Toothless Huddersfield Town limp to 1-0 defeat against Lincoln

There were promising signs in the early stages of this game, Town seemed to have put right the glaring issues that led to a hammering at Charlton. Sadly, the improvement wasn’t much of an upgrade as Lincoln made the most of lax marking to score a well-taken set piece goal and Town were unable to break down Lincoln’s defence to get back into the game. 

As the game wore on, Town’s confidence shrank as Lincoln’s grew and there was nowhere near enough attacking impetus as we tapped the ball around too much and rarely opened up Lincoln. 

I worried that my article after the Charlton game had been too damning of Town but this mildly improved performance did nothing to dissuade me from the idea that promotion is not going to happen for Town this season. The changes that are needed to make this team genuinely competitive at this level need to be made in the transfer market in the summer rather than hoping a different (and less experienced) coach can magically turn around a team of underperformers.

Some things were better for Town in this game…

I think the changes to the line up and shape of Town really fixed some of the most glaring issues from last Saturday. It improved our solidity with Balker to the right, Pearson to the middle and bringing in Ruffels to the left of a back three (which was sometimes a four with Turton). Balker, while still sloppy, was better on the ball because he was naturally on his better foot. Pearson had a more purely defensive role in the middle of the back three with others able to do the work on the ball. 

Kasumu and Hogg coming in for Hodge and Evans stopped the midfield from looking quite so wide open too. Hogg looks leggy these days and doesn’t cover the ground he used to but even still, he was an improvement on Hodge in terms of having a presence in that area of the pitch. Kasumu, while still looking rusty, showed the qualities we’ve been desperately missing from this area of the pitch since his injury. Biting into tackles, mopping up loose balls and using his pace to break up play are things he does that few other of our midifelders do with any regularity. 

I think the theory of swapping Roosken for Koroma was a decent idea too, as Koroma has more trickery and goal-threat. Though in practice, Koroma was a big disappointment and squandered position with greedy choices. He looked like a player more interested in improving his own reputation ahead of a summer move rather than thinking of the collective needs of the team. In fairness, I wouldn’t care if he was greedy if it meant the thirty-yard strikes went in (or even close) but he repeatedly turned down simple passes to better-positioned players in favour of going for individual glory.

…but others were just as bad

Town had 64% possession in this game but didn’t register a single shot on goal. That takes some doing. To dominate possession so much without once giving their goalkeeper anything to do is frankly odd. 

Sadly this is a problem that spans multiple seasons, as I couldn’t tell you what a typical Huddersfield Town goal looks like. When our players enter the final third they don’t seem to know what they need to do to create chances. We rarely get to the by-line to cut back crosses. We don’t thread balls in behind for the forward to chase. Our crossing from deep rarely beats the first man. The shots we take from distance are usually speculative efforts because there’s no better option. The lack of creativity is alarming.

Joe Taylor’s body language was very revealing in this game, as he was increasingly angry with the decisions his teammates were making. We’ve been crying out for a proper striker for years and now we potentially have one, he receives literally no worthwhile service from the players supposed to be feeding him ammunition. Instead, he was forced to chase lost causes from hopeless punts downfield and make runs which his colleagues ignored. 

The lack of urgency about Town’s play was a real issue in this game, as it has been for a lot of the season. The passing was more accurate than on Saturday but it was unimpressive and all in front of a well-organised Lincoln team. 

Radinio Balker – is he awful, brilliant or both?

Radinio Balker was just plan bad in the Charlton game but in this game he was at least mixed. He lost his man for the flick-on that led to the goal and looked weak against a physical attacker but he also played some lovely balls out of defence and looked calmer in possession. 

In moments, Balker looked very classy against Lincoln. His ability with the ball at his feet is far better than any Town defender I can remember in recent times. He’s also able to pick out clever passes which get us on the ball higher up the pitch. These are high-risk, high-reward passes which often go wrong but when it works we can suddenly be on the edge of our opponent’s final third. 

Yet despite Balkers positive qualities, he still made too many errors and looked uncomfortable whenever he came up against a physical presence. He’s built like he should be able to mix it up with the best of them but I suspect the Dutch league he’s used to is a bit more gentle and technical compared to the rough and tumble of League One. 

So on balance, Balker looks like a luxury car with a faulty engine. Look at him from the right angle and he’s classy and looks a bit better than what we’re used to. But every now and again there’s a grinding of gears, like when he gives the ball straight to the opposition or gets out-muscled at a corner. 

Another issue we have with Balker is that his teammates often don’t know what he’s likely to do. This isn’t just Balker’s problem though and it shouldn’t be a surprise to a player when they get picked out with a good pass but very often it is. I suppose the forwards are more used to Matty Pearson’s punts downfield rather than intricate passes in to feet. But to get the best out of Balker, the rest of the team will need to improve their awareness and make runs that help him pick them out. 

“Cartwright out” chants

One thing that was notable in this game was the anti-Cartwright chants coming from the away end. The feeling among Town fans towards the club is pretty hostile at the moment and Cartwright seems to be a lightning rod for fan anger. 

I feel in a funny position when commenting on Mark Cartwright at the moment. I don’t think he deserves to keep his job but I also don’t think it’s great for large chunks of our fanbase to be so focussed on berating a single person. Some of the animosity and personal abuse that gets directed his way goes over the line and that makes even the legitimate criticisms of him seem mean-spirited too. So I don’t feel inclined to make a passionate defence of Carwright’s job performance but I also don’t want to feel like I’m part of a witch hunt either. 

Mark Carwright had to reapply for his job last year and was kept on by Kevin Nagle. If this process is repeated this summer it feels likely that he’ll not be able to put a positive spin on the last year’s performance. Results, recruitment, culture, injuries and style of play have all been poor in the last 12 months and all fall under his remit to some extent. Perhaps there are other people to blame for these issues but the person at the top has to take responsibility for those under him. But I also think he deserves to be treated with dignity and basic manners, so I won’t be joining in with any “Cartwright out” songs, even if I agree with the sentiment.