Huddersfield Town’s unbeaten run came to an end last night when they came up against a Millwall team that outhought and outfought them on the night. It’s hard to get too upset about a defeat when we’ve not lost in the league since November but it’s fair to say that several players were off their best on the night.
Despite Town starting the game strongly, Millwall controlled the game well and deserved all three points. While it would be easy to say that Town were awful, I think it was just a slightly jaded performance which wasn’t enough to overcome a team that are usually tough to beat but are also enjoying a good spell of form.
Nicholls – 9 out of 10
He made a string of incredible saves over the course of the game as well as a few regulation ones too, the push onto the post from Afobe’s header stood out but there were a few others that seemed like certain goals until he got a glove in between the ball and the goal. While we still lost the game, had he not played as well we could have been beaten by four or five goals and our confidence would have been knocked. So in keeping the scoreline respectable he’s given the team a better chance of bouncing back.
Pearson – 6 out of 10
He made a great tackle to deny Afobe early in the game and generally got his body in the way of the ball. Mostly solid but looked a bit panicky when the ball was coming into the box at times, maybe because Turton wasn’t alongside him to protect his flank. He was unlucky to be subbed for Turton in a tactical switch that allowed us to go to a four-man defence.
Lees – 5 out of 10
I thought he looked very assured in the middle of the back three and won plenty in the air. However, he could have denied both of Millwall’s goals if he’d dealt with the danger better. For the first goal he very nearly got a foot in when Afobe was dribbling towards him but he got his legs in a tangle and could make his tackle stick. For the second goal he chested the ball down into a dangerous area which led to Afobe’s lovely strike, any more significant contact would have carried the ball further away from the box and danger.
Colwill – 7 out of 10
Despite being a teenager still, he looked the more composed and confident of the three centre backs. His pace enabled him to snuff out several attacks and he carried the ball forward well too. Despite this game ending in defeat, I think we look better at the back when Colwill plays.
Thomas – 5 out of 10
A subdued performance from the player we so often rely on to provide a creative spark. The fact he was subbed off with 20 minutes to go shows that Carlos thought he looked tired too. It’s no surprise that he’s a bit leggy, given the number of games and the amount of effort he typically puts in. He won’t get much of a rest during the international break either, as he’s been called up to the Wales squad again. Perhaps some of Town’s other creative players need to step up to reduce the burden on Thomas.
Hogg – 4 out of 10
Another sloppy pass led to a goal being conceded, these costly passses are becoming a bad habit. The ball he was attempting to play in the build up to the opening goal just wasn’t on and he had time to think about it. I’m genuinely staggered by this mistake. It wasn’t poor execution, he was aiming for Lewis O’Brien but didn’t seem to see that there was a Millwall player standing in the way. Aside from his error, I thought Hogg was poor, he sat far too deep and in possession he struggled to move the ball forward. His body position was all wrong when the ball came into him, so he was usually facing our keeper when the ball came into him and would typically pass back to a defender and slow down the build up. Earlier in the season he was receiving the ball on the half-turn, allowing him to see the options ahead of him and pick a pass. Hogg’s recent dip in form and Russell’s emergence make me think it might be approaching the time that Hoggy is seen as a squad player rather than one of the first names on the team sheet. He can’t keep starting games if he’s getting the basics wrong.
Russell – 7 out of 10
I really enjoy watching Russell play, he glides around the pitch, strokes the ball around with accuracy and imagination while also having the physical strength to win most of his defensive battles too. My main criticism of him last night was that he was tending to drop too deep when Millwall had the ball which invited them on to us too much (something he’s done in previous games). Apart from that he was one of our better performers on the night and continues to look like a decent Championship-level midfielder.
O’Brien – 7 out of 10
I wasn’t sure about him being played as a left winger but he drifted inside so much it wasn’t so different from his usual role as a left-sided central midfielder. He did all his usual things of driving forward with the ball, drawing fouls and keeping hold of the ball. His shot from range early on could have changed the course of the game but it was a bit too close to the keeper and was saved. If he can crack the goalscoring side of his game he could be a very special player but even without lots of goals he’s still the best player in our team.
Toffolo – 6 out of 10
He’s not as suited to playing wingback as he doesn’t have a proper winger to interact with in that setup. His best attacking play usually comes from overlapping runs which are harder situations to create without a natural wide man ahead of him. He still toiled away and made some decent contributions but not his best performance.
Holmes – 5 out of 10
Busy but not effective enough. He buzzes around and looks like he’s going to make something happen but too often he was the one that lost possession. He’s very up and down with his form at the moment, in some games he’s absolutely great and in others it doesn’t seem to work for him. Finding some consistency for the run in would give us a much better chance of promotion as he has the ability to be a key player for us.
Ward – 7 out of 10
He blasted his best chance of the game over the bar early in the game but his build up play was superb at times. He used his pace and ball carrying ability to develop attacks and bring other players into the game. A real nuisance to Millwall’s defence.
Substitutes
Sinani – 5 out of 10
Still looks off the pace and struggled to influence the game like we needed him to. Carlos gives him more time on the pitch than his form warrants in my opinion and time is running out for him to prove he’s worth keeping on beyond his loan.
Turton – 6 out of 10
Helped Town shift to a more attacking formation and did a steady away job at right back.
Anjorin – 4 out of 10
Really struggled to make an impact despite having 20 minutes on the pitch. His movement off the ball looked uncertain and he couldn’t find any space. When he did receive the ball he lost it quickly, possibly because he was trying to do too much. I’ve still got high hopes for the Chelsea youngster but with games running out it may be that we don’t see him starting games until close to the end of the season as he still looks off the pace.
TS I agree wholeheartedly with your assessment of Russell but disagree with you about O’Brien, yesterday he made far too many mistakes.
Well that was a right pasting! Millwall were the superior side by far, even if for the most part possession wasn’t won it was gifted to them; our passing was pleasingly adventurous at times, frequently atrocious, which can be partially forgiven when attacking at pace. The intentions are admirable; quick passing, instant control or release but when it goes wrong that is when we are most vulnerable.
Unfortunately Hogg yet again mislaid a simple pass which lead to a goal, how many times has he done this, over the course of this season? During the WBA game I nearly fell off my chair when the SKY commentator claimed it was unusual for Hogg to misplace a pass – it’s lazy, easy money for some, and so it came to pass – or rather not to pass yet again! Hogg was not the only one O’Brien and Thomas committed similar errors, but without the same consequences. Nicholls prevented the goal difference being halved. The first ten minutes gave a misleading picture of the game as a whole.
The match on Saturday against Bournemouth could help to determine the unlikely automatic promotion hope, but more likely our play-off hopes, the recent results has been heart warming and surprising but a descent to seventh place or below would be an unhappy conclusion to the season.
Corberan has produced a good team from an average set of players. However he did make a major mistake in the cup against Forest. By picking almost the B team and experimenting he lost a game which we should have won and undermined the confidence of a winning team. Whether consciously or subconsciously the team have gone from expecting to win to having doubts and it only took a disputed penalty against West Brom for that confidence to evaporate completely. Add this to tired players who have travelled up and down the country twice in 4 days and you have a recipe for the Millwall defeat. We have on paper a difficult run in of games and unless we can snap of this mindset, keeping adding points could be difficult and it would be easy to slip down to 7th or 8th in the table.
Players look tired and void of any movement on the pitch, Perhaps Town could have gone down to London the day before as Coach travelling can be tiring even if your just sat there. Or a flight down, getting to the nitty gritty we need every advance we can get.
But that costs money !!!!
A good, accurate assessment. Our passing, after the first 20 minutes, was very poor to say the least. We looked leggy and ran out of steam. Whilst Hogg’s misplaced pass was very costly, many others were also guilty.
Although lacking pace, which is understandable due to his size, I really like Jon Russell and I think he I one for the future. However, I thought last night he was rather ponderous and too slow releasing the ball.
Generally, too many players were blow par.
Actually Russell isn’t that slow. He just hasn’t got the acceleration to get up to speed quickly and often does look ponderous due to his size.
I wish Carlos would stop messing around and play the formation we are best with 4-4-2, trying to be smart cost us the game , but full praise to Nicholls ‘no hat trick tonight son’ to Afobe. get back to our best formation and we are in the top 3 as shown at Fulham, full house on sat.and lets show Bournmouth how to play. UTT.
I can’t add anything to the comments I’m afraid. I reckon your ratings are too high across the board, TS. Apart from the first 10 minutes, it was a dreadful performance. 2-0 flattered Town.
It’s often the way, a manager gets the ‘Manager of the Month’ award and that’s the catalyst for a slide. I hope I’m wrong. But the good news is that the worst that can happen is that Town don’t finish in the Top 6. Not too serious.