Ricardo's Report v Huddersfield

[ricardo 7,385]

Anyone with a bookies ticket for 3-0 would have been forgiven for chucking it at half-time. It was colder than a witches tit at Carrow Road this afternoon and  the lack of goalmouth action in the first forty five minutes did nothing to raise the temperature for another 25k crowd. Huddersfield set their stall out to play on the front foot while we seemed to be suffering from a St Mary''s hangover.

Huddersfield dominated the first half and I thought we were a tad fortunate to go in all square. They didn''t make many clear cut chances but one point blank header was brilliantly turned away by Forster. City were restricted to a few long range efforts but never really threatened. Russell was pulling the strings in all our best moments while the Doc was supremely solid when Huddersfield were in the ascendancy.

Hughes came on for Adeyemi at half time and City immediately looked better balanced and started to make a few chances. Chris Martin somehow managed to miss an open goal but once Hooly had danced through to produce a superb solo opener you could see the fight begin to drain out of Huddersfield. As they weakened, so we grew stronger and Wes was at last starting to find the room to operate. His lovely through ball found Chris Martin in the clear and this time he didn''t disappoint and slotted it into the corner in fine style. We were now dominant and when we won a corner on the left I remarked to my son that Doc would nod this one in. His left foot piledriver was good enough for me to claim the title of Mr. Prediction and the crowd rocked to sound of "there''s only one Ginger Pele". Other chances came and went but we were well happy with a 3-0 Christmas present.

MOM for me was Rusty who was top drawer from the first whistle. Doc was only a shade behind and Wes a whisker further back. In all honesty, it is silly to choose between them for the whole team were asked a serious question by a good Huddersfield side and they answered it in superb fashion.

Happy Christmas to all out there in Internet land. Ricardo will be on hand to give all who are unable to attend another personal viewpoint on Boxing Day.

[stroud canary 0]

Thanks Ricardo - Always look at 6pm for your report.

[Charles 0]

Excellent report. And I have to agree about Rusty, thought he was outstanding today

[Houston Canary 0]

When asked for MOM midway thru 2nd half, the PinkUn reporter sending the updates suggested Chris Martin.  No mention of him in your choices, Ricardo.  Do you agree he too deserved to be in consideration?

Thanks to Millwall for scoring late!  Let''s hope that drains them of offensive output for the Boxing Day match. 

[ricardo 7,385]

[quote user="Houston Canary"]

When asked for MOM midway thru 2nd half, the PinkUn reporter sending the updates suggested Chris Martin.  No mention of him in your choices, Ricardo.  Do you agree he too deserved to be in consideration?

Thanks to Millwall for scoring late!  Let''s hope that drains them of offensive output for the Boxing Day match. 

[/quote]

All played well but the three I mentioned were truly outstanding and any one of them would be a worthy contender.

[OTBC 0]

Thanks for the report, was a good read.

[Houston Canary 0]

I''ll take your word over the guy sending updates.  He probably has his head down a lot typing while you get to watch more intently.  Good report!

[Trent Canary 0]

[quote user="Houston Canary"]

When asked for MOM midway thru 2nd half, the PinkUn reporter sending the updates suggested Chris Martin.  No mention of him in your choices, Ricardo.  Do you agree he too deserved to be in consideration?

Thanks to Millwall for scoring late!  Let''s hope that drains them of offensive output for the Boxing Day match. 

[/quote]Didnt think Martin had his best game, anonymous in the first half, missed a sitter, but took his goal well.I agree that Russell was MOM, played the defensive role very well, funny that he was playing up front under Roeder! He always shaped for the ball, the way Mulryne always used too. Behind him I had Drury and Wes.

[Houston Canary 0]

Russell played up front under Roeder because he scored 2 goals in the last pre-season game so suddenly he was going to be our goal scorer since there was not much else to choose from.  A silly spur of the moment decision by Roeder, it seemed to me.

[kdncfc 0]

I thought that we made Huddersfield look better then they were in the first half because we were so lethargic and stood off them far to much. When we finally got our act together in the last 35 minutes and got in their faces they couldn''t handle it and we could quite easily have scored two or three more.

[king canary 7,605]

[quote user="Trent Canary"][quote user="Houston Canary"]

When asked for MOM midway thru 2nd half, the PinkUn reporter sending the updates suggested Chris Martin.  No mention of him in your choices, Ricardo.  Do you agree he too deserved to be in consideration?

Thanks to Millwall for scoring late!  Let''s hope that drains them of offensive output for the Boxing Day match. 

[/quote]Didnt think Martin had his best game, anonymous in the first half, missed a sitter, but took his goal well.I agree that Russell was MOM, played the defensive role very well, funny that he was playing up front under Roeder! He always shaped for the ball, the way Mulryne always used too. Behind him I had Drury and Wes. [/quote]not really fair on Martin, the ball was hardly ever up top for him to do anything with. Holt didnt do much all day but I dont think it was his sort of game.

[Boyo 0]

[quote user="ricardo"][quote user="Houston Canary"]

When asked for MOM midway thru 2nd half, the PinkUn reporter sending the updates suggested Chris Martin.  No mention of him in your choices, Ricardo.  Do you agree he too deserved to be in consideration?

Thanks to Millwall for scoring late!  Let''s hope that drains them of offensive output for the Boxing Day match. 

[/quote]

All played well but the three I mentioned were truly outstanding and any one of them would be a worthy contender.

[/quote]

I don''t think Doherty started playing well until we were 2-0 up and only after his goal he was outstanding for me because you could see he had the confidence in him and it looked like he was playing with Askou again.  In the first half I thought Doherty and Nelson both looked very shakey.  Neither had any composure on the ball and either hoofed it in the stand (when under no pressure) or gave it straight to one of theirs.  However Doherty did improve in the second half but he was no where near my top 3.

Also unlike you Ricardo, Martin was in my top 3.  I thought staright from the off he was giving 100% and had a few promising runs and had a shot go just wide.  I know he missed a sitter but all strikers miss at least one of them in their career and he more than made up for it with his goal.

I do agree with Russel though as he was outstanding today.  My top 3 would be Russel, Martin and Hoolahan.

[Wings of a Sparrow 1,414]

Thanks Ricardo, tells it exactly like it is, that''s pretty much how I saw it.

Rusty MoM, honourable mentions to Wes, Chris M and The Doc

[Clever Farke 64]

Good job Ricardo. Have a happy Christmas.

[Beauseant 0]

Great report as always. Rusty was superb today, and I agree that Doc and Wes ran him close.Adeyemi looked out of his depth for once, but is still a great prospect. Martin had a couple of dozy moments, but looks classy. The big worry is Nelson, who is whole hearted and pretty decent as a destructive defender, but just isn''t a City style player. We simply must get another option in January.

Awful miss from Martin, but super finish to round off another good performance particularly as he, for once,  had to carry Holt, who just couldn''t get it right.

Finallly, huge credit to Lambert for the substitution, and to Hughes  for producing such a dynamic performance!

[Bogbrush 0]

I thought the substitution was a bit of a no brainer myself. In truth I have been surprised at how unwilling Lambert has been to play Hughes. First time I saw him was when he came on at Yeovil and we won 4-0 with Hughes and Hoolahan running the show in the 2nd half. Anyway, excellent report as always Ricardo, reading your reports has become one of the pleasures of my early Saturday evenings, after we have won of course !

One mystery to me is why our team can''t seem to get going in the first hald of matches - this happened at Southampton twice, Yeovil and, now, at home against Huddersfield. It would be good if Lambert could get the players to start as well as the seem to finish. No complaints though, I am delighted with what the playesr have achieved under Lambert.

[ZLF 274]

[quote user="Panic Dem"]I thought the substitution was a bit of a no brainer myself. In truth I have been surprised at how unwilling Lambert has been to play Hughes. First time I saw him was when he came on at Yeovil and we won 4-0 with Hughes and Hoolahan running the show in the 2nd half. Anyway, excellent report as always Ricardo, reading your reports has become one of the pleasures of my early Saturday evenings, after we have won of course ! One mystery to me is why our team can''t seem to get going in the first hald of matches - this happened at Southampton twice, Yeovil and, now, at home against Huddersfield. It would be good if Lambert could get the players to start as well as the seem to finish. No complaints though, I am delighted with what the playesr have achieved under Lambert.[/quote]

I think we were just outplayed today.  Our whole midfield was poor first half,  they were pushed or chose to sit deep and we completely lacked energy;  no one was closing down quickly enough and that meant we were chasing the ball 5 yards outside our own box.  They were keener and exploited our lack of energy and when we did get the ball neither lappin, rusty or adeyemi could find the front three;  leaving hoolhan playing deeper than the centre cricle,  which is not where we needed him.   With a low energy midfield and a nervous defence with contagious nelsonitis it was a difficult first half as a decent huddersfield team took advantage of that uncertainty.

That showing was not just down to Adeyemi,  although he was the most anonymous midfielder and was lost on the right;  we missed smiths energy enormously,  but HUghes brought that with a superb display of energy, ball winning and possession retention a world away from the midfield of the second half - this allowed the play to push upfield and cramped THEIR midfield - allowing our strikers, esp hoolahan, to work their magc but also to allow rusty to break play up in a way he was unable to in the first half.

 

[Quagmire 0]

[quote user="Panic Dem"]One mystery to me is why our team can''t seem to get going in the first hald of matches[/quote]

To give the opposition a chance?

[Buncey 1]

Thanks for the report as every ricardo. Finally got back to Carrow Road for the first time in a month. I feel you are rather generous (as with most of the fans on canary call) with the team performance. Thought we were pretty rubbish up until Martin missed his sitter. From then on it we upped our game, and just stole the heart out the Huddesfield team. As many have said we were lucky to go in at 0-0, even luckier not to be down 1-0 just after the restart, and Hughes really did make all the difference. 3-0 flattered us big style.

[ricardo 7,385]

[quote user="Fellas"]Thanks for the report as every ricardo. Finally got back to Carrow Road for the first time in a month. I feel you are rather generous (as with most of the fans on canary call) with the team performance. Thought we were pretty rubbish up until Martin missed his sitter. From then on it we upped our game, and just stole the heart out the Huddesfield team. As many have said we were lucky to go in at 0-0, even luckier not to be down 1-0 just after the restart, and Hughes really did make all the difference. 3-0 flattered us big style.
[/quote]

I would dispute that I am being generous because although Huddersfield pretty much ran the opening 50 minutes they never really managed to hurt us. Forster only had one save of note to make. After we scored they noticeably ran out of steam and I don''t think anybody could argue with the fact that we finished far the stronger team in the final 20 minutes. Apart from the goals there were several other decent opportunities which we squandered and it was pretty much one way traffic towards the end. On that basis I contend that we were worthy winners.

[Old Boy 0]

Russell was great, Martin was good, but Russell Martin was terrible. He looked at sea and nervy, always out of position and making wrong decisions. And Nelson was dreadful by and large, with a few bright moments. Both he and R Martin did their best to give the opposition 1-on-1s with Forster. In the second half things were better because the midfield started closing down. But those two are the weak links, compared to Spillane at RB and Askou at CB. Adeyemi looked like a boy in a man''s game, which Smith has never looked. Hughes was an improvement for sure, but that wasn''t the big difference IMO - we just got in their face more in the second half.

[GJP 79]

[quote user="ricardo"]

[quote user="Fellas"]Thanks for the report as every ricardo. Finally got back to Carrow Road for the first time in a month. I feel you are rather generous (as with most of the fans on canary call) with the team performance. Thought we were pretty rubbish up until Martin missed his sitter. From then on it we upped our game, and just stole the heart out the Huddesfield team. As many have said we were lucky to go in at 0-0, even luckier not to be down 1-0 just after the restart, and Hughes really did make all the difference. 3-0 flattered us big style.
[/quote]

I would dispute that I am being generous because although Huddersfield pretty much ran the opening 50 minutes they never really managed to hurt us. Forster only had one save of note to make. After we scored they noticeably ran out of steam and I don''t think anybody could argue with the fact that we finished far the stronger team in the final 20 minutes. Apart from the goals there were several other decent opportunities which we squandered and it was pretty much one way traffic towards the end. On that basis I contend that we were worthy winners.

[/quote]

I agree. I''ve said before that I don''t see Huddersfield as a team we should be truly worried about in our bid to gain promotion and I think yesterday showed that. For all of their decent play in the first half when we stepped it up in the second we were too good for them.

There''s a reason why we''re ahead of them in the league despite our dodgy start to the season.

 

[Robert N. LiM 4,342]

We were very poor in the first half and they played very well.They created one good chance in that 45 mins, which Forster saved very well.In the second half we played very well and they flagged.We scored three, had one disallowed for offside and Martin missed an absolute sitter.I think 3-0 flattered us a little, but I also think, for the reasons above, that we deserved to win the game.

[Boyo 0]

[quote user="Old Boy"]Russell was great, Martin was good, but Russell Martin was terrible. He looked at sea and nervy, always out of position and making wrong decisions. And Nelson was dreadful by and large, with a few bright moments. Both he and R Martin did their best to give the opposition 1-on-1s with Forster. In the second half things were better because the midfield started closing down. But those two are the weak links, compared to Spillane at RB and Askou at CB. Adeyemi looked like a boy in a man''s game, which Smith has never looked. Hughes was an improvement for sure, but that wasn''t the big difference IMO - we just got in their face more in the second half.
[/quote]

100% agree with that.  I would rather have Otsemobor at RB than R.Martin.  Also we must have a young CB who can do a better job than Nelson if ever Askou or Doherty get injured.

[kdncfc 0]

The only reason Huddersfield looked so good in the first half was because we stood back and watched them play, as soon as we woke up in the second half we were far to good for them. They do seem to move the ball around quicker than any other side we have faced but in truth if we were on our game in the first half as much as the second we''d have won 5 or 6 nil. I personally don''t thnk 3-0 flattered us at all because we caused them far more problems during our dominance in the second period than they had caused us in the first. I thought Brighton looked more dangerous in the first 20 minutes when we played them than Huddersfield did at any time yesterday.

[Bogbrush 0]

[quote user="kdncfc"]The only reason Huddersfield looked so good in the first half was because we stood back and watched them play, as soon as we woke up in the second half we were far to good for them. They do seem to move the ball around quicker than any other side we have faced but in truth if we were on our game in the first half as much as the second we''d have won 5 or 6 nil. I personally don''t thnk 3-0 flattered us at all because we caused them far more problems during our dominance in the second period than they had caused us in the first. I thought Brighton looked more dangerous in the first 20 minutes when we played them than Huddersfield did at any time yesterday.[/quote]

We stood back in the first half and watched the other teams play at Southampton (twice), at yeovil and again at home to Huddersfield. The difference yesterday was that Huddersfield failed to take advantage of our apathy but in the other 3 games we gave the other side a goal start and then had to claw back. Why can''t Lambert get the players "up" from the start of the game i.e. re the last 4 matches ?

[Tangible Fixed Assets anyone? 0]

Excellent report Ricardo.

Merry Xmas!