Ladapo scores! Notes on Huddersfield Town’s 1-0 win over Barrow

Huddersfield Town were 1-0 winners in their Canalside-based friendly against Barrow. While the scoreline was modest and the opponent hardly a footballing superpower, the game was a good run out for the squad. Football wasn’t the winner in this match, this was all about getting “minutes in the tank”. With all the first team and a few B Team players getting 45 minutes, this game served its purpose even if it was a bit of a non-event for a spectator.

I often wonder how I’m going to find anything to write about these sorts of games. The one word review would be: meh. But regardless of the game being a pretty dull affair, there were little bits and pieces of intrigue that I’ll cover below. 

The first half – Good in the first two thirds

Lineup: Chapman, Eccleston, Feeney, Roughan, Sway, Evans, Ledson, Wiles, Thomas, Charles, Roosken

There were stages where this game felt like watching pinball, as Town quickly pressed up on Barrow when they had the ball and rushed them into losing possession. Though when Town won it back, they were pretty careless with their passing. So neither team could settle on the ball for long and just swapped it back and forth like a hot potato.

On a positive note, the reckless passing was mostly because the whole team were looking to move the ball forward quickly whenever we got on the ball. These attempts to “gerrit forrad”  too often saw long balls sail harmlessly through for the keeper to collect or found a Town player who couldn’t control the ball in the final third. 

Dion Charles was particularly poor at dealing with the balls sent his way despite clearly trying very hard. Though the whole team looked a bit short of ideas when we entered the final third, so it’s a bit unfair to single out Charles. Barrow were sitting deep and making life difficult but it was still (mildly) disappointing that we didn’t turn good possession into meaningful chances.

While there wasn’t a lot of goalmouth action, Town were quite dominant and could have gone ahead through a Feeney header that was cleared off the line and Peter Thomas from the B Team blasted the rebound wide from close range (though it may have been Charles, both have similar hair). 

Another notable moment came when Ryan Ledson crunched a Barrow player in a fairly harmless area of the pitch. In the past, it’s been Matty Pearson that refused to play friendlies at anything less than maximum aggression, Ledson seems to have taken over this role in the team. Overzealous tackles aside, Ledson was pretty impressive in this half. He’s got a decent range of passing, shields the defence well and ventures forward when the circumstances allow. 

Ledson was half of a floppy haired Scouser midfield pairing with Anthony Evans. Having someone to discuss the Ferry Across the Mersey and The Liver Birds with obviously suited Evans, as he looks much improved in this game. Playing as one of the two deeper midfielders in the 4-2-3-1 shape gave him more time on the ball and the ability to show off his passing range. While it wasn’t always spot on, I thought Evans did well and bossed that area of the pitch alongside Ledson.

The central defensive pairing also looked solid, even if it was rarely challenged by a negative Barrow team. I was most impressed by Roughan’s ability on the ball. He looks like he has a cultured left foot and sent forward some thoughtful long balls at times. 

It was a dominant first half performance but the attacking aspect of our game looked lacking, with too many plays breaking down in the early stages due to poor touches and badly hit passes. It’s too early in preseason to worry just yet but the same issues going forward were present against Emley too.

Second half 

Lineup: Chapman, Sorensen, G. Iorpenda, Wallace, Miller, Aisha, Kane, Kasumu, Harness, Ladapo, Taylor

The second half started off at a decent pace and both teams looked stronger for the changes made at the break.The good tempo didn’t last for very long though and it descended into a boring match after ten minutes or so (and it was hardly a thriller before it tailed off). 

Town’s goal was a rare moment of interest in this half, with Harness picking out Taylor in space out wide, who played a pin-point accurate cross to an unmarked Freddie Ladapo, who headed in from close range. While he still looked awkward in moments and his touch was pretty poor, this was the best I’ve seen Ladapo play in a Town shirt (which is admittedly a low bar to clear). He played a hybrid role, occasionally pushing up to play as a co-striker to Taylor and at other times, dropping into the number ten position, picking up space between Barrow’s midfield and defence. I’m not going to get too excited by this outing but it’s possible he could have a role for Town this season, which I’ve not previously believed. 

Town could easily have had two goals in this half, as Miller made a great run from deep to be played in one-on-one with the keeper. The defenders breathing down his neck added pressure and he scuffed it straight at the stopper. Miller was pretty decent across the 45 minutes and carried the ball up field a fair amount. 

Taylor also had a shot from a tight angle that bounced out for a corner and made plenty of runs that didn’t get picked up by the player on the ball. Taylor looked lively despite often not getting quality service and was a handful. But when he got on the ball he didn’t seem to be in a rhythm and may have been trying too hard at times. His cross for the goal was excellent but the other times he got on the ball he seemed rusty. However, blowing away the rust is exactly what preseason is for.

Across both halves, Town consistently made the wrong choice when moving forward. We kept possession when a risky pass could have put a runner in behind. Then we blasted it in behind when the forwards dropped deep to collect short passes. 

One of the most noteworthy things in this half was how animated Grant was from the touchline. Whenever Barrow had the ball, he would be almost screaming for players to push up and press. There was also an instruction to get the ball back in play as quickly as possible, with throw-ins and dead balls taken at speed to try and exploit a disorganised opponent. It didn’t pay dividends but it felt like the right sort of idea.

It was hard to draw too many conclusions from a pretty disjointed and low quality half of football but I thought that Harness looked decent when he got on the ball. I also liked the look of George Iorpenda in central defence, he played some nice passes and seemed very comfortable on the ball. Though he might need to get on the protein powder to bulk up if he’s going to play central defence, as his currently slender frame might struggle against physical opponents.

Even though our only goal came in this half, I feel like the second half was disappointing compared to the first. A promising start fizzled out and Town didn’t really dominate in the way they did in the first half and Barrow were much more in the game. 

Other bits and bobs

• The real story of this game is about who didn’t play. Brodie Spencer was notably absent, after playing for the B Team the other day. I’m guessing an exit is imminent for the Northern Irish international. Which would be a shame but as he’s not signed a new contract and only has a year left to run on his current deal, moving him on makes sense if we get a decent bid. 

• Lee Nichols was named on the bench for this game and the commentary team made it sound like he should have played in the second half but Jacob Chapman played the full 90. There may be another explanation but I wonder if this change of plan was because at bid had been accepted for Nicholls literally during the game. I vaguely remember a Town player being subbed off at half time because we’d sold him during the first half (I want to say Van La Parra, but can’t remember for sure). Lee Grant said he wanted to keep all three keepers, when asked if Goodman’s signing spelt the end for one of our other two keepers. But I don’t think he was being entirely genuine when he talked about the others competing with Goodman for the shirt as I expect we’ll have promised Crystal Palace a certain amount of game time for their young stopper as a condition of his loan. So Lee Nichols seems to be heading for the door, reading between the lines.

• Not that it particularly matters, but Barrow’s away kit was truly hideous. It looked like the design on a carpet from a 1990s cinema. While we await our away and third kits to be announced, it seems pretty unlikely that Castore will do as bad a job as Barrow’s kit manufacturer has done with this shirt.

• There were a number of first teamers not involved in this game again, meaning we had to rely on probably too many B Team players to fill in gaps. While a few promising kids playing is helpful at this stage, having to call in five youth players to be able to put out two different teams shows we’ve a bit thin at the moment. Bojan Radulovic, Rhys Healey, Radinio Balker and Joe Low were all missing from this game on top of Spencer and Nicholls, who I’ve already mentioned. Though I’m pretty sure I saw Joe Low watching the game from the sidelines in his tracksuit, so at least he’s involved in a peripheral way.

• Barrow are the team I’m most likely to forget being in the football league but they do have a couple of Town old boys on their books. Ben Jackson and Connor Mahoney both featured in the first half for our opponents. It was genuinely a bit sad when Jackson was allowed to leave Town after struggling to consistently get into the team but looking back I can see it was the right choice. Connor Mahoney, on the other hand, was a terrible bit of business by Town. Despite picking him up on a free, we still had to pay him for a couple of years despite him rarely getting anywhere near playing. Both seem to have found their level in League Two.