he went down injured in the 42nd minute. It looked worrying at the time, as he’s not the type to go down injured lightly but Neil Warnock confirmed after the game that it was only a dead leg. Whether this is bad enough to rule him out of future games will emerge in the next few days but at worst it would only be a short-term issue by the sounds of it. 

Michal Helik – 5 out of 10

I’ve been harsh on Nicholls for the first goal but Helik is probably more culpable for his role in it. His clearing header is abysmal, he had the option to put it out for a corner or nut it as hard as he could to get it away from danger. The indecision between him and Nicholls led to him doing neither and it looped up in the air. But when the Plymouth player picked up the loose ball and played it across the six-yard box he had a chance to redeem himself but got his feet muddled and laid it on a plate for Whittaker to tap it in. The third goal was unfortunate as we were pushing up and a good through ball left him in a foot race with a player much quicker than him, which isn’t something he can do much about, particularly if it was offside. Maybe he could have been tighter but I think the bigger issue was how we turned over possession in the build up to this goal. Helik’s score is better than his defending yesterday deserves because he got into a good position for Town’s goal and took advantage of Diarra’s shot that bounced off the post. While there’s a huge amount of luck involved in where that ball fell after hitting the post, Helik taking a risk by staying up while we were attacking gave us a better chance of it dropping in our favour, so he deserved the goal for being positive rather than trotting back to his defensive position at the first opportunity.

Josh Ruffels – 6 out of 10 

In a game where a lot went wrong and there were frequent individual errors, I didn’t see Ruffels make any significant mistakes. On the other hand, he wasn’t nearly as effective on our attacking game as Edwards was on the other side of the pitch. So it was a bit of a nothing performance, fine but not much more than that. His pass success rate of 58% was a bit below the team average, but I think that was more down to him needing to boot it long to relieve pressure at times rather than him being wasteful as such. 

Rarmani Edmonds-Green – 4 out of 10

A bad day at the office for REG, as he looked cumbersome and off the pace in the middle of the park as a central midfielder and possibly even worse when he dropped back to his supposed preferred position of central defender after Person’s injury. He let the game pass him by far too much in both roles and was guilty of backing off so much for the second goal that he was too deep to offer any barrier to Mumba’s journey towards goal. I’m willing to believe this was just a poor game, not that he’s a poor player, so it’s not time to write him off yet. I think Warnock may have expected too much from him to be the midfield anchor, as he’s only ever looked good in this role when man-marking an opposition dangerman. Someone on Twitter recently pointed out that at 24, he’s no longer an exciting prospect and needs to be showing that he’s capable of performing at this level. I think this game was a blip but it would help his career and the team if his next outing for Town was considerably better than this, otherwise he may find himself struggling to get game time.

Jack Rudoni – 6 out of 10

Rudoni was a bit like Ruffels, he didn’t influence the game as much as he could have done but at the same time, he also wasn’t at fault for any of the goals either. I think he struggles to get on the ball in the early stages of the game but I feel like I saw more of him as the game wore on. He also did a lot of thankless running, to fill up the box and offer options for colleagues when we attacked and was often not played in. His big moment came when he was picked out in the box in the first half and got underneath the cross and ballooned it over. I think the wind made it harder to judge the flight of the ball in his defence but it was the sort of delivery that would have had Andy Booth kicking his lips when he was in his prime.

Brahima Diarra – 7 out of 10

After a dreadful start, where he gave the ball away three times in two minutes, he settled down and became our main creator in the final third. He’s  frustrating at times because his tricks and runs often don’t come off but he’s a nightmare for opposition defenders because he’s so unpredictable and it was a decent shot of his that struck the post and bounced out for Helik’s goal. He also did well to press the keeper into a mistake which gave him a straightforward chance to score but he didn’t finish it off, so the good work he did came to nothing. I can see Diarra being a huge player for us this season because he’s for something about him but he just needs to back up his skill with a bit of focus on getting goals and assists.

Sorba Thomas – 5 out of 10

Could easily have been a seven out of ten had it not been for his “defending” for their second goal. He let Mumba past him too easily and then casually gave up the chase when the obvious “you’ve got to die for three points” strategy would have been to hack down the speedy winger, take the booking and keep the score at 1-1. That aside, some of his deliveries into the box were pretty good. Some of his dribbling was a bit iffy. His set pieces were about 50/50 good and bad, maybe slightly better than that. So a proper mixed bag. I’ve seen the screenshot that’s doing the rounds that looks like he’s complaining about the plane he’s flying back on, but without knowing the full context, I’m not going to swell on it too much. I suspect it was a joke that didn’t land quite right or a silly throwaway remark – either way, it’s not worth dwelling on the social media ramblings of an “uncomplicated lad”.

Danny Ward – 6 out of 10

A fairly classic Danny Ward performance, he did a lot of running but didn’t get a lot of service. The one time a quality ball came his way was when Pat Jones picked him out in the six-year box and he managed to direct the ball towards the goal and forced the keeper into a point-blank save. Other than that, it was a quiet afternoon in front of goal and a lot of huffing and puffing away from the danger zone. 

Josh Koroma – 5 out of 10

Lost possession in a dangerous area to allow the counter-attack for Plymouth’s third goal, which was a killer blow for Town. He also dithered too much in the first half when the ball fell nicely to him in the box – he had time to chest it, take a touch, shoot and still couldn’t hit the target. 

Substitutes

Jonathan Hogg – 7 out of 10

Even though he’s been injured for most of preseason and just got thrown into this game without any “minutes in the tank” from friendlies, he was still one of our best players. It felt like we had a grown up in the middle of the park, after having very little presence before he arrived. I think it was probably a bad idea in terms of his recovery and fitness to have given him so many minutes but swapping REG for Hogg in defensive midfield meant we had more bite and gave Plymouth less time on the ball. I also felt like Hogg being on the pitch improved the performance of those around him, as he is an organising force that is constantly dishing out instructions and giving out tellings off to anyone that isn’t where he wants them to be. It’s a worry that we’re still so reliant on a player that isn’t likely to remain fit for 40+ games anymore.

Ben Jackson – 6 out of 10 

Didn’t do a great deal, either right or wrong when he came on as sub and was given a go as a right winger. 

Pat Jones – 7 out of 10

A very impressive cameo, whenever he received the ball he ran directly at Plymouth’s defenders and tended to make them panic. He’s quick, skillful and very direct. The best chance he created came when he got to the byline and cut it back for Danny Ward to fire at the keeper from close range but was saved. Hopefully he’ll get a full game against Middlesbrough on Tuesday night. 

Kian Harratt – N/A

Only managed three touches in his time on the pitch but interesting to see that he was preferred to be brought on over Hudlin for this situation. I don’t know if there’s a pecking order for the two young strikers or if Warnock might just judge the situation and choose which one is better suited.