Huddersfield Town were 1-0 up against Bolton as they entered stoppage time but somehow managed to throw away a lead they didn’t deserve by conceding TWO injury time goals and squandering three points.
Even though I’m writing this article a few days after the game, I’m still cross about how we approached this game. While the last few minutes were a disaster, they weren’t unexpected, as we’d been pretty dire after we went 1-0 up.
Here is what I made of each individual player…
Lee Nicholls – 5 out of 10
Dealt with everything thrown at him until stoppage time. He made five saves and none were world-class class but a few were testing and he dealt with them without any fuss. For the first goal, it was a brilliant header but I wonder if Nicholls positioning was off, as he was moving towards his near post when the ball came in and left a large unguarded area at the far post. Then the second goal was another good finish but Nicholls was in no-man’s land when the shot came in, too close to react but not close enough to block. He wasn’t to blame for either goal, but on his best day, he’s capable of stopping one or both of those goals. He also faked injury in a pretty cynical way in the second half, so Lee Grant could get some instructions to the rest of the team. The time added on for that stoppage was when we lost the game.
Lynden Gooch – 7 out of 10
I find Lynden Gooch a really likeable player to watch, he’s fully committed and has a bit of ability to go along with it. He was aggressive without fouling too often and stuck at his task even if it didn’t always come off for him. While listening to his accent when he talks feels like a trip around the world, he’s looking at home in Huddersfield.
Josh Feeney – 6 out of 10
One of our better players on the night. Very steady and assured with his defensive work and played some nice passes out from the back. He also mopped up nicely whenever there was a loose ball near him. He’ll be disappointed to have not stopped Dalby’s header for the 93rd-minute equaliser, but had done well with similar crosses all night.
Joe Low – 6 out of 10
He was a bit too physical at times but just about got away with it, a different referee may have punished him more. Though he was up against the league’s top scorer and mostly did a good job of keeping tabs on him.
Ruben Roosken – 7 out of 10
Got forward well and put in plenty of balls. A bit more thought and execution on his crosses could have made more of the opportunities created. He looks like more of an attacking threat since dropping back to left-back, which I think is because he’s starting his runs from deeper areas and has more momentum and fewer players marking him when he gets forward. He did his part defensively too, doing well against Cozier-Duberry, who is one of the best players I’ve seen at our stadium this season.
David Kasumu – 5 out of 10
Good intensity off the ball. Wasteful on it. Not much different to his recent outings. He did do a lot of closing down and tidying up in the middle of the park but his good work was often immediately undone by a poor pass or ill-judged run. So often he receives the ball and just charges forward in a straight line into traffic. He has good pace but doesn’t even attempt to use skill to evade grateful defenders. Some of his passing was also very poor, basic errors that aren’t acceptable at this level of football.
Ryan Ledson – 3 out of 10
Sat too deep at times and just not involved at others. Alfie May ended up dropping even deeper and doing Lesson’s job for him in possession. Far too many hopeful balls forward to nobody in particular, it reminded me of how Matty Pearson liked to hoof the ball downfield without much thought. Only Ledson is meant to be creating things. Got away with a light stamp on the privates of one of their players, which looked accidental in real time but the replay looked suspicious. Far too slow tracking back for the late winner, though he should have been subbed off by that point as he’d already gone down with cramp. Dan Vost had been stripped to come on at the same time as Roughan but was sat back down, which now looks like a poor choice.
Alfie May – 7 out of 10
It’s hard to assess Alfie May’s performance in this game, as he was played in the wrong position. But, as a number ten, he was actually pretty decent. He was involved in the game almost all the time, dropping back frequently to do other people’s jobs as well as getting forward to do his own. He’s an intelligent reader of the game and often picks out runners that our other attackers don’t tend to see. The main frustration is that he’s spending too much time away from the area where he does the most damage. Even so, he had a goal-bound shot blocked by Joe Taylor from an early corner, which looked like it would have beaten the keeper if his colleague wasn’t in the way. He had several other shots but none in the area where you’d expect him to score. Despite being a square peg in a round hole, he actually did his job well. I just hope we get to see him play his preferred position soon.
Ben Wiles – 5 out of 10
Not a left winger and didn’t really adjust his game much to account for his move to wide left. Whether this was tactics or just Wiles’ doing what he wanted, he spent too much time waiting for the ball to come to him rather than making things happen.
Leo Castledine – 6 out of 10
Headed goals aren’t likely to be a regular feature of his career, but he did well to get free of his man, and connected very nicely with his header. In the Premier League, with VAR, questions might have been asked about the tussle he had with his man in the build up, which ended with the Bolton player on the deck. Though you could argue it was an even battle and Castledine just outfought him. I think this was his first time playing from the right wing but he looked relatively comfortable in that new role. Like Wiles, he was quite narrow at times but he linked well with Gooch and was more of a threat.
Joe Taylor – 4 out of 10
Had a couple of good opportunities to get in behind but his touch let him down and the chances fizzled out. Kept pulling into the channels, which makes sense with his speed being more effective when he can isolate defenders. The problem was that nobody was filling in the gap he left and it made us a bit toothless up front. Only 14 touches in over an hour of football shows he just wasn’t involved enough. Also needs to be more mindful of offsides when anticipating the ball.
Substitutes
Marcus Harness – 5 out of 10
I can’t remember him doing anything in the half an hour he had on the pitch. Disappointing as we needed him to calm the waters and relieve pressure on the defence by having some possession ourselves.
Dion Charles – 6 out of 10
Worked hard, got stuck in, but still looks badly out of form. This felt like a selection for sentimental reasons rather than being deserved.
Mickel Miller – 4 out of 10
Allowed far too much space for the cross to be delivered for Bolton’s first. Stood off his man, which allowed him the chance to execute his cross without pressure.
Sean Roughan – 4 out of 10
Sucked towards the ball and lost his man, who then went on to score the winner. Looks a shadow of the player he was at the start of the season.
I can’t disagree with much of your assessment TS except I would dump Wiles on 3 or even 2. I never played in a side or against one with nine and a half men but I witnessed one on Thursday.
I enjoyed watching an entertaining first half, we were enterprising, energetic, dominating play, although the statistics up to that juncture suggested otherwise. The inability to create simple enough chances to score is proving to be a burden and an ominous one at that. Castledine surprisingly scoring with a powerful header from a well taken corner by Roosken. Not many further scoring opportunities ensued, in fact Bolton probably had as many during that first session.
A completely different story after half time with Town surrendering possession and position especially, with frightening ease. There was little evidence of a coherent plan as Wiles and Ledson proved to be incapable of doing anything useful, disappearing from the action, Wiles eventually from view, far too late in my opinion and Ledson amazingly and pointlessly stayed on the pitch. All this after an extended period of preparation time.
LG’s substitutions proved ineffective there seemed to be absence of strategy as the manager was worryingly, out thought yet again.
Interesting analysis, which I think you are a little hard on your team, yes this is a Bolton fan, who was in attendance on the night. In my humble opinion you won the first half on points and we won the second half on points. Thank god, or whoever, for your manager……. His substitutions where excellent for us, we took control and even you must admit we took our chances, which we did get too easy, very well. Overall a good game and see you at the Toughsheet for the FA Cup game. Geoff H
Thanks for your assessment TS. I can’t disagree with any of your player reviews. I’m afraid our rookie manager is being out thought far too often. A likeable guy with a solid view of how he wants his team to play but this was a classic example of the opposition changing their tactics and us not responding . They pushed forward by 10 – 15 metres on the press and limited our ability to play out from the back which then forced Lee Nicholls to go long hoping our vertically challenged strikers could compete with giant defenders so the ball just kept coming back and we invited pressure which eventually told . Unfortunately Ledson is neither a competent mid fielder or captain tbh and is only keeping his place as we are short of midfielders or through misguided loyalty. Hopefully Marcus Mc Guane will be available soon as neither Ledson or Kasumu or currently up to the job. I’m guessing that with Miller back there is an opportunity to push Roosken forward as a left winger as Wiles is not a left winger. How about this for a wild idea . Play Lynden Gooch in midfield. Combatative, technically sound and very committed. I’m beginning to worry more about relegation than promotion at the moment .
Well Terrier don’t think there will be many teams capitchulating like we did..
However none of the subs should have marks above 1, they contributed even less to the cause , less than Wiles and Taylor.
I agree, we seem to be a team with one man down all the time. How many teams deploy their most expensive striker to run arround like a headless chicken. It doesn’t work, how could Grant not see their sweeper keeper was fully in control. If he was to drop back a bit then it would strenghten our midfield. He’s never going to win a header or control a ball whilst running at full pelt. The bolton fan is right, Grant gave them that, you don’t have to bring on subs at 60 mins if the team is coping.
Grant, change your tacticks and drop the captain, please !
Excellent summary TS ,however have to say LG playing a proven goal scorer in Alfie May is ridiculous and I think he is poor in midfield ,mainly due to his positional sense as he becomes frustrated and follows the ball ending up far to deep so he was a five to me. After a dozen games I still don’t see a pattern of play ,we lack pace all over the field , never have enough men in the box ,and never keep the ball for more than three forward passes .The constant changes mean no continuity , what we would give for the courage of Peter Clarke , the skill of Aaron Mooy , and the goal threat of Marcus Stewart ,everything this squad are lacking .
Can this manager respond and modify tactics during a game? Is it the case that replacing Roosken , who was dealing adequately with their attackers led to the goal?
On twitter there are many people calling for the manager’s head. This seems ridiculous – having had so many managers, but it again raises the question about the owner and the team around him.
Nagle is so focussed on his real estate deals and potential for development around the ground, but his football judgement seems to be appalling – starting with his hasty decision to get rid of Warnock. He has put money into the transfer window but did he buy the right players? Doesn’t seem so just now.
Its getting more and more difficult to find any silver lining , it seems downhill all the way.
Am i the only person apart from the Preston Manager its well documented at Deepdale the reason ledson was let go is because he has a bad knee so we sign him and make him captain ridiculous decision by Novice Grant the only money that was spent was 1.2m on Alfie May when we sold Thomas for 2m Spencer 1.5m not forgetting Helick 1.5m so 5m in and sod all spent 5 loans and the rest freebies and Grant was second choice to be Manager after target 1 turned them Down Grants position is going to get very bad in the next 4 games then Nagle will have to make a decision Nagle wants Promotion not with this Manager thanks Derekahaigh@gmail.com
A decent first half but the second half was crying out for Radulovic and Ashia to come. However, that wasn’t going to happen as they were not even on the bench. I got a lot of flack from my Bolton supporting running clubmates on Friday morning.