Huddersfield Town were deserved leaders at half time after Aaron Rowe put them in the lead. After a nervy start, Town became more dominant as the half wore on and it was their opponents that made an error while passing around at the back which lead to the goal. The win was sealed in the second half when Bacuna’s thunderbolt put us two up and ended the game as a contest.
While it was far from a perfect performance, it was a significant improvement on recent outings from Town and we were the better team on the day. While relegation isn’t completely avoided with this win but it certainly puts us very close to safety.
Here are my player ratings for the match…
Ryan Schofield – 6 out of 10
A quiet afternoon for the stopper but he did everything asked of him, including dealing with a few too many pass backs from his colleagues. He looked nervy at times and made a mess of a couple of situations but none that led to opportunities for the opposition.
Pipa – 5 out if 10
A subdued performance by his standards but most likely because he’s still injured. In fairness to him, he probably made the fewest basic errors during the stage of the game where we made such a hash of passing it around at the back, so there’s that.
Richard Keogh – 5 out of 10
He made at least two unforced mistakes that could easily have led to goals against a more competent attack. I don’t know if it was the length of the grass or a problem with his boots but he underhit nearly every pass in the first twenty minutes and could have cost us the game. He improved along with the rest of the team after his dodgy start and thankfully we weren’t punished for his mistakes.
Naby Sarr – 6 out of 10
Like the rest of defence, he couldn’t find his passing range in the early stages and couldn’t progress the ball up the field. Settled down and made some positive contributions later in the game, including nearly curling one into the top corner but went just wide.
Harry Toffolo – 7 out of 10
It’s unbelievable that he started the game after just one proper training session after returning from injury. While it tells its own story about the quality of the alternative options, it’s also worth commending Toffolo for being able to come into a crucial game and perform to a good level. He showed composure in possession and linked up play nicely down the left, showing exactly what we’ve missed.
Jonathan Hogg – 6 out of 10
Did the dirty work in midfield and made sure there weren’t any gaps for Forest to exploit. He notably didn’t drop deep to collect the ball when we were messing around at the back, I’m reluctant to criticise this as I suspect it was a tactical move to stifle the game and stop Forest from dominating the game by sitting on the ball and not doing anything with it.
Lewis O’Brien – 7 out of 10
His high pressing forced Forest into making costly mistakes at the back, including the mistake that set Rowe through on goal for the opening goal. Lots of other positives, like his link up play with Toffolo and Holmes down the left flank.
Juninho Bacuna – 7 out of 10
His strike for the second goal was superb. While it was close to the keeper, the connection was so good that it was over his head before he could raise his hands. As we’ve seen before, the goal sparked Bacuna into life and he played very well for the remainder of the game. The reason it’s only a seven out of ten is because all the usual frustrations about Bacuna were present before his goal. Even so, this was a much improved performance after his showing against Bournemouth.
Duane Holmes – 6 out of 10
He was poor when he played on the right during the first 20 minutes but improved when he swapped sides with Rowe. This might be because he prefers cutting inside to his preferred foot or simply because O’Brien and Toffolo provided him more opportunities to link up play. Either way, he looked better, even if he sometimes made poor choices in the final third.
Fraizer Campbell – 5 out of 10
Faded out of the game after hurting his shoulder and probably shouldn’t have stayed on after his nasty looking tumble. After the game he couldn’t shake hands with his right hand and wasn’t lifting that arm at all, so I suspect he’ll be out for a little while.
Aaron Rowe – 8 out of 10
The opportunity for his goal was a gift following Garner’s horror backpass but Rowe did everything right to capitalise on it. He showed good composure and technique to strike across the keeper and into the bottom corner. The goal was a justified reward for a good all round performance, both going forward and tracking back. After looking close for quite a few seasons, it’s possible he’s now ready for regular first team football.
Substitutes
Danny Ward – 6 out of 10
Easily his best performance of his second spell. While it wasn’t the most telling contribution, he did well to play in Bacuna for the second goal. The most obvious improvement was that he was actually involved in the game and linked play up nicely. He seems like the kind of striker that really needs good service to thrive but when it’s not coming he needs to get stuck in and there was evidence of that in this game.
Rarmani Edmonds-Green – 6 out of 10
Helped shore things up at the back in the closing stages. Didn’t do a great deal but also didn’t do anything wrong, which was the important thing at that part of the game where we had to protect our lead.
Jaden Brown & Scott High – N/A
Nothing notable to report about these two, apart from maybe the fact that Brown came on as a left winger and O’Brien stayed at left back, which was a bit odd. Brown must now be getting the idea that Carlos doesn’t rate him as a leftback.
Those ratings seem pretty fair Terrier, albeit a little harsh on Pipa when you score him the same a Keogh.
As for Rowe, yes, totally agree – this is the first season since his debut that he looks worthy of the shirt. What I particularly liked about his goal was that he took time, during full flight, to look up before placing his shot perfectly beyond Samba.
It was also nice to see Ward get a touch of the ball, most notably his pass to Bacuna, but to be fair it was the quality of the strike that made the goal rather than the quality of the assist. It was disappointing that when Ward had a clear opportunity to strike on goal that he scuffed his shot.
In reality the first 15 minutes of the first half and 10 minutes of the second means the whole team had poor passages in the game, yet the effort displayed by everyone to cover for their team mates was commendable. Thankfully we did more than enough in the remining 65 minutes to be comfortable in our victory.
As usual, TS, I reckon you’ve got it about right. It wasn’t a great performance but Town did enough and overall deserved the 3 points.
It’s a cliche perhaps, football is a game of ‘what ifs’. As I’ve reflected on the match, there are 2 I’d like to highlight.
1. What if that Town-like Garner misplaced pass had fallen into the stride of any other Town player than Rowe? I don’t think anyone else would have put that away. O’Brien possibly except he’d have to adjust inside to get it onto his left foot and that might have been just long enough to enable a Forest defender to get in the tackle. Rowe had to show a bit of pace in those first few strides and then the calmness to strike it low past the keeper. He took his chance really well.
2. What if Forest had managed to score in that long period of their dominance before Bacuna smashed in Town’s second? Town were fortunate that Forest were profligate in front of goal. At 1-1, after that it would have been a different story.
I echo your comments about Toffolo. Immediately with a proper left-footed left back, with Sarr there too, there is proper balance at the back. I think CC’s biggest tactical error has been fiddling around with that left back position since Toffolo got injured. Switching Pipa was daft. It’s true that Jaden Brown did have one mini horror show coming on as a sub (can’t recall against who?) but to completely ditch him after that does seem an overreaction. Surely he wouldn’t have done worse than ‘the O’Brien experiment’?
But we hopefully don’t need to worry about that now. Despite having an awful goalkeeper and one centre back (Keogh) who is a complete liability on the ball, we might just hold on to our Championship status.
Incidentally, does anyone else get as annoyed as I do when Keogh stands static with the ball trapped under his blades? What’s he trying to show? That I’m a talented ball-playing centre back? Give me a break!
Good comments as usual TS, ratings I agree with except maybe a little generous for both Ward and perhaps Pipa.
The immense relief and unexpected joy I felt one hour before kick off when the team was announced including two of the best players, the fullbacks; Pipa and Toffolo was tempered for most of the first twenty minutes or so as we slotted into the role of incompetence at which we have excelled too often in recent times. Then something happened I’m not sure what, probably the Rowe/Holmes switch, but we became a team again and Forest took our mantle of uselessness.
The through ball to Rowe from Garner was superior to any of the passes our players had supplied to the opposition in previous games or even this one, perhaps James Garner presumed that he had signed for Town has he was rumoured to do pre-season or he reprised his namesake’s role in the late ‘50s TV western series “Maverick” – sorry that will go over the head of anyone under 65!!. Then came the best bit, Rowe took control of the ball ran forward with it, watched the keeper and then placed it in the corner; OK he should be able to do this but he did performing pretty well in other areas except for the occasional loss of possession.
I like Bacuna but even I have to admit he has become a liability in far too many games, for the most part here it was the lazy business as usual although he does see that inventive pass, but as usual they didn’t yield fruit; then Forest gifted the ball again when eventually in possession he moved forward well with the ball then rocketed it into the net, on second viewing it almost seemed to go over the keeper’s head – a ferocious effort though; securing the three points.
I can’t recall Schofield having a proper save to make but I do recall him punching the ball when he should have collected it, also dropping the ball – fortunately he rescued that situation. Why does he regularly retreat when the ball is played back to him, slowing the game down for the benefit of the opponent, inviting pressure on himself and other defenders when trying to pick them out. Toffolo was OK, Pipa was not, Keogh defended well but it was time to press the panic button whenever the ball found itself at his feet, no-one should ever pass to him ever again. O’Brien, thankfully was himself, the rest were reasonably accomplished except for Campbell and Ward who were indistinguishable and equally undistinguished
Great stuff Town, not safe yet, Sunday’s results mean we drop two positions but are safer because of Rotherham’s loss.
The three points was another step towards safety, and good to see Toff. & Pippa back in their real places, Keogh is not good enough, and Bacunas goal was only window dressing, he wont wear the shirt next season, and swapping Rowe/Holmes should have been done at the begining, and now we are back to our old problem of strikers, two great goals but how many more will they both score, Campbell is an absolute pain to the opposition defenders, Ward might as well stay at home, but another two or three points from the remaining games should see us ok.onwards and remaining upwards. UTT.
Bacuna is doing ok. He is only 23 and will continue to improve. I’ll bet the posters here are at least twice his age (or maybe 3 times!) so just think what you were like at 23. Bacuna has also played in about 6 positions for Town this year and has done a pretty reasonable job in whatever he has been asked to do. It is probably likely that Bacuna will leave because of his £15,000/week salary being too high but I for one will be very sorry to see him go.
Me too John. I expect him to thrive elsewhere.
And I wish him every success……….elsewhere.
I’ll bet you a pound to a penny that, assuming he does go, he’s not picked up by a Championship club.
Bacuna certainly divides opinion and he leaves me sat on the fence. He has the potential to be brilliant, but more so to let himself down. I wouldn’t have given him a start on Saturday due to his very poor showings against Rotherham and Bournemouth, but I’m glad Carlos did give him the full 90 minutes. If only he could be more consistent!!!!
23 isn’t all that young as a professional footballer. How many years has he had I wonder in the professional ranks? Long enough I guess to understand that the differentiating factor between the ‘good pro’ and ‘average/poor pro’ is attitude. Bacuna doesn’t seem to get that, despite playing alongside Jonathan Hogg all season. He’d have to score a lot more goals and/or a lot of assists to make up for some of his dreadful performances.
Do the stats lie? Not over almost a full season. 5 goals and only 3 assists. 76% successful passes and only 48% successful tackles. That’s not worth £15,000 per week if that’s what he’s on.
All that said, it was a cracking goal on Saturday!
We kept a clean sheet and got the three points end of story.