Huddersfield Town fell to a 4-0 defeat to a clinical Tottenham side that severely punished some silly mistakes from Town. This match showed the gulf in class between the top six teams and the rest of the Premier League. We’ve been competitive in all six of our previous games, but against Spurs we never stood a chance.
Having said that, Town didn’t play all that badly. A few players had bad days and made silly errors, but we played some nice football at times and looked like we might cause an upset when we flew at Spurs in the opening minutes. Sadly we caught Harry Kane and Christian Eriksen on good days and they ripped us to pieces.
I think this game will have taught Wagner and his men some valuable lessons and it’s really not a big deal to catch a beating from an in-form Spurs team.
Here are my player ratings:
Lössl – 5 out of 10
Could have done better with the first two goals but of more concern were the couple of howlers that could have led to an even heavier defeat. Kicked fresh air instead of the ball once and nearly gifted Kane a tap in. A similar foul-up in the second half also went unpunished, when Eriksen kicked it straight back to Lössl.
I’ve complimented his passing after nearly every game so far, but against Spurs, his distribution went from ambitious to suicidal at times. Pinging balls out to marked men in their own half is a risky business.
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Löwe – 4 out of 10
Another poor performance. At fault for the first goal when he missed a basic clearance. He was also culpable for the mixup at the back that led to the second.
I’ve always thought Löwe was a mentally strong player but he looked rattled at times. He isn’t a bad player, but he’s a good player going through a dodgy patch. I hope he can turn it around, but it may mean losing his starting place in the short term while he improves.
Schindler – 7 out of 10
Good but up against one of the best attacks in the league. Managed to break up play well and didn’t disgrace himself. Not at his commanding best but still far from poor.
He was the closest player to Kane for the third goal, but he only gave him the smallest amount of space to get a shot off. Sometimes there’s nothing you can do to stop an opposition player.
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Zanka – 7 out of 10
It seems strange to give decent ratings to defenders involved in a 4-0 thumping but he didn’t play that badly. Used his speed and strength to contain Kane as best he could.
Smith – 7 out of 10
Did plenty of running, as always. He got into good positions with the ball but his crossing was often not accurate enough.
I was sat right behind the long range shot he had with his left foot. It was an incredible connection to say it was his weaker foot and against another keeper it could have resulted in a goal.
Mooy – 5 out of 10
An unusually bad game for Mooy. Wagner has said that when he plays well, Town play well. The opposite was true against Spurs.
Too many misplaced passes, not involved enough, and caught in possession too often (which almost never happens).
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Hogg – 6 out of 10
He didn’t do a lot wrong but wasn’t as influential as usual. Dier was the dominant defensive midfielder on the day, and there’s no shame in Hogg not measuring up to England’s best DM.
Our biggest problem was being too open at the back when Spurs came forward. Hogg obviously isn’t solely responsible for this, but on a good day, he provides the defensive shield that protects us from opposition attacks.
van La Parra – 6 out of 10
Another game where he had some decent runs but wasn’t able to produce the kind of end product that leads to goals or assists. He’s willing to take on the opposition and brings the ball up the field well but isn’t making good decisions once he’s in the final third.
VLP continues to divide fans and yesterday’s performance was a typical display, plenty to praise but ultimately disappointing.
Kachunga – 6 out of 10
Toiled but never really looked like he could unsettle Tottenham’s defence. He doesn’t seem to make the same kind of runs into the box that brought him so many goals last season. I’m still a fan of Kachunga’s but would like to see a little bit more from him.
Ince – 6 out of 10
Close to a five out of ten, but I think the main problem was that he’s been played out of position as a number 10. He’s better suited to being out on the wing and doesn’t seem as dangerous when operating centrally. Having said that, he struggled to get involved and didn’t provide Depoitre any service.
Depoitre – 8 out of 10 (Man of the Match)
There wasn’t much to pick from for Man of the Match but LoLo (as Wagner calls him) was our best player against Spurs. He worked hard and looked dangerous while having to feed off scraps. His best moment came when he walloped in a long-range effort that crashed off the crossbar. A few inches lower and we’d have had a consolation goal at least, maybe even a way back into the game.
Mounié will be available for selection again after the international break but I don’t think it’s certain he’ll regain his place in the starting XI straight away. If I was Wagner I’d keep Depoitre in the team and bring Mounié on as an impact substitution. It’s important to show that players get into the team based on performances rather than reputations or transfer fees.
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Malone – 8 out of 10
Löwe’s recent dip in form should mean Malone is in with a chance of becoming first-choice left-back. He did his chances no harm against Spurs, making plenty of positive runs and trying to make things happen down the left-wing. I think it’s probably time for him to get a run in the starting eleven.
Billing – 8 out of 10
I was very impressed by the impact Billing made when he replaced Mooy. He showed off his extensive range of passing and was regularly able to pick out Malone’s runs on the opposite wing with accurate long balls. He seemed to get more time on the ball than Mooy and the whole team performance improved when he was on the pitch.
Billing has shown that he’s genuine competition for the deep-lying playmaker role, not just Mooy’s understudy.
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Whitehead – N/A
A slightly baffling substitution given we were 3-0 down at the time, but Deano did OK when he came on.
Löwe hasn’t looked comfortable in a lot of moments – could he be having it tough adapting to the Premier League? Malone was more reassuring following his introduction from the subs’ bench and he surely has to be a go from minute one at Swansea. If a player is not in form, they are dropped.
Drop RVLP for goodness’ sake Wagner. His glasses must be foggy (no offence intended) because what he sees from him from the technical area must be different to what the majority of fans see from him in the stands. Again, in January, I’d get shut of him. Following the closure of the summer window, I knew we were a winger short.
We are a better team with Billing on the pitch.
Billing is a future prospect and with D Williams, Mooy and Hogg all competing against one another in a midfield, it’s not so easy to fit them all in.
No action until the 14th TerrierSpirit – dull and boring England on the gogglebox. They have their advantages inetnetational breaks – recharge the batteries etc. – but international football can’t replace club football can it TerrierSpirit? Even respresenting your club will feel more special to some players than pulling on their shirt of the country.
international*
Sometimes you feel like watching paint dry because England are that uninteresting. The nation don’t have passion for the country because of the past failures at tournaments. We sail through qualifying simply because of the small nations we face and then we fail awfully at the tournaments. I’d love your thoughts on international foorball TerrierSpirit.
of their country*
on the shirt*
(I try to be a perfectionist with my comments, so why I make an unfortunate error I rectify it)
so when I make*