Finally back home after Saturday via two messy nights in York and Edinburgh. Brilliant weekend, shame abut the football.
It was a fully deserved win for Huddersfield although the quality on show from both sides was badly lacking. The goal came after Saville, Coady and Doherty all got caught high up the pitch at the same time, Iorfa did all he really could to try and stop the cross with a 2v1 but it ended up bouncing across goal and Wells knocked it in. Pathetic effort by Byrne to try and stop him scoring. Our disallowed goal was right up the other end and I've not seen the highlights yet so I've no idea if it was offside or not but it came after a lovely run and pass by Sigurdarson for Mason to knock it in past Steer. We had a few half chances with Bjorn our main creative threat but most of the big chances fell for them, hitting the post after we let their winger cut inside too easily (a massive problem for us on that left hand side, you think they would've learned their lesson after Craig Noone at Molineux), flashing a shot across goal after weak defending by Rowe & Doherty and then missing when clean through after Danny Batth dawdled on the ball.
The first half was dreadful stuff. Huddersfield passed the ball around, Billing winning it back every time, Batth hoofing the ball all over the shop, Rajiv getting kicked to fuck. A few nice passes and one good run by Bjorn but most of the play was with them, our midfield huffed and puffed but didn't get anywhere near them. In the second half we actually looked like we were building a bit of momentum and had quite a bit of pressure with a series of corners but as is inevitably the case with Wolves this season, as soon as we pushed forwards we got caught on the break and punished. I thought the way we rolled over after their goal was alarming. Almost no pressure or desire to win back a point apart from sending Ikeme up for one poorly taken corner. I took 2 mates to the game, one of whom is a Celtic STH and he was appalled at the standard of football. He was particularly scathing about Danny Batth, Ebanks-Landell and Tommy Rowe.
The fans were quiet in the first half, reflecting the shocking football on display, livened up a bit second half but were at their loudest after Huddersfield scored. The last five minutes was pretty much just 'We're fucking shit', 'We're shit and we know we are' and 'How shit must you be, it's only 1-0' on repeat. There was very nearly a fight near us at the end, one arsehole having a go at a group of lads for telling him to shut up while his young son looked on. The guy who ran on after the disallowed goal was quite funny and did actually rouse the crowd a bit.
Ikeme - 7 - Didn't really have much to do, most of their big chances missed the target and they weren't the type of team to whip crosses in for him to claim. His kicking was fairly shit. Couldn't do anything about the goal.
Iorfa - 6 - I understand the argument about him needing a rest but with our current options at the back that really isn't an option at the moment. I thought he played quite well, certainly didn't do a whole lot wrong and didn't have any help from Rajiv on his side. No frills going forward apart from one nice pass in to Bjorn but I'd rather he just focused on getting back to basics like he did on Sat.
Batth - 2.5 - He's a fucking mess. Hoofing it all over the place, free kicks straight out of play, falling over every time the ball came near him, playing their striker straight in by dawdling on the ball. He's got no awareness of anything going on around him. What the fuck does he think he's doing when he shapes up as if to play some raking through ball only to twat it straight into touch? My mate said he was probably about lower SPL standard if he was lucky. He was pissing himself laughing at our club captain all the way back on the train yesterday and he watches Efe Ambrose, Dedrick Boyata and Tyler Blackett every week. Get him out of the team ASAP. Awful. Just awful.
EEL - 4.5 - Such a stupid defender. No subtlety about this kid whatsoever. Just puts himself through anything that moves in his general vicinity. I've no idea what he thinks he's trying to achieve when he charges out of defence after the ball. He often ends up 15-20 yards ahead of the back 4 he's supposed to be a part of, leaving a gaping hole that none of our players even attempts to fill. Dreadful footballer.
Doherty - 6.5 - It says something that despite not even attempting to stop their winger running amok on our left hand side that he's probably the most assured of his starting role in the back 4. He breaks forward really well and at least tries to pass the ball short, it's just a shame that he can't defend for shit. I'm stopping just shy of saying that he was one of our best players on the day as so many of their best chances came down his side.
Coady - 5 - Just bang average. Did a lot of running while Huddersfield were passing the ball about in front of us. Didn't contribute a thing when we were in possession. They bossed the game and we never really got close to them in the middle of the park. Their 19 year old midfielder making his 4th professional start put both our DM's out of the game. He was completely dominant.
Saville - 5.5 - Pretty similar performance to Coady. Saville at least had a bit of poise about him with the ball at his feet and did actually get forward into positions where he actually had 3 shots. Unfortunately he fluffed them all.
van La Parra - 6.5 - They kicked him up in the air from the first minute and he got no protection at all from the ref. Credit to him for getting up and going again, never stopped trying to make something happen even if it didn't come off. Wasn't getting much help at all from the rest of our midfield so pretty much just tried to take on their whole team on his own.
Mason - 6 - Pretty much what I expected from him when we signed him. He works really hard, looks like a tidy Championship player. Not really a 9 or 10, bit of a jack of all trades, master of none kind of footballer.
Rowe - 4 - So. Fucking. Shit.
Sigurdarson - 7.5 MOTM - Had a really good game. Wins a lot in the air for his size, runs with the ball really well, really cool in possession, has good vision and links play with those around him. Just needs a goal or two to complete his comeback. Unfortunately I can't see where that's going to come from with his supporting cast. Unquestionably a good footballer for this level. If his injuries are under control then we should 100% be offering him a new contract.
Byrne - 5 - Rubbish. Didn't really get in the game.
Kenny - 0 - We went to a team below us in the table who we'd beaten 4-1 & 3-0 in the last two meet ups, played for a draw and got exactly what we deserved. Fuck all. 1 substitution again as well. Can someone please try and explain to me what the fuck his thinking is here? I don't know of another manager in world football who uses subs the way Ken does. If things are going completely wrong from the kick off he's not averse to changing things up at half time (which I think is a positive but is a situation he finds himself in far too regularly) but after that he wont make a sub until 80-85 minutes and even then it'll be like-for-like. A full back for a full back when we're chasing a win (protecting a draw?) or a DM for a DM when we're a goal down. It's as if he sends out a team and then accepts that as a manager he has no control over what happens next and lets them get on with it. I've lost count of the number of times we've started well, either from kick off or after HT, the opposition manager has reacted to us, changed the game in their favour and Ken has just stood there and let it happen. Even commenting on how he felt their changes affected the game in his post match interview. It's just bizarre!