Huddersfield Town and Cardiff City played out a drab goalless draw, where there were few chances and the main talking point was Jonathan Hogg’s red card. Before the game it had been billed as the start of our season, but it felt more like a false start.
Here’s my player ratings from the game…
Ben Hamer – N/A
A defensive mixup early on meant he had to rush out and got tangled up with an onrushing Cardiff played. Had to come off injured too early to give him a score for this game.
Terence Kongolo – 8 out of 10
I’ve been critical of Kongolo’s attacking ability when he’s playing as a leftback, but he was great against Cardiff. He made some excellent tackles in defense, but he really shone when going forward and was the only Town player that looked capable of getting through Cardiff’s defensive line. Created several openings and blasted a shot into the side netting.
Christopher Schindler – 7 out of 10
Solid at the back and put his body on the line when up against the physicality of Zahore. He didn’t win every battle, but always did enough to stop his man from getting past him.
Zanka – 6 out of 10
Looked a little shaky at times and a few dodgy passes that squandered possession. Not a terrible performance, but far from his best.
Florent Hadergjonaj – 5 out of 10
Another poor performance from the Swiss defender. His tackles didn’t seem to stick and his crossing was poor. I’ve a feeling he’s going to improve as the season goes on.
Hogg – 2 out of 10
Very disappointing to see one of our most experienced players lose his head and get sent off. The red card incident had a huge influence on the direction of the game and was completely avoidable. Passion is an important part of Hogg’s game, but he’s got to show better discipline in the future.
Billing – 6 out of 10
Showed both positive and negative aspects of his game. At times he looked lethargic and disinterested, but in others he made positive attacking runs and showed some classy passing.
Mooy – 6 out of 10
He played further forward than the other two central midfielders, more like a number ten. This meant he was higher up the pitch when he got on the ball and was usually surrounded by Cardiff players, which made it harder for him to influence the game. There were a couple of passes he played towards the end of the first half which opened up the Cardiff defence, but there wasn’t enough of that kind of thing from him.
Rajiv van La Parra – 7 out of 10
Good to see him starting after the rumours he might be leaving on loan to Middlesbrough. He worked hard on the wing and made several runs up field. Probably the most threatening of our attacking players. There were a few occasions where he could have taken a shot or put in a cross but chose to mess around with the ball. This isn’t a new problem for him, but it’s still frustrating to watch at times.
Adama Diakhaby – 5 out of 10
There were a couple of occasions where he showed his electric pace, but he didn’t hurt Cardiff. There was one situation where Mooy released him and sent him clear through on goal, but his pathetic cross/shot/pass dribbled straight to the keeper. I still like the look of him, but his decision making and final ball may need some work.
Steve Mounié – 7 out of 10
This was one of the busiest shifts I’ve seen Mounié put in, which was good because he didn’t receive a lot of service from his teammates. He relentlessly closed down Cardiff’s keeper and defence and made some excellent clearing headers from Cardiff’s corners and long throws. He also had Town’s only attempt on target, unfortunately the cross didn’t have enough pace on it for Mounié to generate the power on the header needed to beat the keeper.
Substitutes
Jonas Lössl – 7 out of 10
It’s tricky for keepers to come off the bench midway through a game, but Lössl did well when he came on. His passing was (but for one dodgy ball upfield) looked good and he made a some decent saves.
Isaac Mbenza – 4 out of 10
I wasn’t very impressed by Mbenza’s performance, he looked off the pace and didn’t seem on the same wavelength as the rest of the team. It’s early days, and he’ll still be adjusting to Wagner’s instructions, but there’s definitely room for improvement.
Laurent Depoitre – 6 out of 10
Grafted when he was brought on to freshen up the forward line. By that time our wingers had dropped back to shore up the defence, so he was isolated and had to close down several players on his own, which he did without fuss.
I like Hogg but I said 10 mins before the red card he should be taken off, his passing was poor for me and I was fed up seeing balls passed backwards.
I wanted to see him replaced with Pritchard.
I don’t understand playing without the little lad he’s the only one we have who has the guile to unlock a defence and give the forward line what they want, decent service and through balls.
Cardiff came to defend and our key was sat on the bench.
I was very frustrated by Wagner at times last season and this season it’s been the same, it’s as though he’s watching a different game.
I also don’t understand how and why knowing we were starting with 2 wingers that at some point last week he didn’t give them both game time to get upto speed.
My biggest frustration yesterday was the wingers refusal to make runs, these are heavily paid players who should have bags of ability and passion.
Standing waiting for the ball to be passed to them is ineffective as Cardiff defenders were doing a great job at closing us down but all afternoon that’s what they did, meaning we spent all our time having to pass the ball backwards.
I watch other teams in that division who we are supposed to be our relegation rivals and they look on a different level.
Pace, off the ball runs etc
We will be relegated by Christmas if the effort doesn’t go into trying to break teams down, rather than backward passing.
I was screaming all afternoon for them to try and move the Cardiff lads about and out of shape, but no, not once did they even try to run in behind all they did was hold a shape and wait stood still on the wing to receive a ball before they started a run.
Lossl also frustrated the life out of me when we played with 10 men.
Refusing to distribute the ball quickly, dropping to the floor on an easy catch to time waste.
Some good points here John. I agree that we were frustrating to watch yesterday. I’m hoping the cup game against Stoke will be a chance to build some confidence and might give chance to experiment with tactics and selection.
Unfortunately I just lost my detailed reply to your.ratings and comments and I haven’t the strength to recover it. I was probably rambling too much anyway.I agreed with most of it anyway but think the problems lie deeper and we must look higher up the management chain for the solutions.
Yesterday we faced probably the worst team we shall face all season and made no impression on them. I see that Wagner says with a full team we would have made chances in the last twenty minutes as Cardiff tired .Maybe we would but as along term tactic it seems pretty dodgy . I think we maybe have a couple of competent strikers who could between them supply 20+ goals ( I don’t mean necessarily playing them together) . I say think because we never give them the ball so I can’t be sure . Harry Kane would struggle to score with this formation !!
I think we have the personnel ,let’s find the right combination and progress ,create a goal threat without being so rigid . Loosen up David .Become a little less German and a bit more Yorkshire . We are still behind you but liven ‘ em up ! More Terrier Spirit .Please don’t bore us.
Thanks for commenting Ian. I agree about Town lacking attacking threat yesterday. It’s been a consistent problem during Wagner’s time at the club. I’m hoping the new players will solve this, but we might have to be patient.
Overall, a very disappointing and poor performance. The only difference to last year was Diakhaby, who was disappointing and one footed. Early days. Far too slow and pedestrian in moving forward, particularly Mooy and Billin.
It was a frustrating afternoon. Until the red card we didn’t have the creative flair to break them down. After the red card we just cling on to the point.
We played into Cardiffs hands a bit i thought.. Pritchard twisting and turning the cumbersome Morrison and Bamba would have given us more creativity near goal. It’s early days but I’ve got to say the 2 new lads look clueless! lots to work on and hope they settle but deary me I’d much rather have had Quaner on! Williams will be like a new signing can’t wait for him to be back. Billing just baffles me.. brilliant but frustratingly clumsy and idle looking at times. Haderjoni or whatever it is.. very poor ! Really looking weak for me at moment. Must improve we will improve.
Thanks for you comment Andrew. I agree with all your points, but I’m optimistic we can improve on this poor start. It would be typical of Town to draw at home to Cardiff and then go beat Everton away. We never do it the easy way.