If I told you that Huddersfield Town featured in a game were a goalkeeper mistake and a spectacular own goal decided the game you would be forgiven for thinking Town had another error-riddled outing. Thankfully it was Watford who made these mistakes and we had the tenacity and team-spirit to cling onto a two-goal lead that was so generously gifted to us in our final game before Christmas.
There was a lot more than just good fortune that contributed to Huddersfield Town running out victors over a team that clearly had superior individuals but couldn’t quite come together to produce a convincing attacking display.
In no particular order, here are a few of my thoughts on the game…
A hard grafting performance
The Carlos Corberán era has seen Town trying to play attacking and attractive football but there’s a foundation of hard defensive work to build a platform from which to attack. While we might didn’t always play our most fluent attacking football, this game showed a huge quantity of grit and determination to get the result over the line.
Hard work has always been the attribute that Town fans most value in our team and games like this, though attritional at times, are exactly the kind of display more fans want to see. While rampaging runs and silky skills are nice to see, there’s a certain kind of beauty in watching Jonathan Hogg hacking away at an opponent’s ankle to cut them down to size and this was that kind of performance.
Watford had periods of dominance during which we had to rely on some last-ditch interventions and Ryan Schofield bailed us out on more than one occasion. But we actually managed to push back Watford for long spells with our hard-pressing defensive work. Fraizer Campbell was notable for the way he gave Watford’s back line an awful afternoon and his example was followed by the ten players behind him, who squeezed every inch of space they could and restricted the opportunities for Watford to force their way back into the game.
While this wasn’t pretty to watch at times, I was proud of how the team fought collectively and this result lays down a marker for the rest of the season. I think the Millwall game was our best attacking display so far under Corberán but this game was our best performance off the ball. To say it came at the end of a five-week period of double game weeks makes it all the more impressive that we kept running and running for so long.
The dark arts
While hard graft was a part of this victory, I also liked to see how we used what is often euphemistically called “game management” to see out the game. Fraizer Campbell provided a good example of this by entering into an exchange of handbags at dawn in the ninety-second minute of the game, happy to run down the clock in a verbal exchange rather than having to defend long balls into the box. There were similar examples of Town players drawing fouls, messing about at throw ins and generally making the game bitty and frustrating for Watford.
Ryan Schofield’s booking in the twenty first minute for time wasting showed that he’s still got a bit to learn about how far you push things (though he was slightly let down by his teammates not doing what he asked). Thankfully he had the common sense to not push his luck further and risk a second booking, instead he relied on his teammates to find little opportunities to disrupt the game and run down the clock.
Earlier in the season we had a spell where we threw away a few leads and allowed opponents to run rampant over us during their dominant spells. Yesterday showed a developing maturity among the squad, where we knew to break up the play and slow the flow of the game when things weren’t going our way.
I wouldn’t want to see Town doing this kind of thing in every game but the situation yesterday, where we had a two-goal lead to defend for a long period of the game, was the right time to look to kill the game off a bit and stop the opposition from playing.
Man of the Match: An Mbenza masterclass
Several other players could be given the man of the match award, Campbell and Schofield most prominent among them, but Mbenza gets the nod from me. It was his relentless pressing that forced Foster’s error and his whipped corner led to the own goal. That wasn’t all he contributed though as he ran his socks off to stretch Watford on the break and toyed with them in possession when we tried to break down their defence.
The confidence Mbenza is showing is making him a key player for Town and since Koroma’s injury he’s taking even more responsibility to be our main creative force. That desire to get on the ball and play is exciting to watch and he’s done a great job of winning over Town fans in the last few months.
If it was my choice I’d have probably binned off Mbenza in the summer after his struggles under previous managers but I’m happy to eat humble pie and say he’s completely transformed his Huddersfield Town career. Now he just needs to share his secrets with Pritchard and Diakhaby to help them rehabilitate themselves too.
Five points off the playoffs
I don’t like myself for doing it but it’s hard not to look at the table after a win like this and quietly wonder to myself about what might be possible. We currently lie five points from Middlesbrough who are sixth in the table, which is not that far away when you consider all those games where we lost from winning positions.
My honest opinion is that this season’s only ambition should be to avoid relegation and if we can avoid the scrap to go down entirely with a mid-tale finish then we’ve done far better than most fans predicted at the start of the season. But there’s a weasel part of my brain that always wants a bit more and it’s hard not to start day dreaming of what could be possible with a bit of investment in the upcoming transfer window.
While fans have consistently been told the cupboards are bare when it comes to the transfer kitty, if we were to shake loose a bit of cash for a handful of players that can come straight into the first team then who knows where this season might end? Promotion isn’t likely but it’s not impossible either.
While another playoff adventure would be an excellent end to the season, realistically, promotion to the Premier League would be too soon for us and it’s hard to see anything but another punishing season of defeats coming week-after-week if we went up this year. I’d much prefer to see Carlos given more time to develop his philosophy and his squad so we can build a team capable of competing in the Premier League rather than being whipping boys for a year.
Always find it amusing when football fans talking about possible promotion to the Premiership say “it’s too soon for us”. What utter nonsense.
You worry about it being “too soon” once you actually get there.
There’s been quite a few times over the years when I thought it was “too soon” for us to get relegated – but we went and did it anyway.
I think you’re wrong, our most recent promotion came too soon. If Wagner had another year in the Championship then we’d have not needed nearly as many player when we went up. We lost our identity because we had to bring in so many new faces and despite having a good first year it all fell apart shortly after.
I’d much rather see us develop into a decent Championship team next season than get hammered every week in the Premier League for another season.
Sorry but I don’t think you’re right too. It may be nice on paper to say we should go up when we’re ready but it doesn’t work like that. We will never be “ready”. Do you really want to lose? Look at the stick the players and coach/management get when we do lose. If we end up mid table it’ll mean we’ve lost a lot and everyone will be complaining about the performances and missed chances. The problem when we went up with Wagner was that his style meant we just scraped through by an odd goal and were promoted with an unheard of negative goal difference. Unfortunately it was Wagner, the recruitment team and the management who were not good enough (or had enough money) for the Premier League.
Good article as usual though.
Do you know what, you’ve made me think again! My thoughts, like others, had immediate turned towards Campbell & Schofield’s performance but you are right, Mbenza with 2 assists and a hell of a lot running deserves the nod.
It really shows what a great defensive display is about – it starts up front. Most of us would agree that Campbell & Mbenza were excellent yesterday. It’s partly through their chasing but also actually posing a goal threat too. You’d think in a predominantly ‘backs to the wall’ match, we’d be singling out defenders. Yes they all did well but there was no stand-out performer in the back four.
Enjoyed your article as ever and the subsequent comments. As someone else has already said, Happy Christmas to one and all.
PS I agree with you, promotion this season would almost be a tragedy. Given there’d not be much cash to strengthen the squad, I’m afraid the present squad would be crushed most weeks in the top flight. No thanks.
Wonder if all clubs have the same message for their managers, “If yer can’t beat Huddersfield, yer sacked.
Bring em on. UTT.
good summing up by editor but on the dark arts? its game managment something we have been very naieve about and like it or not that is a part of the game ie when in rome do as the romans do. as for team work it was outstanding with cambell leading the way but overall it was a real collective effort in what was a game not many thought we would win.
It was an excellent performance. Well done. What we need now is for the Chairman to give Carlos the tools to finish the job.