Town beaten 2-0 by Stoke – THE INQUEST

Huddersfield Town related social media streams are filling up with overreactions and dramatic statements like a music festival toilet that’s not been emptied all weekend. In both cases, the result is unpleasant and creates a stink.

It understandable that the most volatile Town fans would take our 2-0 defeat badly. The cataclysmic premonitions rippling through Facebook, Twitter, and Down at the Mac suggest we’re not going to get another point all season and are doomed to relegation already.

While it’s not quite THAT bad, things are fairly grim at Town right now. We’ve not won since mid-December and our next two league games are against Liverpool and Manchester United. Town under David Wagner have consistently recovered from bad spells though, so I think we need to keep some perspective.

Here are some of my thoughts on what went wrong at Stoke.

Fullbacks leaving big gaps to exploit

I think a fundamental flaw of the 4-2-3-1 pressing system that Town play is the spaces between the fullbacks and central defenders. The wingers play narrowly to open the channel for the fullbacks to overlap and get crosses in. When Town are on song it can be a joy to watch. But lately, it’s not been working.

Both Malone and Hadergjonaj were caught too far up the field for Stoke breakaways, meaning Hogg, Zanka and Schindler were badly exposed and having to defend huge areas that the fullbacks had vacated.

Playing the fullbacks a bit further back might help with this, but it will also limit our attacking threat during a time where we look fairly toothless going forward. An alternative would be to play an additional centre back and give the fullbacks licence to bomb forward. Kongolo’s arrival and Hefele’s return to fitness make this seem like a possible option.
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The Aaron Mooy tribute act

In my player rating article, I mentioned that Aaron Mooy is currently looking like a cheap imitation of the player that dominated games earlier in the season. When he’s on form, the whole game bends to his will and he controls the play. Lately, the game seems to pass him by for long periods and he looks like he’s struggling to impose himself upon games.

There’s a possibility that opposition teams are targeting him and stopping from playing. I’m not convinced by this argument because that’s always been the case and in the past, Mooy has been able to break free from two or three markers anyway.

Billing and Williams are both quality players, so if Mooy’s form continues to dip then the unthinkable may have to be considered and Mooy may have to be dropped from the starting XI. He’s a class player and will come back, but it may take a spell on the fringes to get back to his best.

Creativity in the final third

One of the most disappointing things from our defeats against Leicester, West Ham, and Stoke is our lack of creative spark when we get near the opposition penalty area. When we get into decent positions we look to be devoid of ideas.

Our attacking players don’t seem to be able to create that moment of magic that’s often needed to open up an opposition defence. It’s a combination of ability and confidence that seems to be missing.

Players such as Quaner, Lolley, and Sabiri will try to make things happen but lack the control to cause problems. Ince, VLP, and Mounié have that touch of class but don’t have the ambition, drive, or bravery to beat their man and make space for a chance. That’s how it looks at least.

Alex Pritchard’s signing could be key to solving this problem. He didn’t get much chance to influence the game against Stoke. They closed him down effectively, and he wasn’t able to have the time on the ball to make telling contributions. Once he’s settled at Town he could be the player that makes things happen and lays on the chances for those around him.

Terrier identity: where has it gone?

Crystal Palace away, Manchester United at home, Brighton at home, and Watford away were all examples of Town’s pressing game forcing opposing teams into poor performances. Our passion, purpose, and energy gave us a platform to push on for victory. That hustle and bustle hasn’t been in evidence in recent games.

It could be fatigue from the hectic Christmas period, but the gaps between games have opened up in recent weeks and we still look lacklustre. We need to recapture that aggressive, in-your-face attitude that unsettles opposition teams.

While Liverpool have better players than Town, their recent win against Man City proved that pressing high up the pitch can work against superior opposition. We need to go back to the fundamentals of the approach that got us promoted to the Premier League in the first place. If the first-choice players are too fatigued to play that system then we’ve got a big enough squad to bring in fresh players.
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Try to keep some perspective

Despite this poor run of form from Town, we’re still outside the relegation zone and the bottom half of the league is very tightly packed. We may find ourselves entering the relegation zone for the first time if we can’t get some points against Manchester United or Liverpool but we’re far from finished.

We need between four and five wins to survive, assuming we’ll pick up the odd draw along the way. If you discount the games against the top six, then we’ve got eight games left that I’d consider winnable. So we’ve got plenty of chances to stay up. If we can snatch another win against one of the top six then it’ll take pressure off those other games too.

Our form isn’t great right now, so it’s easy to feel pessimistic. Thankfully there’s not much pressure on the next three games, so it’s a chance to try and recapture some form. The FA Cup game against Birmingham will allow our fringe players to get some minutes on the pitch. The Liverpool and Man United games may both end up in defeat, but if expectations are lowered we might pull off a surprise.

Terrible stewards at Stoke

Putting the football aside for a moment, I’d like to talk about the terrible stewarding at the Stoke game. The pat-down before entering an away stadium is becoming fairly standard these days. But at Stoke I had to take my hat off, unfurl my scarf, empty my pockets and received the level of frisking that I’d usually only permit after I’d been taken out for a nice dinner.

They also wanted to look inside my brother’s flask, like he was trying to smuggle in nitroglycerin rather than lukewarm coffee. It wasn’t clear what they were looking for in their searches but they were doing their best to find it.

The stewards inside the ground also seemed over-the-top in their approach. They were jumpy and were looking for trouble. I know looking for trouble is literally their job, but they seemed to get involved when they didn’t need to. In other grounds I get the impression the stewards do their best to stay out of the way, but at Stoke they clearly wanted to get in the faces of fans.

Their worst moment of the game was when they fetched a Town fan out of the crowd late in the second half. I was too far away from the incident to see what the Town supporter had done to warrant his eviction, but the stewards seemed heavy-handed. At least eight stewards wrestled one person out and a couple had their hands around the fan’s neck as they dragged him to the floor.

I’m not saying that the Town fan was the innocent victim here because I don’t know what started the thing off. But they were ugly scenes and it didn’t appear to be well-handled from where I stood. It also seemed like a steward may have got hurt in the melee, which is always a terrible thing to see.

This isn’t a criticism of individual stewards, they’ve got a hard job to do for not a lot of money. It’s the organisation and management of them that seemed wrong to me.

Want to read more?

Check out my player ratings article from the 2-0 defeat to Stoke.