BFTG - Huddersfield (H)

[The Quiet Man]

Strangely enough not too disappointed with last night. It's clear NA has got his playing style across to the whole squad and if we can get some of the injured back we have the makings of a good team. Hopefully NA will finally abandon the Obita in central midfield idea after last night it doesn't do the player or the team any favours. As at Wigan once Obita went left side we looked a balanced side capable of attacking down either flank. Equally the Cummings Taylor combination was woefully ineffective and defensively suspect.

I'd wish that Ferdinand would be available for Forest as I would prefer Hector in the defensive midfield role as he could go on to be a real monster there with his energy and desire to get forward allied to someone like Norwood or Guthrie spraying the passes. Last night I thought he tried to do too much and was too aggressive in attempting to get the ball for a centre half and it led to a few errors as he tried to force the pace his colleagues in midfield were not achieving.

At the moment we probably have three squad players in Akpan, Taylor and Cummings who will melt away to the bench or on to other clubs as the season progresses and we get some more players back. Blackman is borderline for me in that whatever good he does he promptly undoes it with a piece of shite shortly afterwards and he has too get more consistent with the good stuff or again he will be moving on.

Up front we lack pace and Pog for me looked flat and i'd wonder if 2 games a week will be a bit much for him and Cox reminds me a lot of Noel Hunt as he is all physical effort and doesn't look fully fit.

Kuhl was superb when he came on but we don't need to get too greedy with him as he needs to be blended in rather than play two champ games a week at his age (Tanner also looked good when he came on and could well nail 4th striker coming off the bench with the forwards we currently have) so all in all the peices are coming together for me it will be the fitness or otherwise of key players that will determine how well we do.

[Agent Balti]

Strangely enough not too disappointed with last night. It's clear NA has got his playing style across to the whole squad and if we can get some of the injured back we have the makings of a good team. Hopefully NA will finally abandon the Obita in central midfield idea after last night it doesn't do the player or the team any favours. As at Wigan once Obita went left side we looked a balanced side capable of attacking down either flank. Equally the Cummings Taylor combination was woefully ineffective and defensively suspect.

I'd wish that Ferdinand would be available for Forest as I would prefer Hector in the defensive midfield role as he could go on to be a real monster there with his energy and desire to get forward allied to someone like Norwood or Guthrie spraying the passes. Last night I thought he tried to do too much and was too aggressive in attempting to get the ball for a centre half and it led to a few errors as he tried to force the pace his colleagues in midfield were not achieving.

At the moment we probably have three squad players in Akpan, Taylor and Cummings who will melt away to the bench or on to other clubs as the season progresses and we get some more players back. Blackman is borderline for me in that whatever good he does he promptly undoes it with a piece of shite shortly afterwards and he has too get more consistent with the good stuff or again he will be moving on.

Up front we lack pace and Pog for me looked flat and i'd wonder if 2 games a week will be a bit much for him and Cox reminds me a lot of Noel Hunt as he is all physical effort and doesn't look fully fit.

Kuhl was superb when he came on but we don't need to get too greedy with him as he needs to be blended in rather than play two champ games a week at his age (Tanner also looked good when he came on and could well nail 4th striker coming off the bench with the forwards we currently have) so all in all the peices are coming together for me it will be the fitness or otherwise of key players that will determine how well we do.

100% Agreed, Quiet Man.

[Hoop Blah]

I thought most of the performance was much the same as both Newport and Ipswich games but we got caught out by stupid errors (which was 90% Hector and 10% for Akpan for the first IMO). With the team we have available at the moment expecting much more with that midfield is a little unrealistic.

I'd agree with many that Blackman looked our most dangerous at times but as someone else mentioned, nearly everything he did was for himself or just running at people without actually creating much. He's looking better but his end product is lacking. When Tanner was on the right hand side he showed more ability to actually create things (partly helped by an improvement in the midfield with Kuhl to be fair) by finding space and then making good choices on when to take a man on and when to deliver the ball.

We looked so much better with Obita giving us some natural width on the left and with Kuhl showing what a clever little player he already is. He looked a bit lost to start with as he got used to Huddersfield shape and movement but once he got a few touched and the other players came to trust him he actually looked capable of running the game. For me that was worth losing the game for if it means Adkins can also gain trust in playing the kid. He'll benefit from having somone better than Akpan alongside him but he's got so much potential we need to use him and take the rough with the smooth.

The one thing that really disappointed me in the second half was the amount we went long from the back. I don't want to see us tippy tapping around at the back, and Hectors mistake in the first half that led to goal shows that you can't always play into midfield (especially if you pick the wrong option) but too often we played long channel balls when we didn't need to.

[wingnut]

Long balls were being played into the channels because there was nothing else on. Playing a passing game has to be accompanied with decent movement. We were passing it around the back so much because none of the forward or wide men were offering any sort of outlet.

[LoyalRoyal22]

Played good football in the first half, first time i have seen the team be stubborn enough to ignore our deluded fans and actually enjoy keeping possession. We just didn't have the quality on the pitch to unlock them. Weaknesses were highlighted last night. Hector was outstanding in the first half with his passing, i think him and Akpan should share the blame for the goal, but second half Hector was awful, his head seem to go and he kept smashing the ball aimlessly.

Aaron Kuhl, wow,wow,wow.. what a talent. Reminds me of Pirlo.. If we can get someone decent next to him in CM(Guthrie/Karacan) we could have an awesome midfield. Tanner showed some nice flashes also.

Fed- 6
Gunter- 6
Pearce- 6
Hector- 6
Cummings- 6
Akpan- 5
Obita- 7
Blackman- 6
Cox- 6
Taylor- 5
Pog- 6

Kuhl- 8

[wingnut]

Played good football in the first half

No we didn't. We really didn't.

[melonhead]

Can't help but think all those who praised Saturdays performance (and last nights to a degree) were more concerned with who was playing rather than how they were playing

OR..... we could see, that with the people that we had playing , it was actually a very decent result and performance.

[wingnut]

If a McDermott team had played like last night or Saturday they would've been absolutely sl8ed on here.

[melonhead]

its still being slated on here!

but theyre mostly kids. youre going to get ups and downs, kids are inconsistent.
roll on a fully fit team, and some actual midfielders

[urz13]

I don't think there's many signs of Adkin's style at all unlike what was posted above. Unless the Adkins style is meant to be shit. It was the usual blend of passing it between Pearce and Hector, and occasionally Akpan or Obita, before a long hoof up towards Pogrebynak. Dreadful to watch and we really can't seem to play a passing game at all.

This isn't an attack on the team by the way, of course it's a transitional season but even the shit teams last season like Barnsley played a decent style of football and I would hope Adkins would've achieved it in some respect by now, after a year and a half in charge.

[winchester_royal]

If you listened to Adkins' interview on BBCRB after the game you'll realise that in now way did he send the team out to play like they did in the first half. He wants his players to find that forward ball, but unfortunately either due to lack of vision or lack of movement the current midfield are rarely able of doing that. Hence why he's about to spend >£1m on a midfield player that is able to.

People place too much emphasis on managers these days. At the end of the day it's the players who have to be brave and be able to see and play the pass. There's only so much a manager can do.

[melonhead]

adkins style is apparently* passing turgidly around the back until the oppo pressure us into lumping it






*he wasnt happy with the tempo of our passing and attack, postgame
so think that was down to the players, not him

[melonhead]

Played good football in the first half

No we didn't. We really didn't.

im no negative ninny, but it wasnt good at all.


we tried to play nice football, but failed, and then were undone by two silly mistakes.



that said he is the one playing obita and taylor in teach others positions, and forcing them to play through the most lightweight midfield in this division when they were up against a 5 man oppo midfield.

[Winston Smith]

Aaron Kuhl, wow,wow,wow.. what a talent. Reminds me of Pirlo

can't help but wonder if you are building him up just slightly too much there champ

[Maguire]

Today's performance/result vindicates those that refused to buy into Saturday's post-match hype

There was post-match hype on Saturday?! Everyone I spoke to said it was a turgid game and we were facing a long season ahead.

[Hoop Blah]

Long balls were being played into the channels because there was nothing else on. Playing a passing game has to be accompanied with decent movement. We were passing it around the back so much because none of the forward or wide men were offering any sort of outlet.

To an extent yes, and at times the back four do have to resort to the safe option of doing it. There were plenty of times in the second half where, mainly Hector I think, was going long with aimless balls too often. Perhaps he was reacting to his mistake for the first goal but there were better options and better safe outballs but there was just a spell of it that wasn't very productive.

[PieEater]

apart from the goal I thought Hector has a pretty poor game compared to last weekend and Wells repeatedly beat him and conned him into fouling. He was much more comfortable marking Stead,

[SCIAG]

If a McDermott team had played like last night or Saturday they would've been absolutely sl8ed on here.

I think quite the opposite is true...

If we'd have gone in at 0-0 then everyone would be praising how well we did in the first half. Two defensive errors aside, we kept possession very well, Hector in particular playing some nice passes and Obita keeping it ticking over well. The ridiculous moaning only started after their goal went in, even though the style of play didn't change at all.

The attacking players need to make themselves available for passes more often. If we need to keep using these personnel then I think switching Blackman and Taylor might give us some more natural width, which will give the full backs an out ball and make it easier for us to turn possession into territory.

[Only one Trevor Morley]

I thought that in the first half (and I admit there wasnt much competition) Jake Taylor was our best player. He passed well and rarely gave the ball away, won his tackles, made intelligents runs and was at least trying to play with the level of pace and intenstiy that Adkins likes. His problem is that he lacks presence on the pitch and is often missed by others around him when he makes those runs. He did fade in second half.

So I was impressed with him, although I seem to be very much in the minority on that score.

[Royal Tezza]

A rare visit to the Mad Stad for me with work/saturday football commitments. All the below should be caveated with the fact I haven't watched in a while.

I thought that was a typical tepid home performance against a well-drilled, workmanlike, physical and cynical Northern championship side. I've seen plenty of these over the last few seasons. Huddersfield at least had quality (beyond anything I saw from our side) in Wells, Bunn and the no.10 who seemed to utterly dominate midfield just sat in front of their CBs.

I thought we played with a lot of energy and it was great to see the young lads playing for the first time. As every other oxf*rd has mentioned Kuhl looked very assured when he came on. Hector was a monster physically but a bit raw - knocked a fair few balls out of play.

The main issues in terms of playing style are the lack of ambition in running at defenders. Countless times we saw Huddersfield players dragging our defence and midfield about just by carrying the ball (Number 7 with dreads and Wells in particular). Whether you cut in and try and shoot, run across your own midfield or take your full back on you are creating the space - Mcanuff and Kebe used to be very good at this. Credit to Blackman for trying although his end product is lacking. Huddersfield were made to look well drilled because we didn't give them much to think about in this area, the pattern of play was largely to take a touch and stand still with the thing trying to pick out a pass, and inevitably end of going backwards. I've no qualms about this anid keeping the ball is important, but we need to show much more invention and verve. This is compounded by having no proper wingers and a right footer at left back I guess - think back to how Murty/Little and Shorey/Convey/Hunt used to double up down respective flanks and work a crossing opportunity.

Finally, on Pogbrenyak. I do have sympathy for him because controlling and winning long balls clearly isnt his game. But at the same time, there are plenty of Championship journeyman who are able to do this and serve as an outlet. Jason Roberts in our promotion season would monster centrte halves and win the majority of balls aimlessly knobbed in his direction because he was bigger, stronger, more determined and more wiley than Pog appears to me. There's no shame in having an out-ball, especially in games like this when we weren't able to create anything through pass and move. If that's not Pog's game then perhaps we bring in someone who can do that, link up with runners and bring in the midfield. .