Huddersfield Town’s first half woes continued against Norwich last night when they quickly found themselves 2-0 down, mostly down to good play from Danel Sinani down Norwich’s right. A second-half red card for Tom Lees made Town’s job harder but they still managed to look better organised.and more threatening after the break.
These games where Town’s performance levels vary hugely from one stage of the game to another make it very tricky to do player ratings because some players have produced both excellent and shocking moments in the same game whereas other are consistent across the whole game. I’ll do my.best to average it out and see if I can give a fair score for everyone.
Lee Nicholls – 7 out of 10
Couldn’t do much for the first but came off his line for the second goal and was too easily outfoxed. A string of fine saves across the game, particularly in the second half, 3more than made up for it though as we could have been facing a heavy beating had he not been on form last night.
Kaine Kesler-Hayden – 6 out of 10
Showed some bright moments with his pacey runs down field and willingness to attack. I think he probably played more cautiously last Saturday because it was his debut and he didn’t want to make any big errors but he’ll get more bold the more games he plays. His pace and confidence on the ball mark him out as a Premier League loanee rather than the kind of player we typically have within our ranks of permanent employees and I’m looking forward to seeing more from him. On the night last night we didn’t see enough final product when he went forward and his tracking back could have been better.
Ollie Turton 5 out of 10
Not tight enough in some moments and then in others he got pulled out of position and left gaps in behind him. Most of the time he was fine but he doesn’t completely inspire confidence when we come.up against the top level of Championship teams but seems much more comfortable when we play the big standard teams.
Tom Lees – 3 out of 10
It’s impossible not to boil his whole evening down to one moment of madness. With a full team on the pitch it was going to be tough to come back from 2-0 down away at Norwich but with ten men he gave us a mountain to climb. Arguably, he stopped a likely goal by dragging down his man but the Norwich player still had to go one on one with Nicholls and I’d back our keeper in that scenario more than their striker. I don’t think it’s such a bad thing that Lees now faces a suspension because his form lately has been patchy at best. Time to reflect may help him get back to last season’s performance levels or give Town chance to find an alternative.
Yuta Nakayama – 6 out of 10
The left side of our defence was mercilessly exploited in the opening stages of the game and Yuta was involved in this at times, particularly for the defensive miix up that meant the cross didn’t get closed down for the opening goal. He was also great at other moments, particularly on the ball. He looks really classy, buying himself time with clever turns and picking out passes. His thumping free kick tested the keeper and his long range, floated passes to the flanks are consistently well-judged. He looks to be a very good player but I think he found it hard to know how to play alongside Ruffels at times. So, to paraphrase a famous quote, sometimes maybe good, sometimes maybe… not so good.
Josh Ruffels – 3 out of 10
Unfortunately, teams are now singling out Ruffels as a weak link in our side and they are giving him special attention. Sinani and Aarons worked our left flank relentlessly in the early stages and consistently got results against Ruffels. He looks uncomfortable in every aspect of his game at the moment and it’s hard to watch. After waiting patiently on the sidelines last season for a chance that never came this run of games is not going to plan for him. He’s yet to have a good game after four consecutive starts in the league and isn’t showing signs of improving. It may be time to try something different soon. Nakayama could be moved across or Ben Jackson could be promoted form the B Team.
Jonathan Hogg – 6 out of 10
I’m still getting used to seeing him playing as a real midfielder who actually stays in midfield but he did a good enough job. Made some decent tackles and a few dodgy ones too, which is exactly what he’s there to do.
Jack Rudoni – 5 out of 10
I think this was a tricky assignment for him in central midfield as we weren’t looking to play expansive football for long periods but even still I think he was a bit off his previous levels. His passing radar seemed to be off, with many of the kind of 25-yard passes that he usually lands on a six pence going annoyingly astray. He improved dramatically in the late stages when Town started pushing to get back into the game and played some nice passes but even then he would try to do too much and not quite get it right.
Duane Holmes – 6 out of 10
Busy on the wing but struggled to turn his industry into anything that led to actual chances. After creating two goals from the bench on Saturday I hoped we might be seeing a new Duane but this was the usual bluster without the end product we’ve seen a lot of in the past. Hard to fault his graft but not a lot of quality involved.
Danny Ward – 6 out of 10
Fed off scraps up front but still managed to get three shots off, one of which looked like it could have gone in on another day. He did work hard chasing the usual lost causes and pressing the back line too. A few times it nearly came to something but bounced the right way.
Sorba Thomas – 4 out of 10
Like Ruffels, he’s yet to have a good game this season. Though at least he has produced good moments but there weren’t even many of those for Thomas last night. His defensive work was really poor and he pretty much watched as Ruffles and Nakayama struggled to cope down his flank. Then going forward he messed up every time he got into a decent positon, the worst being a miscued shot when Kesler-Heyden cutback a pass for him which required a relatively straightforward finish and he blazed it over. When Thomas missed that chance he scowled briefly then trotted off with a wry smile, as it he wasn’t really bothered. I’m not sure he’d have reacted like that this time last year. I worry that there may be a “too many hot dinners” situation developing with him, but I think that’s likely to be an overly simplistic analysis. Lee Bromby bragged in interviews about how the club invested in developing Sorba from non-league in terms of diet, psychology and planning. I wonder if we’re seeing the footballing equivalent of the tricky second album that bands struggle with from him this season now that upfront work the club out in has been eased off
.
Substitutes
Pat Jones – 8 out of 10
What an impact! A superb run and shot for his first senior goal for Town. He’s been doing that in the B Team for a while now, so I don’t see why he shouldn’t get a chance to do it for the first team. It was just a shame that we couldn’t get him more time on the ball after his goal as his pace and skill caused Norwich all sorts of problems.
Etienne Camara – 6 out of 10
It’s hard to catch the eye in the same way as a winger when you’re a defensive midfielder but I like the look of Camara and he’s doing himself no harm at all with these mature and reliable performances. He put in one slightly agricultural challenge but when your mentor is Jonathan Hogg that is to be expected.
Jordan Rhodes – 6 out of 10
Similar to Wardy, put it a lot of effort without a lot of service.
Jon Russell – 5 out of 10
Ran like he was pulling a caravan, even by his own standards he looked laboured. I don’t know if he picked up an injury but he looked like he ran himself too hard and couldn’t catch his breath, which is worrying when he came on as a sub. Having said that, he did look better on the ball and played some nice passes.
Josh Koroma – n/a
Didn’t have long enough to make an impact.
I pretty much agree with everything you say TS bar Turton where I saw more good than bad with the reverse on Holmes.
After twenty minutes I feared a rugby league score, after sixty minutes a cricket score was more than likely. The fact that we succumbed to just a 2-1 defeat is credit to most of the players but especially the remarkable Lee Nicholls.
There were too many poor individual performances amidst the effective team effort.
Holmes was characteristically weak in midfield, Ruffles doesn’t look the part defensively and certainly not as a wingback, Thomas is half asleep too often, Rudoni was energetic if largely but not entirely ineffective. There is now an opportunity to replace the malfunctioning Lees, hopefully relegating him permanently to the bench following his three game punishment, although tricky without Pearson. The rest of the squad can take heart from their contributions. I expected to write a lot more damning words but remarkably I feel enthused by what unfolded. Although a bleak summer, autumn, winter and spring is on the cards.
Town and City were both lucky and unlucky during proceedings. A special mention to: Nicholls; Turton; Nakayama; Jones and Hayden.
The major worry for me is the persistent selections of Holmes, Ruffles, Koroma, Lees and to a lesser extent Thomas as their presence is unhelpful to the rest of the team, but what will Hoyle and Bromby replace them with? Recent history suggests maybe something useful, past history suggests rubbish when Hoyle lost the club multi-millions on amateurish punts.
After one great season Sorba act’s like he’s hit the big time, he needs to try less theatrics, and not go down when someone breathes on him, last night I thoght he was to blame for the first goal, Tried to be clever with the ball, and went down faster than Neymar being patted on the back, looked at the ref instead of getting back up and trying to win it back. Every time he goes down its arms out to the ref. I love Sorba but he’s acting like a prima donna, One season doesn’t mean your brill all the time………… Just ask Koroma. Rant over, sorry for the negativity.
A good assessment as usual.
I agree that Ruffels is now being targeted as our weak link. We know that Sinani only has one foot, yet time and again he was allowed to cut inside onto his left to get in crosses instead of us blocking off that route and ushering him to the corner. Either Ruffels did not obey Schofield instructions to that or Schofield did not tell him.
“the footballing equivalent of the tricky second album that bands struggle with”
😂
I only saw highlights, but the couple of games I’ve seen on ifollow, Thomas is really struggling. The introduction of Jones should give him pause to think about his own game, it’s quite incredible a pro footballer has such a poor shot. I’ve not seen Grant, but is he no better than Koroma on the bench? A team can only give under performers a limited time to play themselves into form when there’s young lads in the B team desperate for a chance, Bromby keeps on saying some are doing well, let’s see it then!