“This feels a bit different” – Notes on Huddersfield Town’s 3-1 victory over Oxford United

Huddersfield Town continued their unbeaten start to the League One season with a 3-1 victory over Oxford on Tuesday night. This was probably our trickiest opponent of this unbeaten run, so it was pleasing to see us get the better of one of the league’s more fancied teams. Town took the lead in the second half before being pegged back to 1-1 but went on to score another two in a rampant period of the game where Oxford couldn’t cope with our attacking play. 

They say that it’s the hope that kills you, but this game has made me feel a lot more hopeful about Town’s prospects this season. There’s still work to do, there will be bumps along the way but I’m really liking what I’ve seen of Town this season and this season feels a bit different to the last two League One campaigns. Both Lee Grant and Michael Duff got off to good starts before tailing off, so the same thing is possible for Martin Drury but the way we’re playing is so much better to watch and the balance in the squad feels a lot better too. 

Here are a few of my thoughts on the game.

I thought the first half was OK 

Martin Drury said that he feared the Town fans would boo his team off at half time because they’d struggled to keep hold of the ball but I personally didn’t see a lot wrong with our first half performance. Oxford United dominated the ball for long stretches but I felt like we kept our shape well during these periods and, crucially, we maintained a threat on the counter throughout.

Some of our passing was sloppy, which invited more pressure when Oxford came straight back at us but the instinct to move the ball forward quickly is the right one in my eyes, even if the execution wasn’t always perfect. With the pace of Taylor and Fernandes to help us and Radulovic’s ability to scrap for every ball, we look threatening.

Oxford United rarely troubled Town even if they did do a lot of probing and tapping around with the ball. Their biggest threat was Dembele on the left wing, who they persistently targeted with diagonal balls but many of them were poorly executed and the few times Dembele managed to isolate  Bronkhorst one-on-one, he rarely got the better of our fullback. 

The midfield battle was more or less bypassed by Town in the first half, with Ryan Ledson only having 19 touches and Collins 26 while Brannagan had 45 for Oxford, more than our two central midfielders combined. This was Collins first start after missing out on any preseason friendlies, so it’ll probably take him time to get up to full match sharpness. Though the system we’re currently playing tends to focus our play down the flanks rather than through the central areas, so it’ll be interesting to see how Collins impacts the way we play.

I felt like 0-0 was a fair score for this part of the game, both teams had a specific way they wanted to play but neither quite pulled it off. Oxford were trying to play possession football but their tendency to make basic errors early in the buildup of an attack meant they rarely troubled our penalty area. Town were trying to launch quick breaks at every opportunity but couldn’t find the killer ball with any consistency. 

It wasn’t thrilling to watch but it was certainly intriguing to watch two opposing styles fight it out. Thankfully, the second half swung more clearly in Town’s favour.

The second half was something else

Martin Drury said that he showed the players some videos at half time to help them improve. I’m guessing he didn’t wheel in the VHS/TV trolley and bust out Mrs Doubtfire and instead clipped up moments from the first half where he could see opportunities. Whatever videos he showed, it seemed to have the required effect as Town were noticeably better in the second half.

There was probably more to it but the biggest difference I noticed was the intensity of our pressing improved and we were consistently unsettling Oxford’s defenders when they were on the ball. Pressing like this feels like playing a slot machine, most of the time nothing happens but if you keep at it, eventually it pays out. And the more we pressed, the more Oxford United’s defenders gave us back the ball in promising areas of the pitch. There’s an element of risk when Town play this way, as committing players forward means there’s space behind to attack if the opposition can play through the press and get forward. Thankfully, we got the better of these situations and Oxford’s blind devotion to playing out from the back was a weakness we repeatedly exposed.

Town opened the scoring with a delightful bit of play, Bronkhorst linking up nicely with Fernandes who played a perfectly weighted throughball for Radulovic, who slid the ball past the keeper and just inside the far post. A very high quality goal.

Oxford United’s equaliser was a bit of a shock but came at a time when Town had backed off a little bit after going ahead, allowing Oxford to build a bit of pressure. The opportunity came from Bowat’s overplay in a wide area leading to us losing possession and Bowat didn’t track his man tightly enough to stop the cut back from the byline which led to the goal. This was the kind of sucker punch that has led to us losing games in the past, but thankfully we showed a bit more character in this game. 

Shortly after the scores were levelled, Fernandes played another excellent through ball that set Taylor through one-on-one with the keeper. His attempted lob didn’t quite work and his follow up header was blocked but it was a sign of things to come. The resulting corner saw Taylor score his first with a header from close range, made possible by some smart movement from Taylor to step away from the keeper and into space. I doubt we’ll see a lot of headed goals for Taylor this season but this one showed that clever movement can trump size when it comes to getting on the end of set pieces.

Town put the fixture to bed shortly after when Taylor scored his second and Town’s third of the evening. Fletcher linked play up nicely to release Fernandes who put yet another excellent ball through for Taylor to latch onto, and Taylor’s first touch finish was enough to beat the keeper. 

Town were very good in the second half and deserved all three points. A greedy part of me thinks that we should perhaps have finished more of our chances and won more emphatically but three goals were enough to win the match anyway, so it’s not worth worrying too much about.

Who needs possession?

Town had 38% possession in this game to Oxford’s 62% but still dominated the game. Looking back on our other three games, we’ve not dominated possession in any of them but have still won three and drawn one. It’s a well established fact that dominating possession isn’t a reliable predictor of winning games and teams that dominate the ball can often end up tapping the ball around without any penetration to boost their stats. 

I suppose every football fan will have their own idea about what is the “right” way to play football but I’m enjoying this more direct and purposeful Huddersfield Town team. We’re moving the ball forward quickly and playing with fast attacking players that can be devastating if they get in behind the opposition. 

Maybe, as time goes by, we’ll see Town develop more strings to their bow and we might learn to control games better with the ball but until then, I’m perfectly happy to see Town have less of the ball but do more with it when they get it. 

Oxford might have had most of the possession in this game, but they only managed five shots in the whole game, whereas Town had 25 shots despite their meagre possession stats. 

Oxford looked like Town last season

There was something quite familiar about the way Oxford United played in this game. They has a lot of the ball but frequently made basic errors and misplaced simple passes. They had clearly talented players but couldn’t find the right service to get the best of them. They were competing well in the game until  we scored our second and then their heads seem to drop despite there being plenty of time to get back in the game. 

Having a two goal cushion helped Town but Oxford’s fightback after our third goal was a token effort at best. After relegation last season, and bringing in a new manager with a set of new ideas, I get the feeling they’ve got a bit of work to do before they get to grips with this league. I have a feeling they could become yet another League One team that has a fanatical devotion to playing out from the back despite not having the players to do this. 

It’s probably a bit harsh to judge him on such little evidence, but I’d also be worried about Aaron Ramsey’s ability to compete in League One and to relate to the players in his charge. He spent his career competing at an elite level and coming up against the best in the game, I’m not sure how useful that experience will be when he’s trying to get the best out of players with far more limitations than he ever had and playing against teams that approach the game in a fundamentally different way to the matches he experienced as a player. 

I could well be proven wrong, because there are players in the Oxford United squad with obvious quality, but I suspect they’ll struggle to adapt to League One and are unlikely to challenge for promotion this season. 

AOB

Joe Taylor giving the away fans some stick –  I go to matches to enjoy the football on the pitch but I also get a kick out of all the panto aspects of attending football matches too. Seeing Joe Taylor gesticulate at the away fans and winding them up was a nice moment in this game. My impression is that he’s the sort of character that enjoys a bit of needle and it helps get him fired up, so I’m happy to see him do this sort of thing, even if it’s not all that professional.

Yorkshire pudding wrap – I was in a bit of a rush to get to the game, so didn’t have time for tea beforehand. With the club announcing new catering options, I thought I’d give the sausage wrapped in a Yorkshire pudding a go. I wouldn’t recommend it. The Yorkshire pudding must have been cooked a long time before as it had got really soggy in the wrapper and was luke warm at best. The sausage tasted like the cheap, chipshop type. If there was gravy or sauce in it then there wasn’t enough to stop this being a dry affair. The Yorkshire pudding wraps in the food court in Leeds market are far superior and worth checking out if you find yourself in Leeds.

Sebine gone – Despite George Sebine coming off the bench in this match, he was loaned out to Rotherham within an hour or so of the final whistle. I think a season in League Two will be good for his development but I’m not sure it’s the best move for the club. Given we’ve played two strikers in most matches this season and now only have Fletcher, Taylor and Radulovic to fill these two slots, I’m surprised we let a promising youngster leave. Maybe Town have a free agent in mind to bolster this area of the pitch but I’m a little concerned about how thin we’ll seem up top if we pick up any injuries.

Keeping a big squad happy – While I was surprised to see Sebine go out on loan, I was equally surprised by how many players we didn’t move on this window. Anthony Evans has been shipped out but Herbie Kane, Lynden Gooch (despite rumours about a loan to Wimbledon), David Kasumu, Cameron Ashia, Joe Low and Lasse Sorensen all remain at the club despite them getting few opportunities so far in league games. If nothing else, we should have a lot of senior options for the EFL Trophy games when they come around. Cam Ashia will be particularly interesting to monitor as there have been hints that he’s been trying to engineer a move this summer. Now the window is shut, it would be in his best interests to dedicate himself to playing for Town even if it was only to put himself in the shop window for a January transfer.