Nathan Jones has another bad day in Huddersfield – Notes on Town’s 2-1 win over Charlton

Huddersfield Town beat Charlton 2-1 on Saturday in a game that most people will struggle to remember when they look back on this season. The football was mostly scrappy and lacking in entertainment value but at least Town did enough to get a win, even if they made hard work of it at times. The horrendous weather and the first-half red card for Charlton hampered the game, though it has to be said that Charlton seemed to be improved by going down to ten men and we struggled at times despite having the numerical advantage. 

While this didn’t feel like a great performance from Town it did push us up into the playoff positions and only five points from Wrexham in the second automatic promotion spot (though Birmingham’s games in hand could mean they climb back up the table when they eventually catch up on their fixtures). 

A good win? 

If you watch the interviews the club put out before and after games you will have been told numerous times that any win at this level is a good result. However, I came away feeling that Town made a meal of this game where they should have been able to win at a canter. Scoring early, thanks to a superb Matty Pearson header meant we were in a commanding position but didn’t push on. 

We then let Charlton back into the game due to a silly decision at the back, as we’ve done so often this season. This time it was Brodie Spencer lunging in on Rarmani Edmonds-Green in the penalty area despite there not being an apparent danger that required that sort of high-risk challenge. If you swing your legs around like that in the penalty area, you have to be perfect with your timing. Sadly Spencer wasn’t. 

The game then changed with the red card, but the reduced numbers on the pitch seemed to add to Charlton’s resolve. They forced us into booting the ball long far too often and our ineffective strikers barely won a header when we played this way. Charlton, on the other hand, made use of their giant striker, Leaburn, causing us repeated problems with their direct play. 

Thankfully, Herbie Kane used some clever footwork to draw players to him and open space for Kasumu to drive in a lovely edge-of-the-box strike on his weaker left foot. We then saw the game out in nervy fashion, allowing Charlton too many opportunities to equalise but thankfully none were taken. 

But was it a good win for Town? I’m not sure it was really. I came away from the ground with a familiar feeling, while I was glad for the three points I didn’t feel like we’d seen the best of Town and if anything, we had got away with one. Charlton had enough chances to at least draw the game or maybe even win it. Leaburn headed one wide that he should have scored, another player had an open goal from a corner Chapman flapped at but the header went wide. Then there was Chapman’s brilliant last-ditch intervention when Charlton took a quick free kick in the dying moments of the game and anything but perfect timing would have ended in a penalty or a goal to Charlton. 

Nathan Jones has another bad day in Huddersfield 

For those that might not remember, Nathan Jones was livid with Huddersfield Town fans back when we knocked his Luton side out of the Championship playoffs in the semi-final before our eventual defeat to Nottingham Forest in the final. Jordan Rhodes’ goal put Town through and Nathan Jones at the time described our fans as a disgrace and idiots in his rabid post-match interview. He even said, ‘If that was my wife, I’d be disgusted’ about a woman he’d seen making rude hand gestures. 

Prior to that game, I thought Nathan Jones was a bit of a prat but my dislike for him grew exponentially that day and has continued to burn at a low smoulder since. So it was a delight to watch the angry little man repeatedly lose his rag with various decisions of both the referee and his players. It’s not nice to take pleasure from someone else’s misfortune but it does also feel quite good. It was particularly pleasing to see Michael Duff standing up to Jones and giving him some stick at one stage in the second half.

Jones’ post-match comments after this game were consistent with his usual approach, claiming that his team were the better side and whining about every decision that didn’t go his way. A point might have been a fair reflection but his description of the game suggested Charlton had been on top for nearly 90 minutes, which was definitely not the case. 

While I dislike Nathan Jones, I must say that a couple of fans in the Riverside stand let themselves down by seemingly going to confront the away dugout. There was a lengthy interaction between one fan and the away coaches, including Jones. While it never escalated beyond “a frank exchange of views”, I think it was pretty bad that there was no security or stewards involved until the fan had been venting for quite a long time. If things had turned nasty I think the stewarding of this part of the ground might have been called into question. 

The ref got the big decisions right but was still poor

I’ve heard people express doubts about the decisions for both the penalty and the red card that provided key moments in this game. I think the ref was correct with both of these calls, Spencer clearly kicked Edmonds-Green’s leg and there was no option but to give a penalty with that kind of contact even if the fall from the former Town player was needlessly over the top. Similarly, Docherty’s red card was right because it was one of those challenges where the player wasn’t even attempting to take the ball and was instead aiming to hurt another player. Nasty. 

But the general level of performance from the referee was poor otherwise. Thankfully I don’t think he changed the outcome of the game massively but there were multiple times he got basic things wrong. Most notably, he booked Michael Helik for the crime of being fouled by a Charlton player, or so it seemed to me at the time. There were also two instances where he pulled play back for a free kick when it was blindingly obvious that playing advantage would have suited the attacking team more – there was one of these for each side so at least it was evened up. 

I also found him to be an overly fussy referee. Frequently he stopped the game to have little chats with players for things like shoving at set pieces. He did the same when he stopped the game to try to appease Nathan Jones about a decision he didn’t like. The game was already stop-start because Charlton made it very scrappy but these momentum-spoiling stoppages ruin the flow of a game. In my view, too many referees enjoy the sound of their own voice when it comes to officiating. 

Less chat and more football would be my advice, particularly as the people he gave his little lectures to on Saturday universally ignored whatever words of wisdom he imparted. Every time he pulled players up for shoving they would nod their heads along then return to the exact same shoving match that they had both promised to cut out. 

David Kasumu justifies his new contract 

Kasumu penned a new deal at Town this week, which is most likely a good thing. Based on his performances this season, it’s fully justified as he’s really grown into his role in defensive midfield. However, my concerns about the wisdom of this extension are whether he’ll be able to maintain his levels if we go up to the Championship. Prior to this season he has not performed consistently and lacked quality at times. 

It does seem that Michael Duff has unlocked something in Kasumu this season though as he’s now adding long-distance goals to his repertoire. The goal in this game is even more impressive when you consider it was on his weaker foot. Maybe the keeper could have done better with it but the daisy-cutter through a crowded box is always hard for keepers to stop. He’s also improved his positional awareness and curbed his tendency to jump into tackles lately. When you add these improvements to the work rate and defensive strengths in his game, it’s clear why he’s currently keeping Hoggy out of the team. 

Kasumu was the official man of the match for this game but it’s also worth mentioning his midfield partner, Herbie Kane, who also contributed a lot in this game. I think that the Kasumu & Kane double act in midfield has brought some stability to that area of the pitch and allowed Ben Wiles to play with more freedom because of the solid base they give him. Kane has the ability on the ball that Kasumu lacks while Kane’s lack of speed is compensated for by Kasumu doing the bulk of the leg work in that area of the pitch. 

Killer instinct lacking

Michael Duff was absolutely furious with Mickel Miller during the second half when he put the ball out of play from a promising position in Charlton’s final third so Leaburn could receive treatment. The injury turned out to be only cramp and when play resumed the ball was launched back to Chapman for us to rebuild from the back. It really showed the different mentalities in the two squads as Charlton rewarded us for our act of sportsmanship by chasing down Chapman when he received the drop ball. 

My personal preference would be for referees to be in charge of stopping games for injuries rather than this weird system where players are expected to kick the ball out if the other team picks up the slightest knock. Head injuries are the obvious exception, where medical intervention needs to be immediate. But cramp? Come on.

Had Town gone on to score with Charlton effectively down to nine men it would have been controversial but completely within the rules. Miller’s choice to kick the ball out rather than pushing to extend Town’s lead is a small moment but it’s symptomatic of a wider mentality problem at Town where we’re not nasty enough.

Nathan Jones has whipped up his Charlton side to give everything and while it leads to more red cards, it does also mean that they fight for every single thing on the pitch. Town could learn something from them on this front. Being gentlemen and playing perfectly within the rules doesn’t help us when every point has to be fought for. 

Striker problems continue 

Rhys Healey’s calf apparently popped when he pulled up injured, which suggests another long lay off ahead for the luckless striker. As all of his recent injuries seem at least somewhat related to his longer-term ligament injury he’s had before, there must be doubts about whether he’s going to be able to get fit and injury-free for any length of time. It’s a shame because he always looks dangerous in his cameos between spells in the treatment room.

All the other strikers on Saturday were disappointing for various reasons. Koroma wasn’t involved in the game nearly enough. Radulovic shows nice touches when linking up play from deep but is a ghostly presence in the final third, sort of there but not really. And Marshall’s crisp packet chasing style lacked a cutting edge despite him testing the keeper from range. 

Danny Ward and Freddie Ladapo didn’t make the bench for this game but they are the next cabs off the ranks in our continual hope that one of the six strikers we currently have can find some form and fitness. But if the four strikers we saw on Saturday are all considered ahead of the pecking order than these two then how much can we realistically expect from them?

Sadly, it feels like the answer to our striker problems is more likely to come from the transfer market rather than anyone currently on our books. Though common sense would suggest that we are likely to need to offload one or two of our misfiring strikers to make way for new additions. 

Leyton Orient up next

Our next opponent currently sit just inside the League One relegation zone but they are also unbeaten in their last four games, so may be trickier opponents than the league table suggests. They drew with Stevenage at the weekend and prior to that have beaten MK Dons, Blackpool and Boreham Wood. 

Town are also on a decent streak of form, with the shock cup defeat to Tamworth our only defeat in our last nine games. If you only look at the league, we’re unbeaten in our last six games. Our last League One loss was against Birmingham, all the way back at the start of October. 

It’s a game that Town should go into with confidence but I have doubts about this sort of game. Will we be able to cut out the silly mistakes? Can we replace Matty Pearson’s goal threat now he’s out injured? Will we turn up at all or could it be another Tamworth performance? These niggling doubts about Town make it hard to feel optimistic about our prospects this season despite our relatively decent league position. Our blip in form in September could have put us completely out of the automatic promotion race but the top pack of teams is easily within catching distance for Town. However, the consistency and performance levels aren’t where they could be just yet.