Groundhog Day For Huddersfield Town At The City Ground
John McNamara, Feature Writer
Twitter: @JohnInGlenavy
There is no tactical masterplan that Championship managers look to when they face Huddersfield Town, all it takes to win is patience. Nottingham Forest demonstrated that perfectly on Sunday as they simply sat and waited for our players to invite them into the game .
‘Passion’ is somewhat of a buzzword for a certain era of football pundit, often used in lieu of real tactical insight and analysis. When Manchester United found themselves 1-0 down at half-time recently, tub-thumping pundit Roy Keane was all too keen to highlight the players’ lack of passion and fight.
On that occasion, The Red Devils’ second-half improvement (sparked by a tactical tweak and the introduction of Paul Pogba) made somewhat of a mockery of the Irishman’s macho tirade. Keane’s rage and ire would have been far better suited to the John Smith’s Stadium last Saturday or the City Ground yesterday.
For Huddersfield Town fell 3-1 to Nottingham Forest, not because of tactical inefficiencies and inferior personnel, but because of a lack of basic fight, passion and desire. The type of attributes you would find in abundance on any given weekend in the District League, and unfortunately the type of attributes that we haven’t seen at Huddersfield Town in years.
“If you have passion and desire, you have no limits” said David Wagner after guiding his team to an unexpected promotion to the Premier League. Understandably, the German made no statement about what a lack of those two attributes would result in, although if you’re wondering, the answer is League One.
That will be Huddersfield Town’s destination at the end of this season barring a minor miracle and the unlikely spectacle of multiple leopards changing their spots. Teams who fight beat those that don’t and teams that fight finish higher in the table than those that don’t.
No amount of individual talent can ever come out on top if it is not harnessed and applied by a player with fight, passion and desire. Size of the dog in the fight and all that.
If you are wondering to yourself exactly what I mean when I bemoan Huddersfield Town’s lack of passion, then come with me as I embark on a safari of mediocrity that starts unexpectedly with club legend Christopher Schindler.
The German centre-back has played his best football at Huddersfield Town when he was aggressive. Not in the hackneyed English way of playing on with an obvious head injury or lunging two-footed into tackles, but in the deliberateness of his duels.
In his first season in the Premier League, Schindler nipped in front of forwards to intercept the ball, on average twice a game. This season that has fallen to just over once a game, and the reason for this drop off in aggression is fear.
The once confident centre-back is now – like his fellow teammates – crippled by fear and indecision. Clearly, he no longer has the confidence nor fight to back himself in those duels and it is costing the team dearly.
The signs were there early on in Sunday’s game as he limply fawned interest in a duel with Lewis Grabban, allowing the Forest forward to win the ball and set Joe Lolley free down the flank. Not all was lost in that moment though as Schindler had one last chance to make up for his lack of aggression as he challenged Lolley on the edge of the penalty area.
Again, he was found wanting and Forest would have scored if it were not for the foot of the post. At half-time the management and his fellow players had the opportunity to chastise Schindler for his lack of fight, but they obviously passed up on that as we found ourselves 2-0 down shortly after the restart thanks to his timorous defending.
This time, Schindler’s absence of aggression was even more obvious as instead of challenging for the ball, he chose to drop off and step up and drop off and step up all at once, gifting Lewis Grabban the freedom of the pitch to slot past Jonas Lossl.
Christopher Schindler wasn’t the only Town player left wanting against Forest though, so let’s hop back in the Land Rover and see who’s next up on The Terriers safari of mediocrity. If you look to your left, you’ll see the unmistakable figure of Juninho Bacuna, Town’s Chump in Chief if you will.
Like Roy Keane, Bacuna obviously has a problem understanding what fight, passion and desire mean in the context of a football match. Fight is not lunging in at knee height on a Forest player when the whistle has already gone for a previous foul. Passion is not ambling about with your hands on your hips as your teammates look for passing options, and desire is not watching a ball played one yard in front of you limply roll out for a throw-in to the opposition.
No, fight, passion and desire are none of these things and perhaps Bacuna would be better served trying to understand that before he bemoans his inability to claim a regular starting place in such a poor team.
For the final stop on our safari of mediocrity we will briefly park up the Land Rover and observe Town’s top scorer Karlan Grant. From a distance he may not seem to be doing an awful lot, but on closer inspection you can just about spot him remonstrating with his teammates for not being in the perfect position to receive an overhit cross or a bouncing pass/heavy touch.
Grant will perhaps be one of the few Huddersfield Town players to have left the pitch with a semblance of a smile on his face after scoring a late and utterly meaningless penalty. An undeserving reward for a player that barely moved all afternoon, and on the occasions that he did, treated the ball with contempt.
If Grant is hoping for a swift exit in the transfer window, he will have to do more to prove to potential suitors that he can control a ball and then pass it to a teammate in space. He will also have to get rid of the habit of berating teammates for his own misgivings.
On that particularly sour note dear reader, I must inform you that the safari is over. You will undoubtedly be disappointed not to have had the opportunity to observe some of Town’s other limp performers, but alas, there are only 24 hours in a day.
I will, however, leave you with this sobering truth. Huddersfield Town will be relegated from the Championship this season; of this, I am sure. Survival requires passion, fight and desire, all of which we are completely bereft of.
