Huddersfield Town scraped a point from yesterday’s game against Luton but were far from convincing in a match that featured all the usual flaws we’ve got used to seeing in Town since Christmas. The game finished with Town on top and playing better but there were long spells in this game where Town looked very poor against a disciplined and hard-working Luton team that probably deserved to win more than we deserved a point.
It’s hard to feel positive about Town at the moment and judging by the state of Town fans on Twitter at the moment, there is a rising sense of anger among many. This anger seems to be mainly targeted at the board and the chairman rather than the players or the coaches but if this winless run continues that could soon change.
Anyway, let’s look at each individual player from yesterday’s game:
Ryan Schofield: 6 out of 10
Not a particularly busy afternoon for him though he did look a bit shaky whenever balls came into the box and often relied on his defenders to go for balls a more imposing keeper would claim for themselves. Not to blame for their goal and he made a decent save late on to stop a long distance header from creeping inside the far post.
Harry Toffolo: 6 out of 10
Does he deserve a good rating for getting into good positions and putting in crosses or does he deserve a poor rating for those crosses rarely finding a Town player? Probably somewhere in between. Holmes playing as a very narrow left winger opened up the channel for Toffolo to run into and we used this tactic with varying degrees of success. Too often the interplay on that side of the pitch was let down by poor passing or the wrong decision but it still was the most threatening area of the pitch for Town.
His red card seemed harsh in real time but watching back the replays showed he was out of control and landed his studs on the shin of the Luton player. We all know he’s “not that type of player” but that won’t matter much if we appeal the decision and its hard to see any panel overturning the referee’s decision.
Naby Sarr: 4 out of 10
I’m getting bored of writing this every week, but he was actually pretty good apart from the stupid error that gifted Luton possession when our defence wasn’t in place to repel their attack. He had more touches than anyone else on the pitch by a clear distance and some of his passing was actually very good. It doesn’t really matter though when he’s making mistakes that lead to goals on a weekly basis. I admire the way he keeps going after these errors and doesn’t shy away from the ball but I’d rather he didn’t make the mistakes in the first place. I’m not sure what the solution is to this problem, because it feels like the potential for these mistakes is a core part of him as a player. Earlier in the season these errors were excusable because he was making less of them and contributing more in other ways. Now he’s doing something daft every week it’s getting harder to defend him, even if his movement in the box was very good to get on the end of the parried save and tap home the equaliser.
Richard Keogh – 6 out of 10
Won most of his aerial battles and actually looked pretty solid at the back, which is a relief after last week’s showing. He’s not everyone’s cup of tea but judging him based purely on this performance makes it hard to pick fault. I’d rather have Stearman, Schindler or Edmonds-Green if any were available but until then I think Keogh looks like he can do a job for us.
Pipa – 6 out of 10
I was quite pleased to see him putting his body in the way of a Luton player in the incident that led to his booking. While it would obviously have been better for him to win the ball cleanly, it was good to see him embrace the physical side of the game and refuse to let his man past him. 9 sometimes worry he’s a bit lightweight for English football but less so now. He wasn’t allowed a lot of freedom to get forward and wasn’t a huge creative force but did OK on the occasions he managed to get forward.
Jonathan Hogg – 7 out of 10
An ideal game to get him back into the team as Luton had several big, strong midfielders and Hoggy made sure he got himself stuck into the midfield battle. It’s hard to articulate what Hogg brings to the team because his best moments aren’t often the most memorable parts of the game but he puts himself where he’s needed for the team and does the kind of dirty work that protects the defense and gives a platform for the other midfielders to play further forward. While I think it’s a bit harsh to drop Vallejo after some decent games, it’s clear that Hogg is on another level and should start whenever he is fit.j
Lewis O’Brien – 5 out of 10
Still getting the basics wrong on a regular basis. Simple, 5-yard passes aren’t finding their mark and it’s leading to attacks breaking down before they’ve even started. I don’t understand what the issue is because he was so consistent under the Cowleys last season. My only thought is that he’s trying to do things far more quickly now, which means he’s rushing too much and not concentrating enough on getting things right. Even while his passing is letting him down he still gives the team a lot in terms of his energy and tireless running, so it’s understandable that he’s still keeping his starting position. With Scott High now back from his loan it may not be too long before O’Brien is dropped if he doesn’t play himself back into form.
Juninho Bacuna – 5 out of 10
Another frustrating afternoon, where he occasionally did some marvellous things but more often was a let down. On one memorable moment in the first half he beat three players and burst into the box but then undermined that great work by selfishly slashing at the ball with his weaker foot rather the sliding in a simple ball into O’Brien who would have been clean through. On another occasion he shot from a narrow angle when better options were available. So there’s good stuff in his performances but he’s letting himself down at crucial moments. It was interesting to hear Lee Bromby’s scathing opinions of Bacuna during the commentary yesterday, suggesting he’s not a fan either.
Duane Holmes – 6 out of 10
Didn’t do too badly in the first start of his second spell at Town. He was theoretically a left winger but played so narrowly that he was more left a left sided number ten. He had a lovely chance to score when he latched on to a ball driven across the box by Fraizer Campbell but his legs weren’t quite long enough to make a decent connection and the keeper easily collected. He was guilty of the odd bit of sloppiness in possession but at other times made some nice passes and drove forward well.
Fraizer Campbell – 4 out of 10
After a week when a lot of the talk has been about our desperate need for a new striker, Campbell didn’t do much to quieten those calls. He struggled to make any sort of impact on the game beyond the usual energetic closing down and the one decent cross mentioned earlier. Its rumoured that we’ll be signing free agent, Niasse soon but he’s been without a club for so long that it’s hard to think he’ll be ready to play within a month if he does sign. Until then we either need Campbell to get out of his recent slump, Ward to get fit and stay fit or Kieran Phillips to be more ready for this level than he has looked in his few appearances so far.
Isaac Mbenza – 5 out of 10
A fairly anonymous first half performance which might not have been bad enough to justify being subbed but wasn’t great either. Whether his removal from the game was planned or a result of a poor performance isn’t clear but it was a bit frustrating to see a player blessed with such speed to not attempt to get in behind more often.
Substitutes
Rolando Aarons – 7 out of 10
Was one of the reasons we looked better in the second half than in the first. Used his speed and skill to good effect and created a few opportunities. Much of Town’s attacking happens in front of the opposition defence but Aaron’s movement gives us options to get in behind. I think he’s still getting up to speed, so I’m hoping we’ll see even more from him soon.
Alex Pritchard – 6 out of 10
Looked lively off the bench, which makes a change. He found little pockets of space around the box and linked up play nicely. Not good enough to suggest he should start against Wycombe but encouraging nonetheless.
Alex Vallejo – N/A
I forgot we brought him on in the confusion after the red card. Presumably he was swapped with Pritchard to give us more height to defend those last few set pieces from Luton.
Scott High – N /A
A time-wasting sub after Toffolo’s red card. If appearance bonuses are still a thing he’ll most likely never again earn one for so little work.
Thanks for your comments and assessments, there’s not much wrong with them apart from your generosity!!!!
I rarely indulge in facebook, twitter or DATM so I’ll accept what you so but my ire is most definitely directed towards the players, but first an apology.
Well, apologies all round for my criticism of Duane Homes, especially to the man himself, in my comments for the Stoke match. I very much misrepresented his performance; I will endeavour to monitor my loo visits more carefully and refuse to the answer the front door during future games!
Unfortunately there were no distractions as I watched a first half studded with jewels of incompetence from the away side. Town’s passing is poor at the best of times, here it was judderingly incompetent. Campbell started the ball rolling in the second minute, after 4 minutes and 5 seconds (I checked) three misdirected simple efforts under little or no pressure had been successfully completed; Holmes and Mbenza the additional miscreants. The alarming lethargy of players when receiving the ball often lead to instant loss of possession, Campbell leading the way again but everyone joined in, Holmes and Mbenza possibly the worst offenders. Schofield couldn’t be bothered to go for crosses, his distribution both long and short did his team no favours. Luton was so superior and we helped them with our cluelessness.
I scribbled most of the above paragraph in a rage at half-time! The second half was better, could it have been worse? Holmes improved, Mbenza thankfully wasn’t given that opportunity – hopefully his loss of form is temporary, Sarr rectified his error, Toffolo seemed to slip for his red card, but our passing could still have been so much better. Definitely a very, very lucky point gained. Sadly I can see us getting relegated; mistake after mistake, poor decision making and an inability to score often enough are the themes that show no signs of disappearing.
It looks like Corberan has lost the dressing room. At the beginning everyone worked hard and bought into his style of play. Then there were all the injuries, caused in part I think, by the excessive training the players were put through. Suddenly the Carlos bus stopped as he hadn’t the depth in the squad to cover for all the players that he had unavailable. His lack of experience also started to show as he seemed to have little idea as to what to do. A more experienced manager would have adjusted the style of play to suit the resources he had but not Carlos who has persevered with the one style he knows – and it hasn’t worked. The quality of players at his disposal were not up to the skills required of playing out from the back all the time and the opposition also soon learned the style. Hence every mistake has been pounced upon and many have led to goals. Now the players seem to have lost faith in the Carlos “identity” and just don’t trust or subscribe to it any more so their performances, even subconciously, have fallen away. They have also forgotten how to win. (where have we heard that before!!). It isn’t panic time yet but if nothing much improves when he gets his injured players back then a new coach could be on the cards.
John, I really hope you are wrong. If he has lost the dressing room, then we are in real trouble. The only positive from that situation is that I think Phil would act quickly. Remember the Cowleys!!
I think the Wycombe game will be a watershed game now. Fail to win and I think we will see changes. And how much are we going to miss Toffolo? CC will surely now have to find new attacking options.
I wrote last week about Hogg,i still think he offers less to the team than what he does offer.He dosen’t create goals,he doesn’t score goals and he doesn’t stop us conceding goals particularly.I know this might cause uproar with the fans but,i have been watching Town for 65 years and i don’t see what all the fuss is about.On the subject of Campbell, he offers less every week,he can be a nuisance but,they had a guy yesterday who we could do with Collins ,he held the ball up well,he was a constant threat to our goal,something Campbell never is for us.Yesterday and in then previous game Mbenza seems to have lost his form, Aarons was good when he came on,and finally Obrien is a worker and he gets in some good positions,goal threat no. Stuart Barker[Bradford Terrier]
I agree with most of what you have said, Schofield does still looks nervous especially with teams with height but still going to be a good one, Sarr needs to sit on the bench for a couple of games you cannot keep making mistakes every game and expect to keep starting, I do agree he looks ok apart from the mistakes but too many are now costing us, apart from gifting teams goals my other concern is bacuna I have stayed out of previous arguments about him but he is starting to get on my nerves, he wants to be at the centre of everything we do & is stifling players around him, his decision making & final ball are poor & frustrating I know he will claim the assist yesterday but it wasn’t anything special but as soon as we got him out of the way our attacking play improved massively, I don’t want to make him the scapegoat but if you are in that forward midfield role you need to be a lot better, I was pleased with CC making some early changes giving the subs time to make a difference Aaron’s looks good & even Pritchard made a difference especially linked well with O’Brien, another pleasing thing was that we stayed in the game by luck, miss chances & some good last ditch defending which allowed us to have a go late on, having been on the receiving end of a couple of results it made a change for us to pinch a point we nearly nicked it too, it’s not quite panic station but we need a win starting next week
I agree with most of what you say, except one player. Let me start by saying I do not dislike Toffolo, and indeed he he has been one of the best and most consustent performers from Town this season, but he is not as good as the hype. Football should be a simple game, and defenders should defend, the midfielders should create and the forwards should score goals. I don’t suppose I should blame Toffs for being way out of position when Sarr fluffed his lines again because that would appear to be team orders these days. But why oh why is Toffs being put on a pedestal for being some kind of wing back when his balls into the box are not hitting the men – if this had been Diakhaby he would have been ripped to shreds. I didn’t keep count, but how many crosses did he make and how many were successful. As for the red car, it was a red card – it made no difference on the day but probably will do for the next 3 matches. That was a 2 out of 10 performance at best.
Hi Terrier
The thing now most against Town is time, Corberan is asking the players to play to a standard most of them are incapable of doing, the injuries have devastated us, and the so called squad players have never been good enough, the only way out is to WIN and win now, not next month or whenever its NOW. the miracle will be to reach the end of this season in the championship, then it will have to be the night of the long knives. and I dont mean the head coach. UTT
Loose on Saturday to the bottom club that’s only got 16 points then I feel Town will be looking at Div 1 football next season , I agree Naby Sarr should sit a few games out and consider his whole game , a lack of concentration is costing town points.
Some great comments. What is noticeable is that there is now a sense of realism coming into the conversation and that means the ‘R’ word is now being spoken aloud without being accused by the eternally optimistic Town supporters of being negative.
I have said for weeks that with the threadbare squad and poor performance after poor performance, we should be looking over our shoulder. With games in hand to other teams below us, our league position was giving a false position. Last Saturday wasn’t good but marginally better than other recent performances. And we stole a point. This Saturday, as others have said, is critical. It’s not just the winning of 3 points; it will act as a barometer as to the depths we have sunk. If there isn’t a dominant performance accompanied by 3 points, the knives will be metaphorically out for the manager, the players plus of course the chairman.