Minority Report - Huddersfield Town

Discussion in 'Bulletin Board' started by Red Rain, Feb 25, 2017.

  1. Red

    Red Rain Well-Known Member

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    Before I talk about the game, I want to reference some broader issues. It looks as though we have already accumulated sufficient points to guarantee another season in the Championship. That means that the team has exceeded my expectations, and everyone, and particularly the Chief Coach deserves a well-earned pat on the back. But what of next season? Does the fact that we have over-achieved automatically mean a relaxation, will the second year syndrome strike leaving us in our traditional position, struggling to avoid relegation. Or can we move forward and make a more meaningful attempt at promotion. The basic facts that handicap us will still be there. We compete against teams with parachute payments that allow them to retain their better players, and pay them wages we can only dream of. We compete against teams with rich owners who have a dream and who are prepared to fund that dream with huge amounts of cash. We compete against city teams we far larger potential support, teams for who a return on any investment is far more certain. In other words, we face the same odds that greeted us on our return to the Championship last season.

    Last year, I was convinced that we needed to invest in order to remain in the Championship. We did so, but only to a limited extent. The players that we brought to the club were acquired mainly in the lower leagues. In terms of our history, the amounts invested in Tom Bradshaw, Sessi D’Almeida, Cole Kpekawa, Elliot Lee, Angus McDonald, George Moncur and Andy Yiadom were healthy, but it has to be said that these investments have had mixed success. Only Tom Bradshaw, Angus McDonald and Andy Yiadom have appeared regularly, and in the case of Bradshaw and McDonald, their chance to shine only came because of the sale of Winnall and Mawson. Of course we also brought to the club Ryan Hedges and Alex Mowatt, but I am not eager to judge that investment just yet. On the face of it, our transfer investment has met with mixed success.

    For many fans, bringing in players via the loan market is a mixed blessing. In our promotion season, Josh Brownhill, Ashley Fletcher, Lloyd Isgrove, Ben Pearson and even Ivan Toney were among our better performers. This season has underlined the value to the club of the loan market with Adam Armstrong, Adam Jackson, Matty James, Gethin Jones, Ryan Kent and Sam Morsy all impressing during their spells on loan. The wages of these players are beyond our pay structures, and the loan market represents the only access we have to players of that quality.

    We must also remember the players who have moved on during the season. Alfie Mawson was our only sale in the summer window, but under the pressure of unsigned contract extensions, Sam Winnall, James Bree and Conor Hourihane followed in January. The sale of John Stones by Everton also gave us an unexpected windfall. The funds that these sales provided has given us a buffer, so that we no longer have to rely exclusively on Patrick Cryne’s generosity. That is a good thing, but it does not change the basic principle of football club management. That principle is that you do not rely on irregular windfall profits to fund long term commitments on player wages. Wages cannot exceed a percentage of expected turnover. The fact that this may mean that Scowen and Watkin also move on when their contracts expire must not be allowed to cloud the judgement of those in charge of our club on this matter. Fans must accept that it is their contributions through the turn styles that fund wages, and the only way that we can afford the wages of better players is by attracting more support. We at Barnsley are only too willing to look around for somebody to blame. Someone who can act as a focus for our frustrations. In doing so, we miss the obvious. We can only grow, we can only compete with the top clubs, we can only attract new investment if we can offer potential, and that potential is represented by a potential increase in our turnover. Gate receipts from an average of just 12,000 fans makes new investment pointless, whether that be in a new West Stand, or in new players that will take us to the next level. Would you invest in those things if you knew that a large proportion of your turnover will walk away when the team results turn down? Of course not. And yet many call for speculative investment on exactly that basis. We are what we are. In spite of the current turn around in our fortunes, we can only maintain momentum if we have a lot of luck and fans start turning up on Saturdays in much greater numbers. Otherwise, our momentum will eventually fade and we will assume our normal position in the football league hierarchy.

    Our first challenge comes this summer. Unfortunately, we are faced with another huge reconstruction job. Of our current list of established first team regulars, come June we could be left with just the following:

    Tom Bradshaw
    Sessi D’Almeida
    Adam Davies
    Adam Hammill
    Ryan Hedges
    Cole Kpekawa
    Elliot Lee
    Angus McDonald
    George Moncur
    Alex Mowatt
    Marc Roberts
    Nick Townsend
    Aidan White
    Ryan Williams
    Andy Yiadom

    Out of contract
    Josh Scowen
    Marley Watkins

    That is potentially just 15 players, with only 5 survivors from the 17 that won promotion at Wembley a year earlier. I have gone on record in the past for saying that our current team does not have the quality of the team that played at Wembley, and that is doubly true of any team constructed from those listed above. So, in spite of the cash in our treasure chest, the challenge during the summer is a huge one. The club must construct a new team from new signings and loanees that is capable of at least staying in the Championship, and hopefully of competing even more effectively than the team has this season. Our pay policy means that most of our new players will come from the lower leagues once more, most will be below the age of 23 and therefore most will be learning the game afresh at the new level. At least 5 will probably be loans, meaning the whole process will have to begin again the following season. That is not something that I look forward to, but it is hard to see a way out.

    I do not want to go any further just now, because I want to leave the magnitude of the task that faces our club management hanging. I am sure that the usual suspects will be ready with their criticism if we do not hit the ground running at the start of next season. As I say, there is always someone else to blame. All I want to do at this stage is to hope that we can find a good chief executive, who understands the plan and who can contribute effectively towards the task of finding a new team for the new season. It will be a hell of a baptism of fire.

    Now on to the game.

    For the second home game running, I was left in admiration about the way that the opposition played. They were so fluid in their formation and movement that it took me ages to work out their basic formation, and I am still not sure that I read it right. I think it was 4-4-1-1, but as I say, I am not sure. What I am sure of is that they were very big, and they were very quick. They dominated us throughout the first half, and most of the second. They will not understand how they did not win by a distance. We rode our luck and I have absolutely no idea how we kept a clean sheet in that second half.

    As much as I admired the play of Huddersfield, I do feel that we contributed to their domination. Alex Mowatt had a truly awful game. He started on the right wing in a 4-4-2 system and looked uncomfortable, as though he did not understand either the system or the role he was being asked to play. After 15 largely fruitless minutes, we switched to 4-4-1-1, with Mowatt playing behind the front man. Once again, he looked out of place there, seeming not to understand when to get forward and when to drop in to make a 5 in midfield. We finished off the half in a more traditional 4-5-1 simply to try to stem the flow, but once again Mowatt looked out of place. I expected him to be hooked off at half time, but we began the second half still in the 4-5-1 formation. The double change that saw us revert to 4-4-2 left me wondering how we were going to get the ball back, but frankly we looked much better once we reverted to type, even though the game became very open. We scored from our only real chance of the game, and Adam Hammill deserves great credit for finding Marley Watkins near post run. Huddersfield missed least 6 chances after half time, three of which were open goals. As I say, we rode our luck.

    After the Wolves game, and their first two goals from corners, I said that Mowatt and Scowen should not play together again because there was simply not enough height at defensive set pieces when they did. Well they played together again, and we conceded another goal from a corner. Huddersfield were big, but once again, we were tiny. Having said that, it was Marc Roberts who lost his man, and he has to take some of the blame. It is simply that there is no room for mistakes when there is not enough height to cover for individual error.

    The performances of Brighton and Huddersfield have shown the gap that exists between the quality that we have, and the quality that you need to be a top six team. It is hard to know how we are to bridge that gap, and as my opening remarks suggest, we will be starting again from zero come the summer. Today was that sort of game. An eye opener.
     
  2. Jimmy viz

    Jimmy viz Well-Known Member

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    Ryan Williams is also out of contract in the summer b
     
  3. tobyornottoby

    tobyornottoby Well-Known Member

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    That is not minority in terms of report.
     
  4. Jak

    JakeWarrior Member

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    Adam Jackson is our player, not a loanee.
     
  5. YTB

    YTBFC Guest

    It's our first season up. To even be competing as well as we are, especially with the loss of so many talented players, isn't that a positive?

    I find a lot of fan comment quite illuminating. 15 months ago I read the same folk suggesting the club needed gutting, top to bottom it was a disaster etc. Fast forward and folk are now questioning why we aren't able to be top six in the division above.

    I suggest patience. And perspective.

    Of course the objective (as RR points out) is to get to that level. But it won't happen overnight. I actually think we are ahead of ourselves already. We've over-achieved.

    12 games left is there? I wouldn't write this side off THIS season. Trust me.


    As for today, we weren't at it first half. But I don't buy this idea that Hudds should have been 5 or 6 up. We defended brilliantly, and had the referee seen the blatant foul on Kent after 10 minutes, who knows.

    Second half we matched them well and could have won the game. Against a team on a 6 game winning run.

    Perspective.
     
  6. North Yorks Red

    North Yorks Red Well-Known Member

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  7. YTB

    YTBFC Guest

    I'd agree.
     
  8. 55&counting

    55&counting Well-Known Member

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    Patience and perspective. Praise the Lord ☺️
     
  9. 55&counting

    55&counting Well-Known Member

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    Question for you. Name five really good things about BFC . Five things about us which have made you feel emotional....in a positive sense.
     
  10. Red

    Red-Taff. Well-Known Member

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    We're not ahead of ourselves we are where we are. We haven't 'over-achieved' - the term doesn't mean anything - it's like saying a player gives 110% when 100% is as much as he can give.
     
  11. Red

    Red Rain Well-Known Member

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    Thanks for your comments.

    If you read my stuff during the 8 match run of games that Lee Johnson presided over, when I was virtually on my own in calling for him to be allowed to continue, you will know that I am not short on patience or perspective. But I am also conscious that others are not like me. For many, we are world beaters when we win a few, and have the worst team ever if we lose a few. I am only too aware that neither one is true. Nevertheless, I am bound to point out what I see, given the name that I use for my reports. What I have seen in our last two home games are two teams that are streets ahead of us in pace, individual skill and size. I am the first to acknowledge the achievements of the team, which are especially noteworthy given our lack of individual quality, and I am happy that Hecky receives all the plaudits for that, because so much is down to organisation and system. My reports have acknowledged all of that during the season, but having now guaranteed our safety, I felt that I would like to look forward at the problems that lie ahead.

    Quite frankly, we have a huge rebuilding job on our hands during the summer. I hoped my listing of players would show that. I hope that we can rebuild successfully, but it will not be easy and I wanted to show how hard it will be. I am very conscious how quickly some fans can move between extremes of mood, how quickly they can turn on a manager and the club. It is a blame game, and it is their only outlet. Those with the patience to read my stuff are less likely to over-react to problems, but nevertheless, it does no harm to restate every now and again how the odds are stacked against clubs in our situation. I am a fan of 50 years, and whatever happens now, I shall be a fan for life. But I am also a pragmatist, someone who faces up to reality and demands to know the odds. That is how I am and that is how I write.

    Perhaps you do not read as much as you did. Perhaps your new role on the inside has left you more thin skinned. When I wrote this piece, my intention was not to criticise. My intention, as always, was to support, but to support intelligently and with an eye on the future. We were second best throughout, and if you think otherwise, then your new responsibilities have affected your sense of balance. No matter how much you want something to be so, it is important that you retain the judgement to know when it is not. You have to accept the referees decisions, he is the only unbiased individual in the stadium. He will not get everything right, but it is just too convenient to blame him every time something goes wrong. Try to judge the game as a neutral, because that is the first step to recognising how something can be improved. By recognising faults and working to eradicate them, one way or another. So nice try at rewriting what happened, but you must have had your hands over your eyes when Huddersfield had the ball not to recognise the missed chances and the gulf in class.

    Perspective.
     
  12. wak

    wakeyred Well-Known Member

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    Am I missing something here? I think they play pretty basic pressing football with big men running around like maniacs fouling and pushing their way to gain possession - really there is no skill there, nothing to admire in my book - just someone who's drilled his team to know where they must be in any given situation with and without the ball - as a lesson in disciplined positioning it is very impressive, but it is not anything good to watch. I bet if you go on the forum of any team that has played Huddersfield this season - win, lose or draw they will say their team didn't play well - but in reality they were faced with what I would call anti-football - fouling, pushing, fitness freaks intent on areas, boxes, pressing, positioning - about as interesting as watching paint dry. On the back of that, we took a point of these freaks, and well done us!
     
  13. Red

    RedAllOver Well-Known Member

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    As for your points about next summer, I agree we're going to have a lot of work to do. But let's not forget that we signed 14 first-team players last summer, perhaps a similar number to this summer. I have no doubt that the club are well-used to and well-prepared for signing a large number of players. Clearly the recruitment last summer was successful otherwise we wouldn't be where we are, so I am prepared for, but looking forward to seeing who we sign
     
  14. Jimmy viz

    Jimmy viz Well-Known Member

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    Most of the players who made this season were already at the club to be fair. The signings lady sumner seem more miss than hit. The core that got us promoted moved us forwards. Only McDonald, Morsy and to a lesser extent Bradshaw have been unqualified successes.
     
  15. YTB

    YTBFC Guest

    To be fair, my response was a general one rather than aimed at you alone. But if you're going to suggest my role affects how I see things then there's little point debating owt with you.

    I'm entitled to my opinion and my opinion is that we've done brilliantly this season and that yesterday the game changed after our nailed on penalty wasn't awarded just like last week. Huddersfield then bullied us with their overly aggressive style and could have put the game to bed before the break. That they didn't wasn't lucky. We defended well and Davies made a couple of great saves.

    Second half we impressed our own game upon them. It became end to end and I felt we matched them up better and we got a great point out of a very difficult game. They'd just drawn 0-0 against Man City and won their last 6 league games. I'm pleased with things.

    But no, it's club rhetoric.
     
  16. Ors

    Orsen Kaht Guest

    There can clearly be more than one way of viewing things BFC-related and the difference of opinion is part of the debate. There is no right or wrong until after the event. But the discussion can be interesting.

    For my part I couldn't see but what Huddersfield weren't by far the better side yesterday. And I have that down to skill - not just size and pace. But in a way, that reflects all the more credit on our team because they denied the opposition victory through incredible spirit, some terrific defending and a very skillfully created goal when it came. 50 points is a fantastic milestone given where we've come from in just over 12 months. Whitey's (Not A) Podcast was a good reminder of the extra upheavals we have suffered this season over and above the loss of key players.

    As for RR's remarks about our club going forward, I think he correctly identifies something of a glass ceiling which may (or may not) place a limit on our future ambitions. A further observation I'd make is that our current system relies very heavily on youth - apparent if you look around the other sides in the top half of the table. They invariably have older and more experienced players than we do. I wouldn't go so far as to say "you can't achieve anything with kids" - someone did that one! But I do wonder if that will find us out as well as the resource issue. I wouldn't chabge it mind, because that system has brought us some very pleasant surprises over the last 12 months+.

    So do we just wait and see what happens? I'd say so,because I never saw us in this position a year ago.
     
  17. Red

    Red Rain Well-Known Member

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    For many years, you were a fan. You were on the whole a very positive fan, one who I enjoyed reading, one whose views I usually respected. You are now an employee of the club. To say nothing has changed is to ignore the elephant in the room. Of course something has changed. Your livelihood is dependent upon your employer. You are bound to be affected by the team's success on the field. You know the individuals, both on and off the field personally. You have grown to like and respect many of them and will be sensitive to criticism of them. Many of your new responsibilities take you into areas that involve you to an extent that you feel part of the greater team that supports the on field performance. It is natural that under these circumstance, you become sensitive to criticism, and defensive in the face of some of the things that are said on here. That is why club employees tend to stay away from forums, or perhaps just read to pick up a flavour of what is being said, but do not comment upon it. I really think you ought to reconsider whether I is right for you to be an insider at the club, who is also posting on here. There are many on here who will try to trip you up, who will try to tempt you into revealing something that you should not reveal, who will say that a club employee has upset them by saying something about them on a public forum, who will try to drop you in it the first chance they get.

    As I say, I valued your previous contributions to this forum, but I do think it is right that I treat you differently because of your new responsibilities.
     
  18. Redstar

    Redstar Well-Known Member

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    14?!
     
  19. onlyonesteviecooper

    onlyonesteviecooper Well-Known Member

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    Got to be worth pointing out the battle we put in second half. We were in essence being outplayed by a good side (whos wage budget probably dwarfs ours) but the lads rolled their sleeves up and proper but their bodies on the line for the cause and ended up with an unlikely point. We may have lacked in quality in certain areas but we cant bemoan a lack of effort from the lads.
    Im a bit sad and look at other teams forums in this division and trust me, take a look at wigans, bristol citys and blackburns. You may think putting a shift in during a game is a minimum requirement but after reading their boards, effort is distinctly lacking.
    Were doing fine, weve got a few issues but we got a lot to be proud of.
     
  20. YTB

    YTBFC Guest

    I've given my thoughts on yesterday's game and my feelings generally on the season, in response to this, your thread where you are sharing yours. Nothing more, nothing less.
     

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