Huddersfield Town drew their first game of the season against Wrexham last night, with neither side able to break the deadlock in an entertaining and hard-fought game. While a win would have been better, taking a point from a game where Town spent long periods under pressure shows a notable improvement from their recent slump, where they would crumble at the first sign of difficulty. It’s too early to say Huddersfield Town’s demons have been banished but this point at least shows that the team is capable of showing a bit of mental toughness when up against it. 

It was also nice to see Town ride out a tricky spell and then become the better team after a bit of adversity. It’s open to debate, but my impression from the game was that Wrexham were the better team in the first half, Town dominated the second half and overall a draw was a fair reflection of the game. 

You could look at where Wrexham were a few seasons ago and where Town were not too long ago and reflect that being a former Premier League club being satisfied with a point against a team recently promoted from non-league football shows a lack of ambition. I think that’s the wrong way to frame it though. Wrexham are second in League One and will most likely be up there towards the end of the season, in this game we showed we’re at least as good as them and getting a point at their ground isn’t to be sniffed at. 

A game of few chances

In a nil-nil game, there are usually a couple of crucial moments you can look back on and wonder “what if…” but this game was so tight that there weren’t a huge number of clear-cut chances. The best of the bunch for Wrexham was probably the one that forced Jacob Chapman to make a sprawling save low to his left, which he did well with. Another time Paul Mullin latched on to a route one kick from the keeper which he hit well wide and another time he got into a good position but Nigel Lonwijk performed one of his trademark Go-go-gaget-legs tackles to snuff out the chance. 

For Town I think Ben Wiles’ lashed shot over the bar may have been the best opportunity based on what we know he’s capable of, but the execution of the shot was so poor he made it look like nothing much. Bojan Radulovic had a brilliant cross dropped on his head from Oli Turton which he failed to direct goalwards but the pace of the delivery meant a goal was likely if he could have directed it almost anywhere on target. He also had another chance which was blocked at close range. Danny Ward was lively off the bench and had a cheeky flicked shot saved which was probably not really ever likely to go in but at least showed there’s life in the old dog yet.

Looking at the numbers, Town edged it in terms of stats with ten shots, three on target and an xG of 1.06 (suggesting if you add up the percentage chances of each shot going in, we should have had a goal) with Wrexham having five shots, one on target and an xG of 0.89. Not a massive difference and ultimately the scoreline is the stat that matters but I find this sort of detail interesting in tight games like this. 

Kasumu is growing into his role

One player that I think is worth singling out for Town is David Kasumu, who got through a lot of work in front of the defence, mopping up and breaking up Wrexham’s attacks. Wiles and Kane were comparatively quiet on the night but Kasumu, as the deepest of the midfield trio had a busy night and did his job well.

It’s impossible to talk about the defensive midfield role at Huddersfield Town without bringing up Jonathan Hogg but it’s testament to how well Kasumu’s playing that there is no clamour for Hogg to replace him despite the club captain being fit, available and sat on the bench every game at the moment. Hogg isn’t finished at Huddersfield Town yet but it’s pleasing that his role inte the team can be as a capable backup because we have a different type of player as our first choice defensive midfielder. 

At the start of the season Kasumu’s positional awareness let him down too often for him to be relied upon in the heart of midfield but I think he’s improved a lot in this area of the game. He seems to now have a better sense of when to sit and protect the back line and when to go chasing the ball to put pressure on the opposition. He’s not the organising force Hogg is by a long way but he’s not a headless chicken any more either. 

And while I’m comparing Kasumu and Hogg, it’s also worth considering there are things Kasumu can do that Hogg has never been able to do, like use a burst of speed to break lines when going forward or to get us out of trouble when tracking back. He’s also got the legs to keep running that Hogg no longer has too. So for now he’s the obvious choice at the base of midfield and Hogg can be the experienced backup who can drop in from time to time.  

Matty Pearson is finding a way to fit into this system

Pearson is another player who has improved in recent games. Duff was frank in recent interviews, where he explained that Pearson didn’t feature much early on because he thought he was poor in preseason. That criticism was tempered with fulsome praise for Pearson’s work ethic and attitude around the training ground, which most Town fans already know is beyond doubt. 

One thing I do think is fair to question about Pearson is his ability to fit into a new-look Town system that has more emphasis on defenders playing out from the back and generally being more comfortable with the ball at their feet. Watching Matty Pearson trying to play elaborate football is a bit like watching dog in a dress and lipstick, it’s just weird and wrong. However, Pearson has forced his way into Duff’s thinking thanks to Helik and Balker’s injuries and Pearson’s relentlessness and he’s done well when given a chance.

In fairness to him, I think Pearson is far better suited to the central position in the back three but he is still giving the right-sided position a good go when played there. Despite there being a bit of that dog in a frock weirdness to seeing him ranging forward and pinging balls around, he’s doing pretty well. There are fewer of those aimless boots down field that have previously been his trademark and he’s obviously getting with the program. There were several occasions in the game against Wrexham where he got fowrard well and linked up play with passes that weren’t sixty yard boots down field. Progress!

Most importantly, as well as having a crack at the stuff he’s not a specialist at, Pearson is doing the things he’s good at very well. He’s looking strong, dominant and commanding (which I think are all basically the same thing but said three different ways) at the back as well as providing us with a vicious threat at set pieces when we go forward too. Tom Lees has probably had four or five better chances to score from set pieces that he’s missed than the one Pearson buried on Saturday. I don’t know what it is Perason has that others don’t, but I always look out for him on set pieces because he’s a constant threat, just like Helik is too. Maybe it’s anticipation or desire but whatever it is, it’s useful to have. 

The press gives Town an edge if everything else isn’t working

Town didn’t play very well in the first half of this game, with Wrexham dominating the ball and our attacking players struggling to find space or even string many passes together for very long. One thing that really helped us out though was the pressing side of our game. Even if we’re not at our best in possession, we’ve always got a chance of forcing an error or unsettling an opponent when we collectively push forward and put pressure on the teams we play, which I think we did a decent job of against Wrexham.

While I think there’s still a lot of work to improve the in-possession side of Town’s game to make us an attacking force to be reckoned with, off the ball I think we are typically a pretty annoying team to play against and the amount of running we get through to get up in the face of opponents generally works well to make it hard for opponents. 

It didn’t provide us with a goal against Wrexham but there were a few opportunities that we forced from high pressing, where we won the ball high up the pitch and could have maybe done better with the ball. 

Fit, strong and organised were the three things Michael Duff promised at the very start of his time at Town. There might be more to come with some of these non-negotiables but I think he’s delivering a team that is mostly providing those things now. The trick will be to do it consistently over a period of time.

Playing against reality TV stars

It’s pretty rare for me to know more than a handful of the opposition players when I watch Town play a League One team, but because I’ve watched the Welcome to Wrexham documentary series I knew the majority of the Wrexham team. It was strange to see Town playing a team of players I recognise more as reality TV stars than actual football players. A bit like seeing us playing against Katie Price or Pete and Sophie from GoggleBox. 

While Ryan Renolds wasn’t in attendance watching the game, the documentary has given a small amount of star power to some of these players by the amount of screen time they’ve had. Seeing Ollie Palmer cleverly leave a throughball to let it run, I was thinking about the ill-fated clothing line he was launching in the last season. Watching Elliot Lee battling in midfield reminded me of him describing the experience of growing up with a famous footballing father, Rob Lee. And the heartwarming depiction of Paul Mullin’s experiences of parenting an autistic child make me have a bit of a soft spot for him, despite the fact his goals could be the difference between Town or Wrexham being promoted. 

So watching Town play against Wrexham showed how powerful documentaries can be at telling stories and building connections. The Welcome To Wrexham documentary series has no doubt helped to build fans of the club all over the world, which is unquestionably helped by the star power of the owners too but the story of the club is a big part of it too. 

There was talk about a similar Netflix-style documentary at Town. If the club are serious about reaching an international audience, that would be a shortcut to huge exposure but it would require a bit of bravery too as clubs can often come out of those kind of documentaries looking bad (the Sunderland Til I Die series on Netflix and QPR’s The Four Year Plan are examples I can think of off the top of my head, put yours in the comments if you know of others). Obviously as Town fan, it would be great to see a warts and all documentary of behind the scenes at Town. Though given how often Huddersfield Town have flirted with disaster over our history, it might end up being an uncomfortable watch.

Those walkout jackets

This is a football blog not a fashion blog but those jackets the players are wearing when they get off the coach are… something. I’m guessing it’s an attempt to build a bit of American-style razzmatazz and to make the players look a bit smarter. In fairness, I criticised the previous training gear they arrived at games at for looking like Kwik Fit overalls, so maybe I’m never happy. But these “varsity jackets”, paired with cream trousers and white t-shirts are a bit much in my eyes. 

I’m sure an American sports team wouldn’t feel self-conscious turning up to a game wearing this get up but if you watch the Town players’ faces in the videos as they arrive at games, they look mortified. I remember my brother having a expression when we were both made to wear hand-knitted jumpers as children to family parties. I’m no sports scientist, but I’m not sure putting elite athletes in cringe-inducing clothing is the optimum way to help them to get in the right mindset for crucial games. 

I’m perhaps overthinking it, but I’m hoping this attempt to flog the £130-a-pop jackets will be considered a failed experiment and the players will hopefully be allowed to return to their more sports-casual attire. Perhaps I’m being a miserable old man about it and these jackets and slacks are helping to foster a winning mentality but from the outside it seems to me that it’s making the players feel awkward and uncomfortable before matches and it’s potentially a sign of the club putting commercial interests before the players’ comfort. Maybe the members of the players’ leadership group could band together and speak out against this jacket and return to the Kwik Fit overalls. Or could the fact we’re unbeaten since switching to these jackets means we should keep them as long as this run lasts? I’d be curious to know other fans’ views on this obviously vital matter!