From Sofa to Seat 114 - Seven Things I've Learnt Watching Huddersfield Town
Jamie Taylor, Feature Writer
Watching Town this season has been … educational. With half of the home games gone and a new year ahead, I thought I’d write a few words on what I’ve learnt watching football at the John Smiths Stadium these past few months.
1. I need glasses.
I’ve been putting it off for ages but watching the football has shown me just how much I need glasses. You might argue reasonably that, given the standard of football this season, I’d be better off without them. That probably is the reason why I still haven’t got any but it does make it difficult to watch the match. I’m not miles away from the pitch but for the life of me, I can’t tell the difference between Tom Lees and Michal Helik. Jordon Rhodes and Danny Ward are completely interchangeable and I can’t tell who’s who on the bench.
2. Live football is completely different to watching it on the telly.
Please do excuse me for stating the obvious, but watching football at the match and watching it on the telly are two very different experiences. You just don’t get the sense of space you do while watching live. It’s like suddenly seeing a complete picture after years of peeping at it through the keyhole. As I’ve gradually seen more matches I’ve learned not to watch the ball but more the patterns, the movements and space. It’s in these interactions that the real beauty of the game lies.
3. Time wasting is shit.
This point is very much connected to my previous observation but time wasting in all its forms is a real problem. Seeing the match at the stadium, you realise just how much of it goes on and how early it often starts. It’s not hidden behind replays or commentary so you see every pathetic ball rolled down the line, every slow walk to the bench and every player feigning injury. It is mostly the away sides that do it but I hate seeing Town sink to that level.
4. Vegan Sausage rolls are lucky
Every time I’ve managed to buy a vegan sausage roll, Huddersfield have won. Coincidence? I don’t think so. We don’t need a new striker or a creative midfielder, we just need more sausage rolls.
5. Premier League players stand a class apart
The Watford game really showed the difference a smattering of average to poor Premier League players can bring to a side. Watford were awful last season, genuinely one of the most shambolic teams I’ve ever seen grace the top flight but even with an injury crisis in midfield, they never looked like losing. It’s frustrating as we matched and bettered them for long periods of the match but couldn’t even get a shot off. I never felt we had anyone capable of tormenting the opposition in the same way that João Pedro looked like he could us. I know it’s a given bearing in mind where we find ourselves, but Huddersfield are nowhere near Premier League quality.
6. League One players also stand a class apart
I genuinely didn’t realise the gulf in class between the Championship and League One. From the lofty height of the Premier League, I just assumed the standard was pretty much the same. As such, it sounded a great idea for Town to be stocking up on talented young League One players. As the season has worn on, every match I realise the folly of this approach. God bless him, I love Jack Rudoni and dearly want to see him do well but he is not up to the standard of this league yet. Against Watford and Rotherham, he had two of his more promising games but still doesn’t look like he can beat a man, his decision making could be better and he doesn’t (currently) look like he has goals in him. I think there is a fine player in there somewhere but it’s going to take at least another season for him to grow into that and gain the confidence he needs to play at this level.
7. Fans play a massive part in football.
I know it’s a cliché (and another blindingly obvious thing to say) but fans play a massive part in football matches. The connection they have with the team and the genuine effect a buoyant crowd can have on the players is unreal. You see it building and the positivity (or otherwise) just snowballs the players towards a result. Having felt the difference a raucous crowd can make at matches like Millwall and Hull, supporters are going to play a huge role in getting us out of this mess.
I may have leant a lot about life in the Championship but there’s still one massive question I haven’t got an answer to yet - will Huddersfield Town stay up? Two weeks ago I was resigned to going down but after a couple of wins and a narrow defeat, there might just be hope. No longer bottom of the table and not adrift of the pack, I can see us scrapping out of it, especially if we can keep things tight at the back. With a few winnable games coming up, I’m hoping by the end of January, we might all begin to get a clearer idea of an answer.
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