Ricardo's report v huddersfield

[ricardo 7,380]

I don't know about the rest of Norfolk but here in the City we had a sharp shower at tea time and then just a few spits and spots. It was barely enough to wet the ground in NR2 so I made the choice not to take any rain gear.

Back in the olden days (1960's) I recall that todays visitors were considered a real bogey team, so I had a look back in the records and indeed they were during that decade, with five wins at CR and only one for City. In recent seasons we have rectified that record somewhat with a few thumping good home wins and after fifteen minutes of this game another one looked well on the cards.

I arrived at the ground to herarthe news that Teemu was out injured and Josh Sargent was going to be leading the line. My hope was that his penalty in the Cup would inject enough confidence into him to give us a good performance and there weren't many minutes on the clock when he stepped up and did what was required. We were only in the second minute when he latched on to Aarons cross and flicked a header a foot over the bar. With City dominant in these early stages he didn't have to wait long for another chance. Dowell cut two defenders out of the game with a pass out to Sinani and when the cross came in his header was point perfct into the far corner, giving Nicholls no chance.

It was a great start and it got even better as City turned up the wick. Nunez was showing a lot of strength in mid field and when the ball came through to Dowell a quick lay off put Sargent in on the angle and his scuffed shot went across goal to Sinani on the corner of the six yard line. Defenders rushed to cover but he shuffled inside and wrong footed everybody with a shot into the corner to put City two clear.

The visitors had barely had a look in and I think most of us were thinking of another high scoring game as City continued to call the tune. If anything we were guilty of over passing as several promising position broke down with one pass too many. Nicholls again came to the visitors rescue with a sharp save at his left post as Sargent sent in another stinging shot and it was all hands to the pump as Huddersfield defended another corner.

From the thirty minute mark the visitors eventually got their passing game going and the home defence looked a bit hesitant at times with no natural left back in the line up. Tim Krul dealt with a couple of long range efforts comfortably enough but had to be really alert to block away a free kick just before the break.

It was a decent enough half but I had to agree with my son when he said he doubted we would finish up with a clean sheet. That however seemed academic when just after the restart Lees had little option but to clip Sargents heels when the City striker was clean through on goal. The ref had little option but to produce a red card.

That should have been that, as far as the points were concerned and I think we all expected another couple of goals on the tally. Sargent and Aarons both had chances they couldn't put away and Nunez might have done better with two free kicks at a scoreable range but despite the pressure another goal failed to materialise. Hanley looked to get on the scoresheet when he latched onto a cross but his header was clawed away by Nichols in fine style and Dowell could only put a low shot straight at the keeper when set up by Cantwell.

Hugill and Sara came on for Sargent and Dowell at seventy minutes as City kept up the pressure and there was a mighty scramble in the Town area as Hugill's header was deflected out to Sinani who rifled a poerful shot just over the bar. It was his last action however as he and Nunez departed to great applause as Hernandez and Ramsey came on.

Onel was soon beating his fullback down the left but somehow the crosses and cut backs didn't fall to a City shirt until on seventy eight minutes Nicholls made a point blank save as Sara looked odds on to net from six yards. It was frustrating stuff but it got even more frustrating as the visitors broke away with ten minutes left and a furiously back pedalling Grant Hanley was unable to prevent Jones getting a shot away from the left of centre that beat Krul at the near post.

I had to shake my head when my son said " you can just see Jordan Rhodes levelling this up now." It almost proved prophetc as a ball was played into the area and Tim Krul had to be really sharp to dive at Rhodes feet to prevent the shot. From here City tried to take the sting out of the game and again did not look entirely convincing. Thankfully the whistle went just after one more heart in mouth incident as Ramsey volleyed away a loose ball in the City area.

It was good to finally get the win and well deserved on balance but it should have been a lot easier than we made it. A proper left back looks to be the priority.

My MOM goes to Nunez who looked the class player in all he did. Good performances from Sargent and Sinani, some nice passes from Keiron Dowell and young Gibbs looked very competent apart from one silly pass across his penalty area that got intercepted. I also thought Todd put in a whole hearted performance but his touch is not quite back to what we know it can be yet.

OTBC

 

 

[paddycanary 538]

Cheers for that Ricardo. Relieving & satisfying in equal measure to get things up & running! 👍

[Van wink 2,994]

Quite exciting the way some of the younger players are developing, Nunez is already looking like a fantastic buy, Todd I agree not back to his best and a bit lost at times but definitely on the up, Gibbs one almost fatal mistake but other than that looking like a good player and settled really quickly, lots to be positive about tonight 👍

[Mason 47 1,376]

As ever fantastic report by Ricardo, words in motion.

All I'd add is that in the kitchen-sink section Huddersfield went for late on, we still created some huge chances. Gibbs (I think) ball across the face and I'm sure Ramsey had at least one great opening unfortunately blocked. The latter I'm really intrigued by as he's slipped in a little under the radar but in two consecutive games tends to find game-defining moments when he comes on.

Whatever else, the best response is '3 points'. Wonderful.

[Parma Ham's gone mouldy 2,219]

Think may be overlooked how important and effective Gibbs role was tonight.

We looked a far better structured unit with that role being played.

Amazing to me we went a whole premier season without it. Extraordinary really. Tactically so fundamental to so many things.
 

Parma

[Nexus_Canary 1,016]

Surely that sergeant shot that led to the Sinani goal was a deflection rather than a scuff?  Certainly looked like one

[Christoph Stiepermann 1,135]

If we play Sargent deeper we have to play to his feet and it doesn't get the best out of him, stick him in the middle and get the ball on his head and he will score goals. Pukki needs a rest, he has played so much football over the past few years and while I still really rate him I'd start with Sargent for a few games and bring Pukki on to terrify a tiring opposition for the final third of games for a while. Pukki is still our main man and should start most games this season, but while we're still finding our feet and our best team it's much easier to create chances for a striker who's good in the air and it'll be easier for Pukki to play against tiring defenses who will have to totally change their approach when he comes on, I think we'll get some joy from that for a while. 

[Branston Pickle 3,651]

1 hour ago, Nexus_Canary said:

Surely that sergeant shot that led to the Sinani goal was a deflection rather than a scuff?  Certainly looked like one

Yes - it’s clear from the highlights that his shot deflected off the defender, though I wasn’t sure at the time.

[kick it off 1,948]

Missed the game as currently in istanbul and was catching up with an old friend, appreciate the report Ricky.

[Badger 2,405]

I didn't want to put it onto another thread which might involve me in stupid squabbles - but I think that we are seeing Smith's preferred for this season style merging pretty clearly. It strikes me that for a championship club we have a very strong array of attack-minded midfielders, which could be very exciting this year.

I am still a little concerned about a lack of brute strength - Millwall (if typical) might give us a better indication.

[Robert N. LiM 4,297]

9 hours ago, Parma Ham's gone mouldy said:

Think may be overlooked how important and effective Gibbs role was tonight.

We looked a far better structured unit with that role being played.

Amazing to me we went a whole premier season without it. Extraordinary really. Tactically so fundamental to so many things.
 

Parma

And equally how much we could do with Hayden being the player we expect him to be. A lot to expect of Gibbs to play that role as a 19-year-old all season.

[Robert N. LiM 4,297]

9 hours ago, ricardo said:

It was good to finally get the win and well deserved on balance but it should have been a lot easier than we made it.

Out of reactions, but thanks for the report, Ricardo: interesting as always. OTBC

[Yellow Fever 3,763]

Enjoyed that and lots to be positive about. A bit of the rub of the green and we would of scored lots more. 

I do think we looked better and more likely to score with a more traditional CF in Sargent than Pukki. Teemu is good but needs a very specific type of ball played to him to be effective - something which we seem generally now incapable of doing. I'm also aware that for the last two seasons I got fed up of hearing 'Pukki would normally be expected to put that away' on any commentary. 

Give Teemu a rest and continue with Sargent for now.  

 

[ricardo 7,380]

9 hours ago, Nexus_Canary said:

Surely that sergeant shot that led to the Sinani goal was a deflection rather than a scuff?  Certainly looked like one

Yes, I've just watched  the replay and it did hit a defender.

[mrD66M 99]

10 hours ago, ricardo said:

I don't know about the rest of Norfolk but here in the City we had a sharp shower at tea time and then just a few spits and spots. It was barely enough to wet the ground in NR2 so I made the choice not to take any rain gear.

Back in the olden days (1960's) I recall that todays visitors were considered a real bogey team, so I had a look back in the records and indeed they were during that decade, with five wins at CR and only one for City. In recent seasons we have rectified that record somewhat with a few thumping good home wins and after fifteen minutes of this game another one looked well on the cards.

I arrived at the ground to herarthe news that Teemu was out injured and Josh Sargent was going to be leading the line. My hope was that his penalty in the Cup would inject enough confidence into him to give us a good performance and there weren't many minutes on the clock when he stepped up and did what was required. We were only in the second minute when he latched on to Aarons cross and flicked a header a foot over the bar. With City dominant in these early stages he didn't have to wait long for another chance. Dowell cut two defenders out of the game with a pass out to Sinani and when the cross came in his header was point perfct into the far corner, giving Nicholls no chance.

It was a great start and it got even better as City turned up the wick. Nunez was showing a lot of strength in mid field and when the ball came through to Dowell a quick lay off put Sargent in on the angle and his scuffed shot went across goal to Sinani on the corner of the six yard line. Defenders rushed to cover but he shuffled inside and wrong footed everybody with a shot into the corner to put City two clear.

The visitors had barely had a look in and I think most of us were thinking of another high scoring game as City continued to call the tune. If anything we were guilty of over passing as several promising position broke down with one pass too many. Nicholls again came to the visitors rescue with a sharp save at his left post as Sargent sent in another stinging shot and it was all hands to the pump as Huddersfield defended another corner.

From the thirty minute mark the visitors eventually got their passing game going and the home defence looked a bit hesitant at times with no natural left back in the line up. Tim Krul dealt with a couple of long range efforts comfortably enough but had to be really alert to block away a free kick just before the break.

It was a decent enough half but I had to agree with my son when he said he doubted we would finish up with a clean sheet. That however seemed academic when just after the restart Lees had little option but to clip Sargents heels when the City striker was clean through on goal. The ref had little option but to produce a red card.

That should have been that, as far as the points were concerned and I think we all expected another couple of goals on the tally. Sargent and Aarons both had chances they couldn't put away and Nunez might have done better with two free kicks at a scoreable range but despite the pressure another goal failed to materialise. Hanley looked to get on the scoresheet when he latched onto a cross but his header was clawed away by Nichols in fine style and Dowell could only put a low shot straight at the keeper when set up by Cantwell.

Hugill and Sara came on for Sargent and Dowell at seventy minutes as City kept up the pressure and there was a mighty scramble in the Town area as Hugill's header was deflected out to Sinani who rifled a poerful shot just over the bar. It was his last action however as he and Nunez departed to great applause as Hernandez and Ramsey came on.

Onel was soon beating his fullback down the left but somehow the crosses and cut backs didn't fall to a City shirt until on seventy eight minutes Nicholls made a point blank save as Sara looked odds on to net from six yards. It was frustrating stuff but it got even more frustrating as the visitors broke away with ten minutes left and a furiously back pedalling Grant Hanley was unable to prevent Jones getting a shot away from the left of centre that beat Krul at the near post.

I had to shake my head when my son said " you can just see Jordan Rhodes levelling this up now." It almost proved prophetc as a ball was played into the area and Tim Krul had to be really sharp to dive at Rhodes feet to prevent the shot. From here City tried to take the sting out of the game and again did not look entirely convincing. Thankfully the whistle went just after one more heart in mouth incident as Ramsey volleyed away a loose ball in the City area.

It was good to finally get the win and well deserved on balance but it should have been a lot easier than we made it. A proper left back looks to be the priority.

My MOM goes to Nunez who looked the class player in all he did. Good performances from Sargent and Sinani, some nice passes from Keiron Dowell and young Gibbs looked very competent apart from one silly pass across his penalty area that got intercepted. I also thought Todd put in a whole hearted performance but his touch is not quite back to what we know it can be yet.

OTBC

 

 

Sinani has impressed me the most out of everyone this far as I had zero expectations for him, he's been solid and added guile to the attack.

[keelansgrandad 6,679]

Your son seems to have a crystal ball Ricardo. Does he know what Friday night's lottery numbers are?

[Robert N. LiM 4,297]

35 minutes ago, mrD66M said:

Sinani has impressed me the most out of everyone this far as I had zero expectations for him, he's been solid and added guile to the attack.

Agreed. Had Buendía played that pass that led to the red card, we'd have been drooling about it. Perfectly weighted. Very good to see.