“Functionally useless” Player ratings for Huddersfield Town’s stalemate with Burton Albion

Huddersfield Town drew their first game of the season on Saturday after finishing Saturday’s game with Burton Albion 0-0. It was a frustrating and dull sort of game, where Town spent long stretches of the game unable to get the ball out of their own half. Things improved later on in the game, when Burton dropped deep and allowed Town to get up the pitch but some excellent last-ditch goal-line clearances meant Town’s best efforts weren’t rewarded with a goal. 

An encouraging late flurry didn’t do enough to get all three points and it’s slim consolation for the earlier period of ineptitude Town displayed. Burton deserve credit for their resolute and disciplined performance but their position at the bottom of the table shows we’ve allowed a pretty poor team to come to our stadium and grind out a point. Not good.

Here are my player ratings for the game…

Lee Nicholls – 8 out of 10

Made some important saves in the early stages of the game to keep the scores level. One was a full stretch push around the far post and the other a reflex save. I’m not sure Owen Goodman would have saved those attempts on goal, so I’m pleased Nicholls was in nets for this game.

Lasse Sorensen – 5 out of 10

Was constantly back pedalling whenever their wingback went near him, to the point where he was stood off so far that he was functionally useless from a defensive point of view. Needed reminders from his colleagues for his positioning too often and wasn’t reading the game well. His efforts going forward aren’t too bad but nowhere near good enough to counterbalance his defensive weakness. 

Josh Feeney – 6 out for 10

Looked pretty calm with his defensive work and comfortable on the ball but was guilty of moving it too slowly when we tried to build possession. 

Joe Low – 6 out of 10

Was our main threat at corners and attacking free kicks, often having to shake off three or four defenders to make space for himself. We did eventually find him in perfect position with a late corner but the keeper did well to push away his header, that if anything, he headed down a bit too well and it bounced up to a more saveable height. Some sloppiness crept in with his positioning at times, noticeably not getting tight enough to their striker for the early headed chance that went wide, and his more ambitious passes tended to not go where he wanted.

Ruben Roosken – 5 out of 10

Looked marginally better at left-back than as a winger but still in poor form. My dad mentioned early on that he hadn’t done much, so I made a point of watching for the first time he did something positive. It was after 24 minutes that he played a neat back heel in a wide area to release a teammate. Otherwise it was slim pickings, I think he had a decent overlapping run towards the end of the first half. A bit like Sorensen on the other side, he was a bit too casual with his defensive work. Hopefully the facial injury he received won’t be too bad though he looked pretty bloody when he left the pitch. 

Ryan Ledson – 5 out of 10

He seemed busier than in recent weeks but didn’t achieve much. Having watched him start every league game so far, I’m not completely certain what he’s best at. The clips I saw when he signed suggested he was a tough tackling enforcer, but we’ve not yet seen that from him. His best moment was a lunging block on the edge of the box but their midfielder only had the chance to attempt that shot because Ledson had dropped too deep and allowed too much space on the edge of the box. 

David Kasumu – 5 out of 10

After being decent off the bench and in the cups, I think Kasumu really missed an opportunity by turning in a poor performance here. Far too many passes missed the mark, he also repeatedly got caught in possession. He didn’t always have many options in front of him but he still needs to retain the ball better than he did in this game. 

Leo Castledine – 5 out of 10

Had a glorious chance to score when he was picked out at the far post but he made a poor connection with the ball and it went wide. I can understand why Castledine was pushed out wide to allow May to play more centrally but it didn’t help the youngster. He struggled to get a foothold in the game and went missing for long spells. 

Alfie May – 6 out of 10

Worked his socks off and popped up all over the pitch. Put some intelligent balls into colleagues that didn’t make the most of them, which is annoying because May would most likely have done a lot better with the chances if he was converting them rather than laying them on. He’s not to blame for where he’s played on the pitch though and I think he showed a selfless approach with the amount of running he did.   

Will Alves – 5 out of 10

I liked the way he was willing to dribble with the ball whenever he received possession but too often it was in his own half where there is little reward for beating a man and big problems if you give it away. He looks like he’s got a lot of talent but this wasn’t a game where he was able to show it effectively because he very rarely got into situations where he could have a run at an isolated defender. 

Joe Taylor – 6 out of 10

Had some decent opportunities that drew good saves from their keeper. Other times his good runs were not picked up by the man on the ball or the execution gave him no chance of making anything from the balls that came his way. His body language was a concern at times, as he seemed very frustrated even if he kept running regardless of his sour puss.

Substitutes

Sean Roughan – 7 out of 10

Ran on to a loose ball and blasted a daisy cutter at the far corner which was cleared off the line. Strangely, given what we’ve seen of the two, Roughan was a much more potent attacking threat than Rooksen when he replaced him at half time.

Zepiqueno Redmond – 6 out of 10

Didn’t have a lot of opportunities to show what he can do but was neat and tidy with the work he had. I saw him do some skills in one of the training videos and he looks brilliant at beating men with flair and trickery but he’s not yet done this in a game yet. Hopefully when he’s established himself more we’ll see him turn on the flicks and tricks. 

Ben Wiles – 7 out of 10

Looked a lot more energetic and involved than his recent outings and was a major factor in Town’s ramping up the tempo in the closing stages. I don’t know if this means he needs to start or he’s better when he comes off the bench. 

Bojan Radulovic – 6 out of 10

Very unlucky not to score the winner with his header in the dying moments. He moved across the box nicely to get on the end of a cross and glanced it goalward but their keeper pulled off an excellent save to keep him out. His movement was generally pretty good and he gave us a different way to play compared to Taylor. I’m not about to start a fan club for him just yet but these last two appearances from the bench have shown he has something to offer, which is in itself a miraculous turnaround from where he was.

Marcus Harness – 6 out of 10

Looked decent and added a bit of drive to our forward play. 

Manager rating – Lee Grant – 4 out of 10 

Eddy suggested in the comments last week that I try giving the manager a score in these articles, which seemed like a good idea. The changes Grant made for this game made sense on paper, as we were putting in more forward thinking players. Unfortunately, it ended up being square pegs in round holes because we didn’t play a system that suited the players on the pitch. Roosken and Sorensen were weak defensively, May would be more useful further forward and Castledine struggled out wide, compared to when he played centrally. While some flexibility is expected from modern players, I’d rather we’d have tweaked the system to have more attacking players in attacking areas. In defence of Grant, he did manage to swing the game in our favour in the late stages even if we couldn’t get the ball in the net.