Huddersfield Town made Blackburn look bad, the positives of negative football, Rudoni’s influence, Chapman’s debut – Notes on a great win against Blackburn

Huddersfield Town gave their fans an expected Christmas present of not just three points but a resounding 3-0 victory and a convincing performance that few fans saw coming. It was a welcome relief from the gathering gloom that had settled around the club to see the team effectively dismantle an (admittedly poor) opponent and execute a gameplay with ruthless efficiency.

One win might not be enough to undo all the memories of recent failings at Town but it was certainly a welcome break from the dreary and depressing fare that has recently been served up. This win also gives optimists and dreamers the chance to wonder what this win could lead to. Maybe not much but there’s always a chance it could be the start of things finally picking up for Town.

Blackburn were rubbish but only because Town made them look bad

The various previews I took in about this game mentioned how Blackburn are a very up and down team, they can look outstanding one minute and awful the next. Thankfully we caught them on an off day and they failed to play the fancy football they obviously aspire to.

It was clear from the way they pinged the ball around at times that there was some ability in the Blackburn team but when Town set up in their defensive shape and invited Blackburn to attack them, it was actually fairly straightforward for us to sniff them out. The majority of the time Blackburn scuppered themselves and Town just needed to hoover up the loose ball after they eventually went for  one too many elaborate passes or fancy touches. 

Like a lot of the midtable Championship teams that fancy themselves as practitioners of the beautiful game, Blackburn didn’t have the ability to carry out their ambitious plans and Town took advantage of their mistakes.

As bad as Blackburn were, I think Town deserve credit for firstly forcing them into errors by keeping their shape defensively and leading them into frequent sloppy errors on the ball. Then Town followed their deliberate plan to exploit these transitional periods with quick breakaways and they regularly picked holes in Balckburn’s backline with willing runners and incisive passing. 

As the saying goes, it takes two to tango, and while Blackburn were really poor on the night, Town were responsible for creating the conditions that lead to their poor performance and then making sure they were ready to pounce on their mistakes when they happened too, so we could make these advantages count. 

This was still negative and defensive football from Town but there was a plan too

Town had 31% possession in this game and I’ve not heard a single complaint about it from any fan. It’s not just the fact that Town won that means the moaners are quiet. This was a far better way of playing defensive-minded football, as even though we had less than a third of the ball, we were a threat when we did get the ball off Blackburn and created decent chances when we got forward.

While the possession stats were similar to Town’s recent games, what they did when they had the ball was quite different. Rather than hopelessly lump the ball upfield for forwards to chase lost causes or tap it around at the back before limply surrendering possession, the through balls played forward seemed a lot more thoughtful and better executed in this game. The runs by the likes of Thomas and Burgzorg seemed more purposeful too, with Rudoni, Headley and Kasumu also often willing to make supporting sprints forward to give more options. So that low percentage of percentage doesn’t seem nearly so bad when it’s being used effectively.

Unless we see a complete overhaul of the squad in January, I find it really hard to see how this group of players is going to be able to successfully change to a possession-based, attacking style of football, like was promised at the time of Darren Moore’s appointment. However, I can see Town becoming reasonably difficult to play against if we follow the template set out in this game of being tough to break down and having a consistent threat on the break. If I’m being entirely honest, I think I’d rather watch Town play that way too while we have the current type of players we have. While aspiring to beautiful football is noble, it only really works when you’ve got the players to back it up. Leicesteter this season and Burnley last season aren’t the template that we should be following, because we’re unlikely to be spending the same kind of money as those teams. Luton are probably a better model to look at, consistently getting better, knowing what they are and building a squad that suits their style. 

Rudoni makes a huge difference

While his decision making in the barber’s chair is clearly deeply worrying, there can be no debating that Jack Rudoni’s decision making in the middle of the football field is a huge asset to Huddersfield Town and his return to the team has made a massive difference to the team. Having him back in midfield has not only meant we’ve got a good player who has skills that nobody else in the team can provide but he also elevates those around him too. 

Rudoni basically set up both the second and the third goals for Town. He provided the pass before the final pass for each of these goals (pre-assist? assist-to-the-assist?) For the second it was a beautifully weighted pass that released Burgzorg down the wing, allowing him to square for Sorba’s simple finish and the third he tenaciously won the ball back out on the wing and two passes later Bergzorg killed the game off. These two moments show both sides of Rudoni’s game, he can play a lovely delicate pass but he’s also willing to roll up his sleeves and get stuck in where required too. 

I’ve been an admirer of Rudoni since he first arrived at Huddersfield Town but I think he’s been continuously improving since then and hasn’t reached his peak yet. As Darren Moore has a preference for a three-man midfield, it seems likely that Rudoni is going to be most often used as one of the midfielders expected to push up and support the attacking play, which should suit his natural instinct to get forward. It wouldn’t surprise me to see him getting on the scoresheet more often between now and the end of the season.  

My only slight concern about Rudoni is that his importance to the team is so obvious that he’s been thrown straight back into the team straight after coming back from injury and is playing most of the minutes of our games through this period of many games over the festive period. While he’s obviously exceptionally fit, I hope the fitness geeks are keeping a close eye on him and making sure he doesn’t have any additional injuries as we can’t afford to lose him for any more of the season.

Jacob Chapman does well on his debut 

It must be strange to be a third choice keeper, because the first and second choice keeper are your friends who you work with every day, so you most likely want them to do well. But equally, you need them to either get injured or suffer a period of terrible form to stand a chance of doing the job you’re paid to do. So I wonder if a dark, secret part of Jacob Chapman was a little bit happy when he saw Maxwell pull up with a muscle injury. Nobody likes having those kinds of thoughts, but it’s human nature to sometimes let those less pleasant thoughts run wild. Maybe that’s just me though.

Regardless of whether Chapman was secretly stabbing the hamstring of his Chris Maxwell voodoo doll or not, his opportunity came to him during the Blackburn game and he took it with both hands. And Chapman must have been a bit surprised to be getting his chance to step between the posts in the middle of the game, as it seemed to take him five minutes to properly get the velcro on his gloves sorted out after he was subbed on. Those nerves were put to one side and he did OK with everything that came his way after that. 

In fairness, Blackburn did not do a good job of putting a rookie keeper to the test but I did notice that Chapman was quick off his line when called upon and made sure to blast the ball far down field when he had a chance to kick long. I was pleased that the team moved away from the tactic of playing out from the back when we changed keeper too, as that tactic is fine with a veteran keeper, who is used to the pressure of being charged down by professional footballers but a newbie keeper, on debut didn’t need that additional pressure. 

We’ll most likely see Chapman against Middlesbrough as I don’t think Nicholls will be clear of the concussion protocols by then and Maxwell’s muscle issue didn’t look like the sort you could quickly recover from. I think that is fine for one game though, I’ve been quite critical of the club’s policy of relying on youth keepers as our main backup in previous seasons, but there’s nothing much you can do when your first and second choice both get injured and Chapman seems worthy of giving a chance.