Huddersfield Town made five changes to their starting lineup against Millwall and the reshuffle paid off with the Terriers winning the game 3-0. The scoreline doesn’t reflect how hard Town had to battle for their three points against a talented and physical Millwall side.
There wasn’t a single Town player who had a bad game yesterday, which makes it a pleasure to write the player ratings.
Ben Hamer – 8 out of 10
Before the game I said he needed a quiet game today after some recent shaky moments but he was busy for all the right reasons. He commanded his area very well and got on the end of everything he went for. Pair that with a few decent saves and it was a return to top form for Hamer. He even played some great passes out from the back, picking out the fullbacks and wingers with 30 yard passes the way that Lössl was so good at doing.
Duhaney – 8 out of 10
He played like a player that was desperate to not get anything wrong, which is fine because he didn’t make a single mistake all afternoon. He made some good interventions and showed excellent recovery speed to track back when he’d ventured forward and play broke down. He was more cautious than Pipa typically is, which helped out defensive shape but meant he didn’t raid into the opposition half as freely as his Spanish counterpart. A good platform from which he can build upon.
Schindler – 7 out of 10
Stood up well to the physical battles and foraged forward to break up play regularly. He still looks slow when he has to run back towards goal but thankfully was never caught one-on-one so it didn’t cost us. He got away with a slightly dodgy rugby tackle in the box in the opening stages but luckily the referee didn’t blow. If the same incident occurred at the other end I’d have been screaming for a penalty.
Naby Sarr – 9 out of 10
A colossal performance on his return from suspension. He got his head on everything that came near to him and took a lot of pressure off at set pieces. He also helped with our build up play by moving the ball quickly and offering himself as an option in the early stages of attacks. The suspension may have been a blessing as he looked sharper for the night off mid-week and was a commanding presence.
Harry Toffolo – 7 out of 10
Had to do more defensive work than usual so wasn’t as dynamic going forward but still managed the odd overlap here and there. He also did well to tuck in and cover when Sarr made runs up field. It was a mature and disciplined performance in his 100th consecutive game, a milestone which is an incredible achievement that underlines his consistency and fitness levels.
Jonathan Hogg – 8 out of 10
Hogg loves these kinds of games and he made sure he was at the heart of the battle in midfield and managed to do the dirty work that provided the platform for his fellow midfielders to shine further up the pitch. Lots of grit, lots of snapping at the opposition’s heels and nothing too fancy, vintage Hogg.
Lewis O’Brien – 8 out of 10
This felt like the first time we saw the true Lewis O’Brien this season. His previous displays have been mired by heavy touches and a slowness of thought that comes with being rusty and lacking match fitness. He grew as the game went on against Millwall and his fitness levels and commitment were rewarded when his tireless running led to his first goal of the season. Hopefully we’ll see many more from him before the season ends.
Alex Pritchard – 8 out of 10
His snappy passing really helped to create space for his teammates high up the pitch in the first half. He was doing things with more speed than usual and avoided his nasty habit of slowing the game down by hogging the ball. It felt like he was playing off instinct more than overthinking everything and it benefited his game. I was gutted for him when he had to be subbed off at half time after an ankle injury, I hope it doesn’t keep him out of our upcoming games.
Adama Diakhaby – 8 out of 10
Wow! I can’t remember seeing such a huge difference from one game to the next. Diakhaby was actually very good at times in this game which is a remarkable turnaround from the dismal showing on Wednesday night. He looked interested, linked up nicely with his teammates and moved with intelligence off the ball when we attacked. His positioning and work rate when we don’t have the ball still needs some work but I was delighted with the improvement.
The highpoint was his assist for Koroma’s goal which capped off a wo derful team goal. You could argue that Millwall should have defended his header better but Diakhaby perfectly dissected the defence and gifted Koroma the chance to score. There’s obviously still room for improvement but there were signs he can fit in with this team which I didn’t think I would be saying after Wednesday night. He gets plenty of stick when he’s poor so deserves credit when he gets it right.
Josh Koroma – 8 out 10
Took his goal well and could have scored even more from the chances he created. I’m not convinced you could call him a striker but he did as well leading the line as you could expect from a winger being asked to play out of position. He was a thorn in the side of Millwall’s defence all afternoon and is attacking with intelligence and flair when he gets on the ball. There’s a swagger creeping into the way he attacks that I like to see, defenders are starting to back off when he runs at them and he’s taking advantage of their uncertainty by almost toying with them when he attacks.
Isaac Mbenza – 7 out of 10
Came very close to scoring when a curled effort went just the wrong side of the post. He looks to be enjoying his football at Town now and this has led to him playing with more freedom and creativity. His tracking back was also excellent and helped to keep things tight at the back.
Substitutes
Juninho Bacuna – 7 out of 10
Being dropped seemed to have a positive effect on him and his second half performance was very good. Less elaborate individually but more effective for the team. Carlos’ style doesn’t require individuals to win games single handedly, it needs every single player busting a gut and thinking collectively, Bacuna’s performance showed a better understanding of this principle than in recent games. Another player that showed a dramatic improvement from the Birmingham game.
Pipa – 8 out of 10
I suggested earlier this week that Pipa might be better deployed as a winger and that’s the role he took on when he replaced Diakhaby in the second half. His running with the ball drew Town out of their own half and stopped Millwall from building pressure in the closing stages. Whether his shot crossed the line or not is debatable (it looked like it didn’t from the replay but the angle made it hard to tell) but he deserved the goal for effort and skill to get into that position.
Frazier Campbell – 7 out of 10
Didn’t have long but still made an impact upon the game and added energy to the top end of the pitch. Did well to win the ball in the build up to O’Brien’s goal and generally made a nuisance of himself. I like the way Campbell plays when he comes off the bench. It’s like he’s trying to expend a full game’s worth of energy into however many minutes he gets on the pitch, it’s the last thing tiring opposition defenders will want to deal with.
You must have enjoyed writing that!
The player that most impressed me, I have to say, reluctantly, was Hogg not that he was anywhere close to “man of the match”, but he just fitted in and not too many laboured or displaced passes.
For a change we didn’t dominate the first ten minutes and fade, quite the opposite, confidence and something approaching dominance grew as the game progressed.
I was delighted Sarr played, I thought a three match ban was standard for a sending off, what a star he is. I think the rest of the team, as well as me, feel more comfortable with him in the side.
Finally, is it worth persevering with Pipa as the new Grant? He can certainly cut in and score with his right foot , he may be quicker, probably more skilful but can he take penalties?
Thanks Beck, I did enjoy writing this article. (Though I quite like have a whinge after a poor performance too.)
Completely agree about Sarr. I think he’s a player with some flaws but his positive attributes more than make up for them and he really suits our system. Full credit to the much-maligned recruitment team for picking him up for free.
I think Pipa has potential to be a good option on the wings even if his preferred position is at wingback. I’m not sure he’s anywhere near the finisher Grant was but I can see him chipping in with a few goals this season.
I mainly agree with you apart from your ratings of Sarr & Hogg. You’ve obviously forgotten Sarr’s woeful distribution in the early part of the match. That was enough to make 8 his maximum score. Hogg on the other hand was a revelation. I’m not a huge Hogg fan – he’s negative, his tackling at times wild, his passing not spot on, creates little and doesn’t score goals – but yesterday he was positive, passing forwards, prompting, creating whilst at the same time breaking up the opposition attacks, always making himself available to take the ball from Hamer. Best game he’s had in a long long time. I can’t quite give him 10/10 but he’s a definite 9 for me.
You might be right about me slightly over rating Sarr and under rating Hogg. With Sarr I’m willing to forgive those occasional shonky passes because he tries to make things happen instead of opting for the simple pass. Now I think back, he did play a shocking scuffed pass straight into danger once and on another occasion tried a through the eye of a needle pass from 50 yards that was never really on.
But Sarr gave the whole team a huge lift and his strength in the air nullified Millwall’s biggest threat. For that and some smart passing, I thought he was our best player.
Hogg was great and contributed a lot in his own unglamorous way. He looked out of sorts in midweek, so it was great to see him back to his best.
“Whether his shot crossed the line or not is debatable (it looked like it didn’t from the replay but the angle made it hard to tell)”
There can be no question that it crossed the line – that’s what the goal-line technology is for!
It’s at every Championship ground, so there’s no debate – it WAS a goal.
Oh, and my perennial gripe – it’s F R A I Z E R not Frazier 😉
I thought it was only in the Premier League they had the goal-line system but you’re right, it’s been used in the Championship since 2017.
Thank you for pointing out my mistake with Fraizer Campbell’s first name. I’ve been spelling it incorrectly since he joined and know have to decide whether to go back and fix it or not. Regardless, I’ll be spelling it correctly in future. I’m always quite snarky about other fans messing up names (such as calling them the Crowley brothers) so feel suitably chastened.
Ha ha! No worries. I always think – would I be annoyed if someone spelled my name incorrectly (as they frequently do!) and the answer would be “yes”, so it always seems to me that we should get names correct, Jams 😉
And yes, the Championship has had GLT for a while now. I just hope that the bloody awful VAR never gets anywhere near the EFL. Just let the refs get on with it and make human errors rather than the anger and frustration that VAR is creating amongst fans, players and managers.
Very good performance from all yesterday, a great defence gave us that step to take the game to them, Carlos played his ace in bringing Bacuna on when we were 1-0 up and let him run riot, dont know what Pipa is, defender? attacker? thats what will make other teams hate him, great to see us get a result at a ground that has done us no good at all in the past, the secret is of course to do it again on Wed. and Sat. there is slightly more talk of Carlos Corberan now. we just need to stick to his methods and tactics, and let him take us forward. UTT.
I was very impressed by Bacuna yesterday, dropping him seems to give him a bit of a wake up call.
Pipa looks like another great signing and helped us a lot yesterday. I’m happy for him to play as either a wingback or winger. Duhaney’s solid performance means there is the option to play him further forward, particularly in games where the winger is expected to do a lot of defensive work.
Very generous ratings in a good performance where, although we deserved the win the scoreline flattered us as it was quite close overall.
The back four/ five are starting to dominate opposition attackers where as before we looked soft and vulnerable.
Optimistic for the future!
I like your high rating for Ben Hamer. I just voted for him as BWF player of the month Sep / Oct. The way he has turned around his game since the last time he played for us is very welcome.
I thought he was awesome yesterday and thoroughly deserved that score. He’d had a couple of shaky moments in recent games so it was good to see him put in such an assured performance.
He’s not a bad shout for player of the month but thankfully there are quite a few contenders. Pipa, Toffolo, Koroma and Stearman could all be justified in getting it too. Considering what fans have said about him in the past, Mbenza is also doing very well.
Definitely not Koroma. Hats off to him; he gives it everything playing not in his natural position; but let’s be honest, a Jordan Rhodes or a Karlan Grant would have had a hat trick yesterday. It surely has to be Toffolo. I can’t think of a defensive error, and after all he is primarily a defender, and add to that his threat down the left wing, he’s scored and had an assist, played every match, 100 consecutive EFL matches. I rest my case, Your Honour.
Only one player in it for me – Toffolo. Defended well, attacking threat, a goal and an assist, played every match, 100 consecutive EFL matches. First name on the team sheet.