I’ve never felt more confident of a Town defeat going into a game but thankfully the team that emerged onto the field against Stoke were a completely different proposition to the limp and ineffective ensembles that have capitulated in all three of our previous games.
After three consecutive false starts, it felt like this was the first time that Danny Schofield got the team selection and his tactics right and his good judgement was backed up by players that put in, on the whole, a decent shift. While not perfect, it was a dramatically improved Town performance and the fans showed that they are willing to heap praise on their team when they see enough effort being put in.
Here are my individual player ratings.
Lee Nicholls – 8 out of 10
I’ve not seen a replay at the time of writing but from my position in the stands it looked like a superb penalty save. He got down low and for a strong hand to a relatively well-struck penalty, which would usually be expected to go in. He made a handful of decent saves too, commanded his box well and picked up his usual booking for time wasting. Though the booking seemed like it was given more for his reputation rather than the actual time wasting offence which was minor, though we have been promised a crack down on such behaviour this season.
Kaine Kesler-Heyden – 7 out of 10
A very impressive debut at wingback from the Villa loanee, particularly considering he only signed yesterday afternoon. He showed pace and a willingness to get forward on the right flank which gave us width when we attacked. He also put in a few decent looking crosses which almost found Danny Ward. It’s clear to see why Villa fans think a lot of him. I can imagine he’ll get even better when he’s learned the players names and which dugout is the home team’s (during the first drinks break he went to grab a water battle from the Stoke City bench’s collection to the amusement of their coaching team).
Ollie Turton – 7 out of 10
Seemed a lot more comfortable as a right-sided central defender than as a right back. He made some excellent tackles, including on where he tracked back and denied Gayle what looked like a certain goal with a good recovery tackle. He stepped out of defence on several occasions and supported the attacks where he could too, which is a luxury we can afford when playing with three central defenders.
Tom Lees – 8 out of 10
After some nervy and error-strewn performances, this was a return to the Tom Lees of last season, an absolute rock at the back, he led the team by example and provided us a stable foundation that everything else could be built upon. He won eight aerial duels in the game, which is three more than any other player on the pitch and made the most clearances (10). I think moving him to the middle of a back three suited him and also having two more mobile defenders either side of him helped too.
Yuta Nakayama – 8 out of 10
I always think it speaks well of a player if you can play well in a team that is playing badly and Yuta was one of the few players to come of Tuesday’s dreadful showing against PNE with any credit. But even saying that, he stepped it up a level against Stoke and was even better. Because I’m a complete cretin, I made a remark early in the game about how I doubted Nakayama was going to win many headers this season because he’s only five feet eleven. He won four in the game, which was fine, but one of those headers was his goal, which was an absolute bullet. The cross was decent but it floated and Yuta had to generate a lot of power on his header to get it past the keeper. He was also really solid at the back, calm in possession and showed an eye for a pass, often releasing Sorba Thomas down the left flank with quick long balls. He also showed he’s not a pushover when he received a nasty foul just before halftime, got up and then crunched the offending Stoke player thirty second later, to widespread cheers from the stands. I have a feeling he’s going to be a new fan favourite.
Josh Ruffels – 6 out of 10
I thought Ruffels looked a lot happier in this system than he has as a left back. There was much more cover behind him and he didn’t seem to be getting caught one on one as much. He didn’t offer as much going forward as Kesley-Heyden did on the other flank but he was still a threat at times. I know many Town fans thought the penalty was soft but from my position it looked like a foul but regardless it was daft for him to give the referee a decision by waving his leg about so high in the penalty area.
Jonathan Hogg – 8 out of 10
After some very lacklustre recent outings, this was another of those times where Hoggy proved the doubters wrong and shows that there’s still some life in the old warhorse yet. He played much higher up the field and was a genuine midfielder rather than standing on the toes of the defenders as he often does. He also showed some real ambition with his forward passing, which was a bit of a surprise, even more so when those forward passes often found blue and white shirts in the final third. Obviously he also did a lot of defensive work and shielded the defence because that’s what he always does but he didn’t just do that, which meant we had a much stronger foothold in the midfield battle.
Jack Rudoni – 8 out of 10
He’s one of those footballers that I just love to watch playing. He’s always moving around the pitch, wanting to get into space, get the ball and move it up field. He’s positive, aggressive and creative. His range of passing was superb and when he made everything tick for Town when we were building our attacks. I liked the look of him as a winger but I think he needs to be deployed as a central midfielder as that’s the position we need him the most. I wouldn’t want to weigh him down with expectations but yesterday was the first game where I didn’t feel the absence of Lewis O’Brien in central midfield and I think that was mostly down to the things that Jack Rudoni was doing.
Tino Anjorin – 5 out of 10
Very nearly scored a spectacular overhead kick in the early stages of the game but otherwise didn’t contribute a great deal. I worry that Tino might be the kind of player that looks like he’s about to do something brilliant any minute but only produces those moments of brilliance on rare occasions. We know he’s unplayable at times but too often he just gets his head down and blunders forward into heavy traffic and loses the ball. We’ll most likely see better days from the Chelsea loanee.
Danny Ward – 7 out of 10
A very good shift from the front man, he seemed very lively up front, fighting harder than usual to win everything he could and trying to make life hard for Stoke’s back line. The finish for his goal may have seemed fairly simple, his movement and his awareness to get on the end of the opportunities were the result of his constant vigilance and wouldn’t have happened if he didn’t work as hard as he does so it was well deserved.
Sorba Thomas – 6 out of 10
I’ve commented in the past about how hard it is to reduce Sorba Thomas’ contributions down to a single number out of ten. Despite awarding him only a six he still got an assist for our opener and put in some other very threatening set pieces. Then, on the other hand, he was pretty awful in other moments in the game and you could give him a three out of ten for how wasteful he was with the attacking opportunities he squandered, getting into the left channel and constantly trying to get onto his right foot and losing possession. Though maybe you could say he deserves an eight for so often being the player that is getting on the end of opportunities to attack the opposition even though he is quite wasteful with a lot of them. He’s an enigma. But, it would be nice to not have to do this balancing up the scorecard thing and instead only talk about positives. There’s no reason he couldn’t get into those good positions and then actually make something out of them. That’s allowed. Though, in his defence, I couldn’t really work out why he was played on the left yesterday when all he’s such a natural right footer and doesn’t show much desire to cut in and shoot.
Substitutes
Duane Holmes – 8 out of 10
What an impact sub! He pretty much single handedly created the two goals that won us the match. For both he could have gone for glory himself but he chose to play in better positioned teammates instead. After Anjorin’s fairly mediocre game, Schofield now has a selection headache for Norwich on Tuesday night.
Jordan Rhodes – 7 out of 10
I never think of Rhodes as a quick player but when Duane Holmes was bearing down on goal and it became clear he might be about to square it, Rhodes was like a rat up a drainpipe. As mild-mannered as Rhodes is in a post-match interview, he’s an absolute monster when there’s a sniff of a goal. He also did his bit to protect the lead on top of getting the third goal, drawing a useful foul, holding up play and leading the line well.
Etienne Camara – 6 out of 10
Like Nakayama, Camara was one of the few players to come out of the League Cup debacle against Preston without a black mark against their name. He was pretty good on Tuesday night and so it was nice his efforts were rewarded with his league debut off the bench in this game. He didn’t have a lot to do but he was neat and tidy with his passing and helped us withstand the late pressure from Stoke.
Will Boyle – N/A
Usually there’s not much to say about a ninety first minute defensive substitute but somehow he managed to fall over his own feet when under no pressure.
Well what a relief that was!!!
I concur with most of your comments TS except for Lees who was a ponderous liability on occasion and Anjorin who is a powerful, skilful lad but not one for ceaseless running.
On the evidence of this one game the recruitment this season so far is impressive; unfortunately past recruitment is turning sour: the neglected Russell and the undercooked Lees, Ruffles and to a lesser extent Thomas their performances were a slight let-down.
The formation and personnel were ideal for the circumstance; it’s rare for me to say that I was pleased to see Hogg in midfield.
I had my head in my hands when Holmes entered the field but even this proved productive; maybe a late entry for him is ideal when less muscle is required.
On a personnel note, I live in London and it’s now impossible for me to attend midweek games and have now no outlet for my vacant seat. If there is anyone out there who could or knows of someone who could utilize it please contact me at jpkitchingman@talktalk.net to avoid, the unlikely outcome, of TS’ blog being cluttered up. Thanks TS
I have no idea what “neglected Russell and the undercooked Lees, Ruffles and to a lesser extent Thomas” means. Russell didn’t play. Lees, Ruffles and Thomas played well. Perhaps the foreign air down south has affected your Heckmondwike brain.
Neglected means he didn’t play as you say, so confused by that; undercooked is a polite way of saying that they they didn’t play well; eg poor marking, slow reaction time and passing for Lees; Ruffles concession of a dreadful penalty and ineffectiveness in open play; Thomas as TS alluded to is difficult to assess, takes the best bits and Hoyle will flog him for £10m and the worst bits he’s on his bike. Nothing wrong with southern air; Heckmondwike’s bus station is a world beater!
Well zero to heroes. How can we go from one extreme to the other ?
Maybe what seemed like a relegation fight to lower mid table. Only the next game will give an indication. Higher or lower ?
At least as a fan we are never bored. Come on town, let’s go for upward.
(Loved your “short arse defender” will be a potential issue 😂. Hope he keeps up this form – at both ends of the pitch).
Great article again, thanks from all of us overseas with the odd game available and rarely even highlights in a timely fashion.
That’s a lot better all we need is proven goal scorer thanks Danny Schofield
We’ve plenty goal scorers. Nothing wrong with Ward and Rhodes etc. It’s service they need. The best scorer in England wouldn’t have scored for Town the way they played the first few games this season.
Thought Lee had an absolute shocker first half, his distribution is very weak at times giving away possession at least twice with errant passes. Be interesting to see stats on the channel we concede most goals down. Had much better second half but with Pearson fit he may struggle to make the team.