Different Journeys, Same Destination: How Danny Simpson and Jaden Brown became Town's full-back pairing of choice
In the modern-day, the full-back role has turned from one of the most unfashionable positions on the pitch and often one which is the butt of many jokes to one which is a position of increasing influence. It seems now, irrespective of the system, philosophy or manager in charge, the significance of full-backs is at an unprecedented level.
Over the past decade or so, the position has been transformed and revolutionised and even now, it continues to be a forever evolving position. No longer can you rely solely on the athleticism and overall ability to bombard forward in support of attacks and retreat back to fulfil their defensive duties. Instead, now there is an expectation that a full-back will have that athleticism, but also the technical ability to potentially play an inverted role as an additional midfielder or have the trickery and the end-product of a winger when instructed to overlap.
Perhaps, the most case was the importance of Chris Lowe and Tommy Smith during Town’s promotion-winning season. Between the two, they contributed towards 30% of the goals scored by David Wagner’s side (17 of 56), this creative license was due to the narrowness of Town’s wingers within the system. Pressing high and pinning Town’s opponents in their own half, the onus was often placed on the full-back’s to be the catalyst for many attacks.
Therefore, when images emerged in mid-August of Tommy Smith training at Clayton Wood and the inevitable hurried announcement was quickly pushed out confirming Smith’s departure to Stoke City, there was understandable angst and any murmurs of discontent or dissatisfaction regarding Town’s recruitment intensified tenfold.
The news had come in the wake of the departure of Chris Lowe. The reasoning behind his departure, with family commitments in mind and a desire to return to Germany, was understandable but it contributed towards a situation where Town had found themselves in a difficult situation.
The full-back positions had been exposed time and time again in the Premier League, and in an area where it needed strengthening, the loss of Smith and Lowe saw it become an area which was weakened even further.
Town had found themselves short and now they were confronted by a marathon Championship campaign with a naturally orientated centre half who tended to hold a narrow defensive position, almost an inside defender position, if such a thing was to exist on one side, whilst on the other, Town were playing a modern-day full-back, but one who lacked the discipline or defensive awareness to acknowledge where the danger lied.
Having been exposed in a similar manner to they had in the Premier League, something needed to change and a solution had to be found. A managerial change, one in which we saw the Cowley brothers take over the reins from Jan Siewert did come. However, it was the continued emergence of Jaden Brown and the shrewd acquisition of Danny Simpson which has underpinned Town’s recent run of good form and how we are now looking up the table, rather than down.
Different routes, same destination
When Jaden Brown signed for Huddersfield Town from Tottenham Hotspur on January 2nd, there was a buzz of excitement about the England Under 19 international who had progressed through the ranks at Spurs, but like many talented prospects stockpiled by one of the Premier League’s gargantuan clubs, the opportunities were few and far between.
In tow with Town’s controversial change of academy status, Jaden Brown was identified as one of the ideal candidates to join Town’s newly professed finishing school as a means of a fast-tracked scheme of development which would accelerate him into the first team picture and provide him with a clear pathway into the first-team set-up.
However, having struggled for opportunities or minutes during a loan spell last season at Exeter City, a place where he made just one solitary appearance for the Grecians in a 2-0 victory over Port Vale, the concern must have been there that Jaden Brown would fall into the same trap as some of Town’s other promising academy graduates and ultimately fall short in the pursuit of cementing a place in Town’s first team.
Meanwhile, at the other end of the spectrum, despite having the experience, accolades and the silverware to match, Danny Simpson found himself in an equally frustrating situation. Since his involvement in Leicester’s Premier League-winning campaign, Simpson lost his place to Portuguese international, Ricardo Pereira.
Last season, Simpson was limited to just three Premier League starts and three appearances off of the bench. The arrival of Brendan Rodgers appeared to all but confirm that Simpson’s five year stay at Leicester City where he amassed over 130 appearances would be coming to an end.
Despite Jaden Brown and Danny Simpson being at the opposite ends of the spectrum in terms of one being still at the very beginning, whilst the other begins to edge towards its conclusion, both full-backs ironically found themselves at a crossroad in the career. What nobody could realise until a little over a month ago was that they would end up in the same destination as part of a revamped and reassured defensively backline which has been the foundation for Town’s recent resurgence.
Perhaps what is most interesting and most promising for Town is that the parallels between Simpson and Brown go beyond the circumstances in which they have found themselves featured in Town’s starting XI.
Having struggled in recent seasons to find accomplished full-backs that are capable of fulfilling their primary duty of defending, Town seemed to have stumbled across two who are now revelling from having the opportunity to have an extended run of first team football and both share the trait of being exceptionally strong one-on-one defenders, arguably amongst the best in the entire Championship.
As champions of an educational approach to football, I’m sure that there is plenty of in-house coaching and mentoring, with the example of Simpson and Brown being an ideal one. With Simpson having so much experience and knowhow to lend from, his acquisition was not only a shrewd one for the short-term prosperity of this football club but also because he is ideal for Jaden Brown (and subsequently Demeaco Duhaney) to measure themselves against.
From a position of weakness to one of strength
The arrival of Danny Simpson and emergence of Jaden Brown has turned those wide defensive areas from a position of weakness to a position of strength and with that, offered a renewed balance to Town’s defence and Elphick is one of the principal beneficiaries of that.
Rather than being dragged into the wide areas, a place where he looked both uncomfortable and out of his depth, to cover marauding runs forward by Hadergjonaj, in recent weeks Elphick has been able to concentrate solely on being the experienced head at the back which was what he initially signed to be.
The knock-on effect has been that Christopher Schindler who holds scrupulously high standards for himself, and admittedly has fallen below them in recent months, also seems to be benefitting from the balance that Simpson and Brown have brought to the side and has also benefitted from the security beside him, allowing him to be proactive and defend on the front foot by stepping out and nullifying threats from the very source.
Within the past six games, no side has held a stronger defensive record than Town has. With four clean sheets coming as part of this extended unbeaten run of seven, this is a result of the foundations that have been laid and we’re now starting to reap the benefits of a newly balanced back four that complement one and other and have a full grasp of each of their roles and responsibilities and more broadly stability at the back and the consistency of selection.
Having revived the club’s form through a complete turn around of Town’s defensive fortunes, with this full-back pairing of Simpson and Brown playing an integral role in the revitalisation of Town’s defensive frugality, the Cowley brothers are clearly building from the back forwards and with that, they are building a platform to mount a positive outcome for this season, be that a top-half finish or even a second half of the season surge for the play-offs.
