Huddersfield Town away match thread

[Jerseybean]

2 hours ago, Jerseybean said:

Huge credit to the traveling fans - great support 

Manning praised the 615 Robins fans who made the trip to West Yorkshire:

“Incredible support. Even to hang around afterwards off the back of a frustrating afternoon. Hopefully they can see where how we’re progressing and where we’re going with it and like I said I thought there was a real threat today throughout. Incredible support and hopefully we get a good following again on Tuesday.”

[joe jordans teeth]

2 minutes ago, Jerseybean said:

Manning praised the 615 Robins fans who made the trip to West Yorkshire:

“Incredible support. Even to hang around afterwards off the back of a frustrating afternoon. Hopefully they can see where how we’re progressing and where we’re going with it and like I said I thought there was a real threat today throughout. Incredible support and hopefully we get a good following again on Tuesday.”

Did he really say that,oh dear 

[Numero Uno]

1 minute ago, joe jordans teeth said:

Did he really say that,oh dear 

Well, he certainly wasn't going to say "We were ******* shit all afternoon, nobody is taking my methods on board and I should never have got the job in the first place....oh, and **** the fans who made the trip. 615? Is that all? Part-time *****.".

[joe jordans teeth]

10 minutes ago, Numero Uno said:

Well, he certainly wasn't going to say "We were ******* shit all afternoon, nobody is taking my methods on board and I should never have got the job in the first place....oh, and **** the fans who made the trip. 615? Is that all? Part-time *****.".

Would be more like the truth rather than saying 600 away fans is incredible 

[Numero Uno]

1 minute ago, joe jordans teeth said:

Would be more like the truth rather than saying 600 away fans is incredible 

It's not "incredible" I agree but he can't slag off the ones who shelled out their hard earned and turned up tbf!! Probably an average turnout for us that far up North and given our mid-table position. We have a pretty much deserved reputation in football for travelling well down South and not turning up North of Birmingham.......

[Barrs Court Red]

@Ghost Rider you promised a win at half time.  What went wrong from your perspective?  
 

You seemed to blame the players, claiming some aren’t good enough, which is at odds with your masters statement that the squad is good enough.  Which is it? 

[joe jordans teeth]

1 minute ago, Numero Uno said:

It's not "incredible" I agree but he can't slag off the ones who shelled out their hard earned and turned up tbf!! Probably an average turnout for us that far up North and given our mid-table position. We have a pretty much deserved reputation in football for travelling well down South and not turning up North of Birmingham.......

He could of said fair play to the few who have dished out money to come all this way,to try and tell us it’s amazing support is disingenuous 

[Merrick's Marvels]

He's been manager of MK Don's so I'd say his comments are genuine.

[AshtonGreat]

1 hour ago, Davefevs said:

I Agree.

As let Harry’s thread, I’m sat here pretty chilled / happy, but I was a month ago too!

SMH

You disagree?

[FNQ]

3 hours ago, Cov 77 said:

Poor side who are unbeaten in 4 games and won at Sunderland as well as drawn with Southampton the trouble is it fits the narrative that everyone else are crap in a division that is tight , QPR have won 3 on the trot since our awful 0-0 draw there 

QPR are going really well under their new manager and with their core of decent players, Chair / Willock even Dykes at this level will not be going down. Huddersfield don’t have any decent players and personally I thought Rotherham looked a better side when we played them away. I still think that Huddersfield will go down, can’t think of three worse sides and I’m still disappointed that we didn’t do better.

[Davefevs]

24 minutes ago, AshtonGreat said:

You disagree?

Yes I do, it’s completely contextless.

[AshtonGreat]

7 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

Yes I do, it’s completely contextless.

My point is that you can't really compare Manning's first five games with Pearson's last handful, as there are so many other factors involved - one of which is that Manning has barely had any time with these players

[italian dave]

2 hours ago, joe jordans teeth said:

Would be more like the truth rather than saying 600 away fans is incredible 

He didn’t say 600 away fans is incredible though, did he? Support is about more than just numbers. 

[Mr Popodopolous]

5 hours ago, And Its Smith said:

5 points in 5 games. One fewer than Pearson achieved in his last 5 games. 

Regression or stagnation then?

[W-S-M Seagull]

4 hours ago, Super said:

You are talking nonsense. If we were near the top of the league then you can say we should win this game. Honestly some of our fans are deluded.

You're talking nonsense if you don't think we should have won this game. 

Swansea sacked their manager after drawing against that low despite Swansea playing better than we did.

[italian dave]

16 minutes ago, W-S-M Seagull said:

You're talking nonsense if you don't think we should have won this game. 

Swansea sacked their manager after drawing against that low despite Swansea playing better than we did.

Oh, come on….no-one has a divine right to win any game….least of all in this division.

And if you seriously think that managers get sacked on the basis of a single result, least of all a draw…..well then we are talking nonsense. 

[Mr Popodopolous]

Not the worst  not the best either.

Not a fan of shunting Sykes here there and everywhere.

Conway getting that goal from open play, could it spark something? Hope so.

Possibility not likelihood of a Cup run aside can't see a great deal to get excited about between now and May.

[Mr Popodopolous]

8 hours ago, W-S-M Seagull said:

Sorry mate but it seems you're trying to be deliberately controversial. 

In those last 5 games we lost by a single goal to Leeds and Ipswich and lost to Cardiff with barely 11 fit players. But you know this. 

We should have took 9 points from QPR, Norwich and Huddersfield. We took 2 points. Dress it up however you want but thats shit. 

 

I'd argue 7 from 3 could have been alright but generally do agree with this. Perhaps the QPR result given their subsequent form but 7-9 anyway.

Edited December 10, 2023 by Mr Popodopolous

[Davefevs]

11 hours ago, italian dave said:

Oh, come on….no-one has a divine right to win any game….least of all in this division.

And if you seriously think that managers get sacked on the basis of a single result, least of all a draw…..well then we are talking nonsense. 

Correct, you don’t have a divine right.  But when you watch the match unfold yesterday and see how bad they were, then you’ve got to think for once that is two points dropped / it’s a game we should’ve won?

4 hours ago, mason said:

If only Tanner had chopped  tackled the Hudders guy down and took a card .......if...that said more exp in front of goal i.e more exp forward we could have been out of sight by then.

Nothings changed investment in a few players needed, the size of the investment and quality of players will determine our future.

Think I posted something along these lines in the week…it’s as much if not more about the players than it is tactics, systems and patterns.

His post-match interview (paraphrased) - we force them into a low block then you know you’re vulnerable on the counterattack

That kinda annoys me.  Because if your tactic leaves you vulnerable, then you can’t keep saying the goals we’ve conceded are “on us”, perhaps you should question whether the approach is correct.

Its the kinda thing that Russell Martin came out with (I don’t want to use a lazy comparison, but it fits on this occasion - look at all those lovely patterns we played to get 6 shots with 70% possession and then moaned that their opponents scored twice, one from a counterattack and another from a set-piece from their 30% inferiority.  Who’s the super-coach???.

I accept that sometimes your strength is also your weakness.  A David Gower cover drive on the up to a ball that wasn’t quite in the slot is a wonderful sight.  But the one that nips away and he tries to repeat and nicks one to the keeper or slips has you moaning, just leave it alone David.

Thats kinda how I feel.  If we are gonna work patterns up the pitch that get players high, and we lose the ball, then the by-product might be goals / chances conceded on the break, which can feel unnecessary, undoing the hard-work.

So that was the long ramble into, we might play differently under Manning, but early evidence leaves a question - will it change outcomes.  Are the players good enough to ultimately change the outcomes?  Probably not.  A couple of signings of the right players could kick us on however.

We will wait and see.

[italian dave]

4 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

Correct, you don’t have a divine right.  But when you watch the match unfold yesterday and see how bad they were, then you’ve got to think for once that is two points dropped / it’s a game we should’ve won?

 

Oh, I agree Dave.

But because we played some very good football that on the day was better than Huddersfield. Because we created a whole load of chances and simply failed to capitalise on them.

NOT because it was lowly Huddersfield, and anyone half decent should beat them - which is what the original post I responded to implied.

[chinapig]

15 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

His post-match interview (paraphrased) - we force them into a low block then you know you’re vulnerable on the counterattack

That kinda annoys me.  Because if your tactic leaves you vulnerable, then you can’t keep saying the goals we’ve conceded are “on us”, perhaps you should question whether the approach is correct.

Furthermore you have to have a plan to deal with counterattacks.

Coaches who prioritise control e.g. Guardiola do this. Manning is no doubt familiar with the jargon "rest defence" where the first priority is to set yourself up to handle any counterattack.

It's not enough to say we are vulnerable to counterattacks and leave it at that. Though as you say you need to have players who can implement the plan.

[Spike]

19 hours ago, Lew-T said:

How long do you leave it though?

Well, Manning wanted him at Oxford so I feel he'll get a fair chance here but I do agree, you can only keep coaching a player so long before you have to accept they aren't making the chanves required. 

I think we've got quite a few ones dimensional players at the moment, Mehmeti is one who gets a lot of hate thrown his way because the team has never been set out to compliment him so we've never seen him at his best. Some other players who I won't name right now because they are loved by some fans get away with being one dimensional because the team is set up to compliment that from their game but I have a feeling that Manning thought the players we had were more capable of adapting than they actually are. I personally think Knight and Dickie are the two best players in regards to adapting and performing no matter what is asked of them which just further irritates me when you think how recently they were brought in. I feel like we'll need to shift some players if Manning is going to get us playing the style he's pushing for which means that Jon's statement that we have a top 6 team is garbage, as we all knew it was, as this isn't a top 6 squad, it's a rebuild squad as we're no longer playing to the squad strength. The only argument that could be made that we're top 6 is if we still had Nigel and were still playing to the squads strengths, that isn't the case and that means a rebuild is required. I think Manning is going to understand this, if he hasn't already cottoned on, and ultimately I think he'll request transfers be made, the board won't like this and he'll probably end up losing his job and being blamed by the board as him under performing with a "capable squad" as the excuse. I feel like Manning has been set up to fail here, I guess we'll see when the summer transfer period comes around and the board can't use the raise costs of players in the January window as an excuse any more, that's if Manning makes it that far. 

[Ivorguy]

18 hours ago, Merrick's Marvels said:

He's been manager of MK Don's so I'd say his comments are genuine.

And thereby lies the problem - no experience at this level, and clearly not up to speed about this league 

[petehinton]

19 hours ago, Sleepy1968 said:

Anyway, I thought Joe Williams had a very decent 65 minutes.

Was good, hopefully he can give us a bit of a different option for the rest of the season if he can stay consistently fit.
 

Still be amazed if he’s not released in the summer. 

[JP Hampton]

Haven’t had time to read everything so sorry if this has been said before. Something that appears to be happening in my opinion,particular to the young players Tanner,Bell and Conway, is they seem to have really lost all confidence. 
 We’ve seen all 3 of these players play some really good/great football under Pearson, but it makes me wonder if it’s a case of information overload. Where’s their spontaneity. There’s a rigid inflexibility in holding their positions. Leaving them a little clueless at times. 
  
I’m not suggesting it’s Manning’s fault, but something has changed and it’s not for the better. 

[Davefevs]

1 hour ago, JP Hampton said:

Haven’t had time to read everything so sorry if this has been said before. Something that appears to be happening in my opinion,particular to the young players Tanner,Bell and Conway, is they seem to have really lost all confidence. 
 We’ve seen all 3 of these players play some really good/great football under Pearson, but it makes me wonder if it’s a case of information overload. Where’s their spontaneity. There’s a rigid inflexibility in holding their positions. Leaving them a little clueless at times. 
  
I’m not suggesting it’s Manning’s fault, but something has changed and it’s not for the better. 

[ashton_fan]

4 hours ago, JP Hampton said:

Haven’t had time to read everything so sorry if this has been said before. Something that appears to be happening in my opinion,particular to the young players Tanner,Bell and Conway, is they seem to have really lost all confidence. 
 We’ve seen all 3 of these players play some really good/great football under Pearson, but it makes me wonder if it’s a case of information overload. Where’s their spontaneity. There’s a rigid inflexibility in holding their positions. Leaving them a little clueless at times. 
  
I’m not suggesting it’s Manning’s fault, but something has changed and it’s not for the better. 

The loss of form of these players pre-dates Manning's arrival. Bell and Conway have struggled since Nhaki was injured, they both play better when he's alongside. Tanner needs to be rested but can't be due to McRorie being unavailable, he's played too many games and needs a break.

[ashton_fan]

12 hours ago, Ivorguy said:

And thereby lies the problem - no experience at this level, and clearly not up to speed about this league 

He's got a bit of learning to do but is obviously very intelligent and I'm sure will be able to adapt quickly.

[W-S-M Seagull]

6 hours ago, Davefevs said:

If their heads are overloaded, then thats on him. I dont like those excuses. He's obviously not got the balance right currently. 

I don't like the bit at the end either "and not just off pure emotion and running" seems like a criticism of our previous way. I have noticed a few of these comments that seem to be barbed comments about the previous management. 

Personally I like a team that runs and plays on emotions. That's one way to get a team out performing their ability. To some extent, Sheffield Utd last season. 

Manning is the type of person that if you're going to employ, you need to really do so before pre season. I remember Nige once saying something along the lines of during the season you don't get much time to work with the players on systems etc so you need to do those things during pre season.

This is Mannings biggest challenge, trying to make these changes mid season. Pressure is building now. 

What Manning needs understand is that we knew where the players were at before he came in. Sometimes I do get the feeling that he doesn't realise we existed before he joined us. So him asking for us to understand where the players are because of the changes HE has made, doesn't really wash with me. 

At this current moment in time, we have regressed. At this current moment in time I'm struggling to name a player that has put in better performances, Dickie maybe? But by and large individual performances have got worse. Some quite notably. 

The above sounds like he's saying "I need time" I have very little patience for a mid season rebuild when it wasn't really required. 

If we get 5 points from the next 5 games, then serious questions are going to start being asked. The next 5 games I'd say is probably tougher than the previous 5. 

 

 

[JP Hampton]

8 hours ago, Davefevs said:

Ah right thanks for that. 

8 hours ago, Davefevs said:

Thanks for that.