After a run of dismal performances from the Terriers it was nice to see plenty more spirit and organisation in last night’s draw with Cardiff. The obvious main talking point is Sanogo’s penalty miss but my big takeaway was tgay it was the first time I’ve watched Town since the Swansea game where I’ve not come away feeling annoyed and frustrated with the team. There were green shoots of better things to come on display in this game even if some of our bad old habits weren’t completely eradicated.
The improvement on the pitch can largely be attributed to Carlos switching to a more pragmatic approach that more resembled Danny Cowley’s Huddersfield Town rather than Carlosball but we’re now at a stage where points on the board matter more than philosophy(which was also true for Cowley too when he had to play negatively).
Credit needs to go to the player too though, as they were the ones that executed the plan so well on the night.
Here are my player ratings.
Ryan Schofield – 7 out of 10
He made some excellent saves to keep us in the match as well as being reliable with his distribution. It was the kind of performance he needed to steady his nerves as he was regularly tested and pretty much produced the goods when needed. Despite the quality of his saves being excellent at times I’m cautious about going overboard as he still showed some of the weaknesses we’ve all been worried about lately. There were a few moments where he looked lightweight and indecisive when coming off his line but he was getting some pretty rough treatment from the Cardiff bully boys when balls were put into the box.
Rarmani Edmonds-Green – 6 out of 10
Played somewhere between a centre back and a right back and did well on the whole. He did this job much better than he did against Birmingham and won far more of his one-on-one battles. I think he can be a safe, steady presence in this role which can help us with the new, more cautious approach. Not exciting or sensational but steady in a way few Town defenders have been in this poor run we’ve had.
Richard Keogh – 7 out of 10
Not pretty to watch in any sense of the word, but what he did helped the team to keep things tight at the back. He won a lot in the air and what he didn’t win he got close enough to that the opposition couldn’t get a good connection on the ball. Carlos now has the unusual but welcome problem of having both Stearman and Keogh playing well in the same position. I’m not fussed which is preferred but it’s nice to finally have genuine competition rather than just cobbling together team selections from whoever isn’t crocked at that point in time.
Naby Sarr – 8 out of 10
I’ve slated him off for his error-strewn performances recently so it’s only fair to sing his praises when he gets it right. Most importantly he did the basics well last night and on top of that added to his performance with some lovely long-range passing. He got on the end of a lot of balls that were launched into the box, which was vital to stopping Cardiff from dominating the game through their set pieces. This performance was even more impressive as he must have been distracted by the troubling news from Senegal, where his family are from.
Pipa – 6 out of 10
I couldn’t work out who the left back /wingback was for much of the game and gave up trying to work it out after a while. It’s much harder to get a sense of the shape of the team when watching through the narrow lens of a camera rather than being there in person. Pipa technically played left wingback but O’Brien seemed to spend as much time dropping in to cover as Pipa did in his actual positon. I suspect Pipa was the wildcard in this system, the one player allowed a bit more positional freedom and encouraged to forage forward. He should really have been the match winner after a lovely through ball put him one on one with the keeper but he dithered a fraction too long and his left footed strike was saved well.
Alex Vallejo – 7 out of 10
He still looks a bit shocked about how quickly players close you down in this league but his composure on the ball means he rarely gets caught out and is able to keep it neat and tidy when operating in tight spaces. He provided good cover for the defence and played some nice looking balls forward too. When he was announced I thought he was doomed to be one of those players that never make it out of the reserves (the Spanish Ivan Pauravic), so it’s unexpected bonus to see that he’s not just capable at this level but actually looks classy when he’s spraying balls out from deep.
Lewis O’Brien – 7 out of 10
A much better performance from the dynamic midfielder, with lung-bursting runs both going forward and tracking back. He seemed to be playing three positions at one time for periods, popping up as a left back, left winger and central midfielder. He made some lovely runs forward and opened up Cardiff’s defense on more than one occasion with smart passing and movement. There was one memorable moment where he seemed to take on and beat four different Cardiff players but sadly the move didn’t end with a goal.
Juninho Bacuna – 7 out of 10
I think he benefited from Mbenza not being on the pitch as many of the creative duties fell to him instead. His set piece delivery was pretty good and in open play he was a live wire in a good sense and caused Cardiff problems when he went forward. There’s always the fear that he’s going to do something daft but he was actually consistently decent in tjs game. He could have got into bother when he bizarrely cupped the cheek of a Cardiff player in an altercation following a nasty Cardiff challenge, had his opponent chucked himself to the floor then the minimal facial contact could have led to an undeserved red.
Aaron Rowe – 7 out of 10
While not everything he tried came off, he kept at it and managed to break through the lines occasionally with his persistence and pace. Like Bacuna and Pipa, he was one of the players that made me hopeful something was about to happen when he got in the ball, even though it didn’t alway come to fruition. He regularly got into decent crossing positions on the right but didn’t always make the most of the opportunities. Crossing is an area for improvement as we’ll need decent service for Sanogo if we persist with this more direct approach.
Fraizer Campbell – 6 out of 10
I think he really benefited from having a strike partner that could act as the focal point so he could drop off and support the play in other areas. He should have done better with the scissor kick that he skied late on, a less spectacular finish would most likely have been good enough if he had just tried to guide the ball into the net. Otherwise a decent, hard-working performance as usual.
Yaya Sanogo – 7 out of 10
I’m sure the only memory he will have of this game is watching his penalty to agonisingly wide of the post but there were lots of positives before that. His all round play and effort built up enough goodwill with me to forgive him for his failure to convert from the spot. Having a big carthorse up front would actually be an improvement after so long of playing without a player that can win the ball and hold it up but Sanogo showed in this game that there’s more to him than that. Don’t get me wrong, he does the job of a carthorse well but also showed a delicacy of touch and vision with his passing that suggests he’s going to be a good acquisition for Town. He looked a bit rusty, which is natural after a long time out of competitive action but there was enough in the performance to suggest he can help the team as part of this more pragmatic approach we’re seeing.
Substitutes
Keiran Philips – 5 out of 10
He didn’t do a great deal in the time he had, which made me think not applicable was the fairest rating but he had 16 minutes on the pitch including stoppage time at a stage of the game where we needed someone to produce a match-winning moment, so I’m giving his a harsh 5 out of 10 because he didn’t make any impact.
Richard Stearman – N/A
Brought on late purely to help withstand the late aerial onslaught from Cardiff, which he played his part in repelling.
At least it was a better performance against Cardiff it I still think you have to question the training methods with this manager , something must be wrong when every time there is an injury the player is injured for anything up to six weeks .
Gary Firth
Some of the injuries (Schindler, Koroma and Stearman spring to mind) have been bad luck during games. The other, muscular ones seem to a result of being overworked. This is either from not rotating enough or slogging them to death with murderball. It probably wasn’t the right season to get militant about training methods but we might see done benefit next season if we survive and Carlos is still head coach. Two fairly big ifs.
Your usual, sensible and informed assessment although on the numbers front I feel you’ve been a bit mean to Bacuna and O’Brien and a little generous to Campbell!
Your absolutely correct about enjoying the match – at long last a performance to be proud of, largely due to the eradication of multiple mistakes and a strategy to deal with Cardiff’s physicality and aerial ability. Sanogo was a great help in this but Sarr was immense – 10/10 for defending, 2/10 for passing. Cardiff were lucky to return home with a point, as unusually we failed to score and equally unusually we kept a clean sheet.
Without dwelling too much on the missed opportunities Bacuna and O’Brien showed their abilities to influence the game in a mainly a positive way, with the obvious caveats of consistency, these two are must plays for me. Schofield demonstrated his strengths and weaknesses, I’m no goalkeeping expert but with crosses he seems to go with his arms first, flailing and failing; surely it should be body first in an attempt to provide a more solid mid-air base and being a physical presence, then the arms. In hindsight Pipa could have cut across on to his favoured foot in front of the defender, at least winning a penalty – which we would have promptly missed!
After the Swansea game I suggested we needed six points from the next six matches (relegation form I know), two points from four games is the current state of affairs, so four points from the next two – unlikely! A replication of this performance for the remainder of the season would ensure safety surely.
Thanks Beck. You might be right about O’Brien and Bacuna, both played a large part in the improved quality.
With Schofield I suspect his technique when claiming high balls in training will be perfect. But when a big, ugly centre half has his elbows out its a different matter. Hopefully last night will have boosted his confidence.
The points should hopefully look after themselves if we get the performances right but QPR and Sheffield Wednesday both look like crucial games now.
At last Carlos has given the team a better set up, we have to continue with the two strikers and letting the opposition worry about us, for sure Cardiff did not expect the team they faced, another load of big awkward bullys who kick you to bits at the back and then score, sorry Mick Mac, it didnt work, they were dead lucky to go home with a point, nowt to say about the pen. but we should continue with this set up and see where it goes against the “lesser teams” but only that sort of performance will do to the end of the season. UTT.
While it was working, I really liked the style of football Carlos was aiming for but I’m pleased he now seems to have accepted that these players aren’t going to get many points if we don’t change things a bit. Having a target man up top made us far less predictable when we were building up play.
The game last night showed that we are a team not suited to Carlosball and we showed much more of the Terrier Spirit needed to survive in this division. I agree that Yaya can be forgiven his penalty miss and I hope he can soon put it behind him as much of his other play was excellent and I think he deserves a run in the team. In the end it certainly seemed like 2 points dropped but we would have taken a point gladly before the game. Vallejo has stood in admirably for Hoggy and I think it should be the frustrating Bacuna who should make way when Hoggy returns. I would then play Hoggy further up the pitch and nothing would please me more than see his name on the scoresheet. I am now assuming we are going to carry on with the direct approach in order to survive so once again it brings up the question as to why the Cowleys were sacked. To the neutral it may not have been a classic but at no time did it feel like we were second best, which we have been far too often this season. More of the same please Carlos.UTT
The penalty miss was caused by a number of things, mainly bad timing. Sanogo was only supposed to play for 45 minutes but managed to carry on much longer. However just before the penalty he looked out on his feet and was about to be subbed. Then the penalty was given and as he was still on the field as the designated first penalty taker he got the job. Otherwise Bacuna would have taken it (and hopefully scored!). Therefore maybe, as the dugout crew were aware how tired he was, they should have told Bacuna to take it – which is all very easy to say in hindsight. The best players in the world miss penalties so given how well he played for the time he was on, this was a small incident for him but obviously a giant occurrence for the team. (Thanks Neil Armstrong!)
Excellent article as always TS.
Thought Sanogo was excellent and showed real promise – at last someone to get in and around the box ! Hope he is not put off by the penalty as his overall play was so good. Hope we can keep him fit.
Can’t understand why we don’t have a fixed list of penalty takers WHO AS PART OF THEIR TRAINING ROUTINE TAKE 50,000 penalties in training every week !
Good point nevertheless despite predictions by many commentators of a certain loss.
UTT
Great column again, I thought REG deserved a 7 the back three were brilliant all game with Sarr taking the MOM award, with Sanogo & Vallejo those 5 got everything on the ball from corners & free kicks, I also disagree with Bacuna I don’t think he gives us enough apart from his free kick & the ball he nearly squeezed through first half I didn’t see much else, his corner & free kick delivery is very poor & needs work on, his work rate isn’t the problem & puts himself about but if he is going to be our flare player we need more from him in the final third, I thought the 3-5-2 system worked very well & we matched Cardiff in every department the players looked very happy & comfortable playing that way, the outlet of having the big guy up front was good instead of coming back & starting again kept us on the front foot, with the quality of the squad at the moment we need to keep this shape & rotate our players as we go along much much better from the team & a good point on the whole, well done Schofield should get a lot out of a clean sheet & well done CC for changing things around