Trying to find positives, goal drought, Fotheringham’s tunnel exit, mounting pressure and looking ahead – Notes on Huddersfield Town’s defeat to Blackburn

Huddersfield Town lost 1-0 to Blackburn yesterday afternoon in a game that was frustratingly similar to their recent outings, where they actually played pretty well for long spells of the game but a lack of cutting edge up front and a momentary lapse at the back meant they left Ewood Park empty handed. 

There’s no point talking about what Town deserved or not from this game because you only win games by scoring goals and Town’s players are currently showing a complete inability to get the ball into the back of the net and it’s causing us a great deal of pain at the moment and could ultimately cost us our place in the Championship. 

But yet, we went away from home with a weakened team and went toe-to-toe with one of the division’s best teams for 90 minutes and looked pretty good, so there’s some hope. Is that enough? I’d rather have played awfully and come away with a lucky three points that were thoroughly undeserved. 

Here are a few of my thoughts on the game…

The positives from Town’s performance

It definitely wasn’t all doom and gloom despite Town continuing to be stuck to the bottom of the table and failing to score goals. Here are the things that offered a little bit of hope:

• Will Boyle had an impressive debut, making some excellent covering tackles, commanding the back line and looking much better with the ball at his feet than in previous showings. He looked very solid. He also looks like the world’s oldest 27 year old, but that’s another matter.
• Brahima Diarra had another promising cameo from the bench. He’s a bit like a young, French Gazza. He wants to get on the ball and dribble at every single player on the pitch. This isn’t always the best idea but I admire his gumption and it’s exciting to watch. He’s still only 19, so has a lot to learn but there are encouraging signs that he’s got the raw talent to make an impact.
• Town are at least creating chances, even against decent opposition, even if we aren’t finishing them off. I’d be more worried if we weren’t getting any chances at all. 
• The effort is unquestionably there from the team. While the quality might be lacking at times, there is 100% commitment from the team and they are mostly pretty organised too. This might not have been enough to get us over the line against a decent Blackburn team but it will be enough to get a result against around 60% of the teams in the Championship this season, given how poor a lot of the teams we’ve faced so far have been.

Town’s lack of goals is impossible to ignore

Huddersfield Town have scored two goals in their last six matches. So we’re currently averaging a third of a goal per game. Or a goal every 270 minutes of football. That’s pretty grim. It also means that teams know they only need to score once against us and they’re almost certain of victory. Blackburn pretty much coasted after they scored yesterday afternoon, offering very little going forward once they got their noses in front and absorbing pressure from Town for long periods of the second half. 

I’ve seen a lot of comments asking if the team practices finishing in training. I think the problem goes deeper than that, as I watch the squad banging beautiful finishes in for fun in the warm up before matches with no bother. Most of our attackers line up patiently and then slot home into the corners when the ball is rolled into their path. But when it falls to them in match situations they don’t have the same composure and chances go begging.

Confidence is most likely the missing ingredient and it’s very hard to fake. If we start winning a few games then the swagger may return to a few of our players and things might start to turn. Until then, we probably need a goal to bounce in off a player’s bottom just to get us going again.

Despite what he says, Fotheringham looks a bit sorry for himself

Mark Fotheringham always makes a point after defeats to say that he doesn’t want to make excuses or feel sorry for himself but his body language and his general body demeanor suggest he might, in fact, be feeling a bit sorry for himself after this latest defeat. He also marched straight down the tunnel at the final whistle instead of going over to the away fans to thank them for their support, which isn’t required of head coaches but has become expected these days. 

I suspect that Fotheringham chose not to go over to the fans because he was wrestling with his emotions after yet another defeat in his managerial career despite his team having played well against one of the Championship’s top teams. I can understand his frustration but it’s a mistake to not acknowledge the fans. Small gestures mean a lot to fans and they can turn quickly if they think they are not appreciated. 

Fotheringham continues to say all the right things in his interviews before and after games but the enthusiasm, which bordered on manic in the early stages, now seems more muted. It seems that the treadmill of game after game may be taking its toll on him, particularly as his team continues to fail to do the one thing that football teams are supposed to do: put the blummin’ ball in the bleedin’ goal!

Closing in on the 10 game point for Fotheringham

This was Fotheringham’s ninth game in charge, so after the QPR game he will have had the number of games I decided, arbitrarily, to give him before I made my mind up about him. His current record is won two, drawn two and lost five, which is slightly less than a point a game but not a lot less.

I’ll reserve my judgement until after Tuesday night but I have noticed that quite a few Town fans on social media have already made their minds up and are calling for him to go. I think since the rise of those Arsenal Fan TV types of social media personalities it’s become fashionable to call for sackings after almost every defeat for some fans. However, if Fothergingham continues to lose games it’s likely these rumblings from the rabid fringe of the fan base will spread into the more mainstream core and that’s when things can get nasty. He’s got time but probably not all that much time.

Looking ahead to QPR

It’s another tricky assignment for our next match as we head down to London for a Tuesday night game against QPR, who currently sit fifth in the table. Their top scorer is Chris Willock, so you can expect he will be the ex-Town player that will torment us in that particular game.

I think the really tough thing for Town’s players and staff will be to get themselves motivated again for another game after back-to-back defeats in games where they played well but couldn’t finish their chances. Morale must be affected by these defeats but they’ll have to find a way to pick themselves up and prepare to battle it out again. 

The league table makes for dismal reading at the moment and the more games we lose the worse it gets, so we need to find a way to start getting something out of games. Scoring goals might be something they could try, it certainly wouldn’t hurt.