Blackpool have been a bogey team for Huddersfield Town this season. Despite them being 14th in the table, they’ve done a number on us twice. Both the home and away games against Blackpool have been tough for Town and Blackpool deserve the 4 points they’ve taken off us in those games. Based on how they’ve played against us, Blackpool should be playoff contenders but clearly, they just raise their game for us.
Having said that, Town repeated some mistakes they’ve been guilty of all season and made a few new ones too. But on the positive side, they found a way back into the game and continued the unbeaten run despite putting in a shoddy first 45 minutes in this game.
A first half riddled with old problems and a few new ones
The home game against Blackpool was one of the worst examples of Town leaving far too much space between their central defenders and wingbacks, which Blackpool relentlessly exploited by pinging balls into the corners for their wingers to chase. The defence can’t make the same mistake again? To quote Mick McCarthy, it can!.
Despite the defensive shape being more like a back four than three, Blackpool still managed to find an abundance of space in behind our full-backs, which then pulled the central defenders out into the areas around the byline where they typically don’t want to be defending. I don’t like praising Steve Bruce if I can avoid it, but he’s used the same simple tactic to break us wide open twice now and it’s paid off.
The problems were coming from wide areas but it was exacerbated by one of the worst midfield performances we’ve seen in a half from Town this season. The pairing of Hodge and Kane didn’t set alarm bells ringing before the game, as both have performed well in their positions this season. But without a grafter, ratting around in midfield, Hodge and Kane were limp and lethargic as a pairing and Blackpool had plenty of time to spray balls out to wide areas because we didn’t work hard enough to close down space. This hasn’t been a common problem for Town this season, as our workrate is typically good all over the pitch since Duff’s arrival. I wouldn’t say Hodge and Kane are bad players but both are most effective when someone else is alongside them to do the hard work.
So this game was really crying out for David Kasummu, as his best moments this season have come from breaking up play in midfield to stop teams from getting into a passing rhythm and using his pace to fill in the gaps behind the wingbacks when needed.
A better second half
Duff clearly diagnosed the midfield problem himself, possibly helped by having an elevated view of the action while he saw out his touchline ban for picking up three yellow cards. His solution was to swap out Hodge and Kane for Hogg and Evans. While this isn’t an obvious upgrade on paper, on the pitch both were orders of magnitude better than the player they replaced. Hogg brought the fight and hustle that is a hallmark of his Town career, while Evans brough energy and ball carrying ability into the middle of the park, showing he can pick out a pass in the final third too.
The improvement was immediate and rewarded with a lovely first goal for Joe Taylor, with Anthony Evans looping deflected cross landing in a good spot for Taylor to tee himself up and hit clinical strike into the bottom corner. The momentum from that goal carried Town forward and a short while later Brodie Spencer broke up play and made an ambitious run forward before lashing the ball into the top corner. Replays showed a heavy deflection helped the ball in but it was still an excellent piece of play from the Northern Ireland international.
Once Town had clawed their way back to level terms the game settled into a more even and open affair, with Blackpool continuing to cause us problems on the break despite spurning the good chances they carved out.
As often happens against Town this season, Blackpool seemed to tire in the closing stages and Town became the dominant force in the final few minutes of the game. A fingertip-save from Blackpool’s keeper stopped Tom Lees from scoring what looked like a certain goal. Lees continues his bad run of form in front of goal, this one being the latest of at least five very good scoring opportunities that he’s spurned.
Taylor and Charles impress in different ways
Having our two new strikers starting was either a bold show of confidence from Duff in his new men or a sad indictment of how little he thinks of his existing strikeforce. Either way, I liked what I saw from both Taylor and Charles. Neither were perfect but there was plenty to like about seeing two proper strikers doing their work in the area of the pitch strikers should be.
Dion Charles probably had the better game of the two, despite not scoring, as he was a constant menace off the ball and was more involved in our attacking play too. However, Taylor did the job he’s been brought here to do and got on the scoresheet. I really don’t think Marshall, Ladapo or Radulovic would have been able to receive the ball in that area, bring it under control and get a powerful shot away. So in my eyes he’s already repaying some of the transfer fee we paid.
Looking more broadly at Taylor’s performance, he looked like a player that hasn’t played loads of minutes lately. His link up play was intricate and clever but most of the execution wasn’t quite right and he lost the ball quite often. He also drifted out of the game for spells too. But Michael Duff pointed out after the game that we didn’t play to his strengths and the service we provided didn’t give him any opportunities to get in behind Blackpool’s backline.
Both Charles and Taylor showed the kind of terrier spirit that suggests they’ll be well suited to this team. With Charles putting himself about a lot and putting in a few tackles. One of Taylor’s best moments of the match came when one of Blackpool’s huge centre backs came to confront him for a (admittedly poor) tackle he’d committed. Rather than apologise and back down, Taylor matched the bigger player’s aggression and seemed to continue mouthing off at him. While I suppose this sort of thing shouldn’t be encouraged, it’s nice to see a Town player with a bit of bite. I think Taylor is going to be a popular player among Town fans, if he keeps scoring goals and winding up opposition players.
Chapman picked the wrong time to have a bad day
The teamsheet had a pleasant surprise on it before the game, with Lee Nicholls brought along as the sub keeper after his long layoff with a dodgy elbow. Competition for places is usually good for players but I wonder if keepers can be rattled when a better player returns to fitness.
It is most likely just a coincidence that Nicholls return to the matchday squad occurred on the day Chapman had his first properly bad game for Town. The first goal saw him get beaten on his near post when better positioning and quicker reflexes would have kept the shot out. The second goal saw him push the ball straight into the danger zone for an easy finish. Neither was a howler as such but they felt a bit soft.
Chapman was far from the only person to blame for either goal, as they both came from pretty loose defending by various Town players. However, with his return to contention, it’s not unreasonable to wonder out loud if Lee Nicholls would have conceded these two goals. My bet would be that he’d do better with at least one of these goals.
I think Chapman has built up enough goodwill over his 18 games and nine clean sheets to forgive him one off day. However, if Lee Nicholls is getting closer to fitness (Duff suggested he may still be a bit rusty) then Chapman can’t afford many more bad days.
Some will call for Nicholls to come straight back in the second he’s fit enough and I can understand this viewpoint because he’s been such a good keeper for us. The difficulty is that it sends a bad message out to the rest of the squad if certain players are automatically selected regardless of how well their replacement is playing.
I think Chapman should keep his shirt but as soon as there are any doubts about his performances, Nicholls should then get the gloves back. Chapman doesn’t deserve to lose his place just yet even in light of two sloppy goals going in against him in this match.
Was a draw fair?
I think both teams could claim they were the ones that deserved to win this game. Town had more shots on target but Blackpool missed a couple of sitters. Blackpool were two up, so will naturally feel aggrieved they let this (famously dangerous!) lead slip. But after the equaliser, I thought Town would kick on and win from behind for the first time this season.
On balance, both sides had their moments in this game but neither did enough to get the win. On another day, Tom Lees’ late header would have won the day for Town but in a different timeline Apter could have buried one of the couple of very presentable opportunities he had to add to his first goal.
It’s easy to get carried away with Town’s good recent form and think “We shouldn’t be losing to teams like Blackpool” but the reality is that they played well on the day and we had to dig deep to match them. The good thing is that we managed to find another approach, mid-game, which counteracted their strengths and gave Town a foothold back in the game. Michael Duff deserves credit for the changes he made in this game, though equally, could have saved himself the bother if he hadn’t picked a mis-matched midfield pairing to begin with.
What next for Town?
It’s a pair of challenging home games next up for Town, with Bolton visiting on Saturday and Birmingham the Tuesday after. Bolton will want revenge for their 4-0 drubbing in the reverse fixture. The EFL trophy win was a bloodless, Covid-era type of game with hardly any fans in attendance and a game that played out in the drab fashion you expect when neither side cares if they win or lose. If Town can match their energy that they produced in the second half of the Bolton away game then it will be a good night, but it’s also worth remembering that Bolton looked dangerous in the first half of that game and were on a lot of people’s prediction lists for automatic promotion this season.
Playing Birmingham on Tuesday will be an interesting barometer for Town’s progress since we were soundly beaten by them in October (the last league game Town lost). I have a feeling that Birmingham will be too strong for Town but I’d be happy if we can at least go toe to toe with them, rather than parking the bus and hoping for the best.
I thought Blackpool could easily have had four or five more goals, and Town a couple more. We were a complete shambles in the first half, so well done Duff for changing it. We were lucky that Blackpool’s best striker was away talking to another club and Jordan Rhodes only got a few minutes.
Just heard Nagle’s latest diary and I get the impression there will be a mass clear out in summer, coupled with a no expense spared rebuild. I hope so, there are too many players at the club who are nowhere near good enough, most of them being defenders. The decision not to replace Helik will cost us automatic promotion, the powers that be, have three games to realise that.