BFTG - 'uddersfield

[Sutekh]

In the play-offs and unbeaten since Wolves

Apart from Newcastle of course.

[genome]

Lol @ their number 44. Looked some some lumbering special fan had won a competition to get a 10 minute run out for his local team.

http://downatthemac.proboards.com/threa ... mments-hef

[sandman]

Decent performance in the first half but we were an absolute shambles in the second. The subs didn't help but we were so slow in our build up that they weren't stretched at all and their high pressing wasn't exploited as it could have been because, as we do so often against 10 men, we didn't adapt our game to having the extra man.

Al Habsi - 7

Gunter - 5
McShane - 7
Moore - 6
Obita - 6

Williams - 6
Van Den Berg - 7 Motm
Swift 6

Harriott - 6
Kermorgant - 7
Beerens - 7

Subs:
Watson - 7
Evans - 6
Quinn 6

How on earth did VDB get your MoM? Don't get me wrong I love him as a player but he got subbed today for not playing well enough not for fitness or tactical reasons, Stam said as much post match. Would also question your marking Williams and Swift the same, Swift was excellent in the first half, unlucky not to score while Williams had yet more head down or headless moments.

Swift was unlucky not to score but he didn't do a whole lot other than that, he's my favourite player in this team and I've liked him since I first saw him at the Swindon game in pre-season. I guess I just expect higher standards from him than the others. I know Williams is the HNA? escapegoat this year but he was fine today. I'm not as enamoured by Joey as most of you, I think he's an accident waiting to happen, but he gave the team balance today and we went to shit when he came off.

"Stam confirms Obita was withdrawn at half-time because he was on a booking - he wasn’t injured.

He said Obita understood the decision.

Also says there was no injury for Joey van den Berg, he was always going to come off early having just returned from a hamstring problem."

Doesn't seem like he criticised van den Berg's performance from that quote.

[Westwood52]

That was desperate 2nd half and Huddersfield could have easily won it.
A win is a win however and for all our inability to wrap up the game , 2nd half; we achieved the three points.

Al Habsi 5 : One horror show ; was it a good save right at the end, or did he make a meal of it ?

Gunts 6: At RB, I thought this was at the lower end of his consistent 6 or 7s-but very poor 2nd half at LB.
Obita 6 : Pretty good really-more a 6.5-the yellow was very unjust-but had to be taken off as the Ref was very twitchy after the first 15 mins.
Moore & McShane 5: Under the cosh in the last quarter-just when they needed to steady the ship.
Joey 6 : Surprised he was taken off; just when we needed our strong man.
Williams 5: Not one of his better games;has no vision and very little technique.
Swift 7: Our best player.
Harriot 7: Non descript first half, but all over them like a bad rash 2nd half.
Kermit 6: A+ for effort.
Beerens 6: Some nice touches-but too often went missing, when we were manning the pumps last quarter.

Watson 6: Bit naïve at times, but has a bright future,
Evans 6: Neat & tidy as usual-but not forceful enough , last quarter
Quinny 7: Usual 100% and showed all his experience.

Huddersfield-all credit to them 2nd half-when they put us under the pump.Shocking finishing though.

Ref: Started well & I had high hopes- but then his decision making completely fell apart.

[Sutekh]

Kermorgant and Harriott were best today. Special mention for Paul McMessi also.

Second half performance was dreadful. Really crying out for some direction and reorganisation by the management but they didnt seem to know what to do. Reading just could not keep the ball and seemed determined to play like they had the ten men.

Still not convinced by this team as yet but then it's all meant to be work in progress and to be honest with that being the case you could not ask for more. Hopefully lessons will be learned so we won't look like rabbits in the headlights when Brentford attempt to batter us on Tuesday.

Lastly the ref was appalling, they're meant to be professional this season yet it has been the worse season so far with officials.

By the way Huddersfield are a good side and it will take some stopping to keep them out of the top 6 (still think Newcastle and Norwich will get the automatics though).

[genome]

Moore & McShane 5

Ridiculous rating considering we didn't actually concede...

[Winston Smith]

Lol @ their number 44. Looked some some lumbering special fan had won a competition to get a 10 minute run out for his local team.

http://downatthemac.proboards.com/threa ... mments-hef

fame at last!

[OLLIE KEARNS]

One of the weirdest games I've seen in a long time. We were absolutely coasting, then VdB came off for seemingly no reason and we went into total meltdown

I'm a big Gunter fan and have spent many years defending him, but after his mistake that led to his yellow, he was completely and utterly all over the place, with their No.9 beating him every time either in the air or on the floor. You could argue it's because he isn't a LB, but I've seen him play there a few times and look completely comfortable, it's almost like he panicked after almost getting sent off and that state of panic lasted 30 minutes.

Gunter isn't usually my scapegoat, that's Williams, so I'll go back to slagging off Danny. How on earth does he get picked every single week without fail? Quinn and Kelly were brilliant whilst he was suspended, so why is one of them stuck on the bench and the other not even in the 18? Yes, they're different players to Williams, but what sort of player is he? What does he offer? He kept losing the ball, he missed opportunities to play players in, and once again he wasn't good enough. I say it every week yet he appears to be the first name on the team sheet.

People are complaining that we don't have a striker, but I'm not sure that's a huge deal. Our midfield with players like Swift, Beerens and I suppose today Harriott can create goals out of nothing. Kermorgant brings you something completely different, just an absolutely phenomenal player in the air, and he's pretty creative as well even if sometimes you wish he was more selfish.

I mention Harriott as it was his brilliant wing-play that created the goal, although he was a bit like how the Charlton fans described him, apart from that flash of magic, he went a bit missing and didn't really offer anything. A shame after two great performances in the cup as this was his chance to nail down a league spot but I imagine McCleary will be straight back in post-suspension.

Watson was superb again, not sure what he's going to have to do to force his way in. I was reluctant to join in with the hype given he was seemingly only in the team as we had no other options, but every time I've seen him he's been excellent. Haven't seen a full-back go past players with the ease he does, although on the edge of our penalty area I'd rather he didn't.

Highlight of the game from our side was definitely McShane skipping down the wing and nutmegging their LB, although their red card was just - how utterly brainless can you get?

Subs were very strange, like I said we fell apart when VdB but on top of that Evans dropped far too deep and invited them on to us. Suddenly we were outnumbered in midfield because Evans, McShane and Moore were dropping back further and further every time Huddersfield had the ball. Also taking off Swift, what purpose? Meant we had to play 20 minutes without any subs which almost backfired when Williams got injured and hobbled around the pitch for the rest of the game.

In the play-offs and unbeaten since Wolves, but the second half performance was a bit scary. Huddersfield missed some genuine sitters in the last 10 minutes, but to be fair to them they seem a decent team

Most of my thoughts are pretty well covered here. The second half was a shambles but there were some heavy legs following two backs to the wall wins in a week with 10 men and Huddersfield are decent. I can understand the Obita substitution (easy target for the ref to even things up) but in hindsight it was wrong given the need to then a) bring JVDB and Swift off following recent injury and b) pairing Gunter and Beerens defensively down our left. The procession of crosses from that side in the second half was by far our biggest problem.
On the other side, a nod to Harriott who worked his socks off defensively despite not having too much opportunity to show his strengths going forward. Great to see that level of effort given what we've seen the past two years.
In summary, a decent win that would probably have been a loss last season but still some work to do in terms of playing through the middle third. I have no issue with keeping the ball and working it around the back four but we need to take a little bit more risk in order to bring our front three into play.
Looking forward to a good night out at Brentford now.

[royalp-we]

Just beat top of the league. What a feeling around this squad right now. Boom

Yes, it's early... Yes, there are bigger teams out there... But for a turnaround in fortunes, how unexpected, eh?

Those who wanted ST refunds you're very quiet. You know who you are.

[Pepe the Horseman]

Hands up if you thought we'd be above Newcastle after nine games.

[Franchise FC]

Hands up if you thought we'd be above Newcastle after nine games.

I did - but I thought Newcastle would have 7 of them postponed

[Winston Smith]

Hands up if you thought we'd be above Newcastle after nine games.

[RG7Fan]

Very happy with today's result. Very nervous last 20, very very nervous last 10. Last year we would have conceded at least once.

Not sure what the VDB sub @ 52 minutes was all about, was that a 60 min planned sub pulled in early?

Great forward thinking by Stam on subbing Obita - on a yellow and with Blackett out that was a risk that needed to be avoided.

Thought they all put a shift in. Whatever Stam and his team are doing is working - real passion from the team and wanting to work together.

Isn't that 8 games undefeated now? Fantastic start to the season.

[Huckleberry Hound]

My first game since Preston. Easy to see the improvement & increased confidence in playing out from the back. First half, anyway.

Huddersfield looked very good second half, even with ten. Wouldn't be surprised if they go the distance.

McShane's nutmeg
Worthy of Brynjar at his best.

[Davezk]

In the play-offs and unbeaten since Wolves

Apart from Newcastle of course.

Glad someone else noticed

[RG7Fan]

Just beat top of the league. What a feeling around this squad right now. Boom

Yes, it's early... Yes, there are bigger teams out there... But for a turnaround in fortunes, how unexpected, eh?

Those who wanted ST refunds you're very quiet. You know who you are.

Are there? Out of the Top 7 we've had results so far:

Norwich - not played
Huddersfield - won
Brighton - draw
Newcastle - not played
Birmingham - draw
Barnsley - won (away with 10 men)

I'm happy with that

[CountryRoyal]

Absolutely fantastic stuff. Any of the mild negativity can be quickly ignored. We just beat the team at the top of the table ffs. I think a few wins has got to people's heads.

I would have liked to see us get the second but credit to Huddersfield who did very well without the ball even if they were quite poor with it.
Despite their pressure towards the end, which was in part our own doing, we were by and large fairly comfortable.

Al-Habsi 6 - not really tested but did what he had to

Gunter 7 - thought he did well

McShane 7 - won countless headers and was fairly decent with the ball at his feet, the nutmeg was utterly hilarious

Moore 9 (MOTM) - narrowly beats swift as signing of the summer for me. absolute class. Wins everything and has a great awareness of what's around him. Brilliant brining the ball out of defence as well.

Obita 6 - I thought he did well in the first half, didn't feel he had to give away the foul and take the yellow though

Williams 6 - a mixed bag from Williams today. At times was excellent but at others less so. Huddersfield had a good chance early on when Williams was a bit over-eager with his pressing, mis-judged the angles and pace and let them walts through the huge gap in the pitch. Also squandered a good chance on the edge of the box when he could have shot twice or passed and ended up doing nothing.

VDB 7 - did well and while I can understand why Stam brought on Evans for him it perhaps backfired slightly. Missed him towards the end.

Swift 8 - really makes us tick and is a class act. Unlucky with the shot that hit the post

Harriot 8 - thought he was excellent. Very lively, skill full andquick, chased everything. Felt he was unlucky not to get a pen but admittedly was difficult to see from y26

Kermorgant 8 - fantastic display without scoring, or even looking like scoring tbf. That bikey was sublime, just wish it was 20 feet lower

Beerens 7 - same consistent performance that we've become used to and got the winner.

Subs

Watson 7 - smart move taking off Obita at HT and Watson did superbly, cool, calm and composed and didn't look out of place one bit

Evans 6

Quinn 7

I thought the Huddersfield fans were excellent and we were fairly shit.

That's 7 points from the last 3 VERY tricky games and you really can't ask for more than that. I like what's happening here.

[CountryRoyal]

Newcastle - not played

Just because we got dicked and not that many people went doesn't mean it didn't happen.

[Hitchytwo]

In the play-offs and unbeaten since Wolves

Apart from Newcastle of course.

(we don't talk about Newcastle )

[AthleticoSpizz]

Great to see Kermy still being a massive part of our upwards trajectory

Just a goal or two to seal the deal for (the so far) player of the season