Match Report: Huddersfield Town 0-1 Blues
Blues make it 16 unbeaten with a win and a clean sheet at promotion rivals Huddersfield Town thanks to a Keshi Anderson wonderstrike.
Birmingham City completed a league double over fellow promotion contenders Huddersfield Town with a 1-0 win at the John Smith’s Stadium.
Keshi Anderson proved the difference, scoring one of the goals of the season early in the second half with Blues able to grind things out from thereon.
Davies made two changes from the side that drew away at Wrexham last Thursday. Keshi Anderson and Tomoki Iwata made their first starts after injury, replacing Alfie May and Scott Wright, who both lined up on the bench. New signing Kieran Dowell replaced Lukas Jutkiewicz on the bench.
The first half had a really high tempo to it as far as the energy put in by both sides out of possession and it was Huddersfield that broke first, Ruben Roosken escaping down the left and crossing for Dion Charles to head straight at Ryan Allsop.
Allsop played a key role in build-up for Blues and his long-range passing was on point, sending Ethan Laird in behind with his cross just evading the boot of Jay Stansfield and being turned on target by Lyndon Dykes from a tight angle.
Another move down the right, this time the result of smart play between Laird and Stansfield to send Taylor Gardner-Hickman away, ended with Anderson teeing up Marc Leonard for a shot deflected wide for a corner. At the other end, a corner was cleared as far as Herbie Kane who volleyed wide.
Legs began to tire a little as the half ran on and fewer gambles were being taken. Alex Cochrane’s excellent delivery was headed over by Christoph Klarer at the back post and that was about that.
The second half with similar high energy and Blues made the most of it within five minutes in some style.
Chris Davies’ side recycled possession following a set-piece but couldn’t find connection in the area. Leonard’s cross was cut out and Gardner-Hickman instinctively headed the ball to his left across the edge of the box. Anderson prepared himself to hammer the ball with others around him pensive, he set himself, stepped towards the ball, controlled it on his chest then volleyed a beauty into the top corner past Jacob Chapman.
The hosts tried to get back into the game but early momentum was halted when Charles went down holding his face. He recovered quickly enough. Then Evans spooned an effort over the bar. Gardner-Hickman wasn’t much more accurate at the end with a powerful strike.
And then... nothing really happened. The tempo slowed down. Huddersfield went more direct. Blues dealt with things but legs were tiring. There was a lengthy stoppage after Jonathan Hogg put in a challenge on Iwata that forced a substitution and another when Dykes caught Tom Lees with his arm.
The fourth official announced ten minutes of injury time and Blues had two early chances. First, Krystian Bieilk intercepted a pass and sent May away only for Radinio Balker to block the effort. From the resulting corner, Leonard found Bielik without the outside of his boot and Bielik used the same part of his anatomy to tee up Dowell for a first-time strike that cleared the crossbar.
Amid all the game management / time wasting (delete as appropriate), the best Huddersfield managed was in the 100th minute when a free-kick was cleared as far as Joe Hodge to volley wide.
Blues move eight points clear of third place Wrexham.
Lineups
Huddersfield
Chapman
Pearson Lees Spencer
Sorensen (Turton 58) Kane (Hodge 58) Hogg Evans Roosken (Koroma 63)
Charles (Radulovic 72) Marshall (Healey 72)
Unused: Nicholls; Balker.
Blues
Allsop
Laird Klarer Davies Cochrane
Iwata (Bielik 79) Leonard
Gardner-Hickman (Hanley 87) Stansfield (Dowell 79) Anderson (Wright 67)
Dykes (May 87)
Unused: Peacock-Farrell; Harris.
Tactics
Chris Davies tweaked things for this game. He pushed Laird and Anderson high and wide. Gardner-Hickman was technically RW but tended to tuck into the middle of midfield to give Laird space and give us an extra body in the centre of the pitch. Dykes and Stansfield played close together. It meant our shape tended to look more like a 3-1-4-2 in possession.
And it worked because Huddersfield were fearless out of possession and went man-for-man. Evans became part of a front three with Marshall and Charles in closing Klarer, Davies and Cochrane with Hogg stepping up high onto Iwata. Kane was responsible for Leonard while Spencer and Roosken would dovetail between Gardner-Hickman and Laird. That left Huddersfield 4v4 at the back with Sorensen watching Anderson and Pearson and Lees being responsible for Dykes and Stansfield.
Their attempts to press, combined with a defence that didn’t want to step too high owing to a lack of speed meant Blues had opportunities to exploit space, as they did in the reverse fixture, when they beat the initial press. And the quality of football meant that this happened on a number of occasions.
Blues were able to accomplish this for the most part in two ways.
1: Playing out, moving wide and playing inside. Klarer and Davies were usually the first players to receive the ball from Allsop and they would look for either the full-back or wide central midfielder on their side (Leonard and Gardner-Hickman would willingly step out wide to receive possession). Because of the fluidity of Blues’ movement, combined with Huddersfield marking men rather than space, we were able to work the ball inside either through a driving run or a pass. This worked particularly well down the right where Gardner-Hickman and Laird worked excellently in making forward runs.
2: Ryan Allsop’s ridiculous long passing. Huddersfield would press so far but would stop at Allsop, meaning the Blues goalkeeper had opportunity to spray passes under very little pressure, if any at all. And he regularly found Laird and Anderson on either side of the pitch, even occasionally capable of finding Dykes and Stansfield in more central areas of the pitch.
Below showcases the Huddersfield press and how they left themselves open. On this occasion, Allsop goes long for Laird, who races in behind and finds Dykes at the back post. You can see in the second screenshot how Huddersfield have left themselves 4v4 in the chase back.
On this occasion, Huddersfield have a spare man defensively because Laird has received in a more defensive position. However, you can see Roosken and Spencer have stepped up onto Gardner-Hickman and Dykes, Kane is following Leonard, Hogg is running back having stepped up onto Iwata. Sorensen has an eye on Anderson on the far side leaving the two centre-backs up against Stansfield. Stansfield is first to the pass and sends Gardner-Hickman away.
One other move that worked really well was playing into Gardner-Hickman who was able to flick the ball around the corner first time of asking into Dykes who could then either hold it or play quickly.
Blues were typically high in their press but with a bit more balance than Huddersfield with a spare man often available to support. Dykes and Stansfield would step onto the centre-backs with Anderson and Gardner-Hickman ready to support when the opportunity arose. However, Anderson had to keep a watchful eye on Sorensen while Gardner-Hickman was busy supporting Leonard and Iwata, watchful of Hogg while Iwata stepped onto Evans and Leonard v Kane. Laird and Cochrane would willingly to step out to the wing-backs if the ball got that far with the other tucking in, allowing Klarer and Davies to sweep up anything moved into the channel.
For Huddersfield, it depended on where they were playing from.
Dead ball situations tended to be chucked long with the aim being to win the seconds, the midfield very quick to step in and get involved leading to a lot of bitty spells, and then look for the ball out wide or in behind.
In general play, they would look to play a little more football. However, they would look for the wide centre-back first rather than trying to play through the centre and look to open up the game. Where possible, they would look to find the feet of the strikers and work off them, but Klarer and Davies were dominant in those duals. Otherwise, playing towards the channels was favoured, particularly with Roosken a willing runner and the midfield sharp to try and get onto seconds.
Davies showed his pragmatism late on by moving to a 5-4-1 shape. Hanley stepped in between Klarer and Davies in defence with Laird and Cochrane at wing-back. Bielik and Leonard sat in the middle, flanked by Wright and Dowell with May leading the line.
Players
Starting from the back and Ryan Allsop’s ability to pass a football is unmatched at this level. Some of the balls for Laird and Anderson were tremendous.
In front of him, Christoph Klarer and Ben Davies were excellent as ever and won almost every battle they had with the Huddersfield strikers, not to mention their reading of the play when needing to cover wide areas.
Laird continued his excellent form and provided great width and balance down the right. On the left, Cochrane was steady if relatively quiet. Iwata showed why we have missed him. His ball retention and reading of play is so important.
Alongside him, I thought Leonard had his best game in a Blues shirt. He had to be the sharpest he’s needed to be and stepped up, with his off ball work just as impressive. For all the concerns about game time this season, it’s easy to forget that he’s not long turned 23 and passed 100 league appearances.
Gardner-Hickman typically did a job for the team. Dykes was similar, taking on much of the physical burden. Anderson scored the goal but generally looked sharp and willing from the left. And I thought Stansfield looked sharper than he has for a period.
For Huddersfield, I thought as a unit they were willing and deserve credit but as individuals, nobody really stood out. That said, Anthony Evans looks a player that could step up physically. He won a few 50-50 battles in the middle and generally looks the part.
The Goal
Just watch it. It’s beautiful.
To be too critical, I’d probably need to see the passage beforehand and how the throw was taken so quickly. Lasse Sorensen is caught ball-watching which is the big killer, albeit he may have also had an eye on Dykes with the ball about to be delivered.
Either way, this is a Blues blog and I’m going to enjoy it.
Conclusions
I’m sticking to my original thoughts on the first half of this game.
It wasn’t necessarily Blues’ best half. It wasn’t the greatest half in terms of chances created and taken. But in terms of the energy, the tempo, the speed at which both sides needed to play to try and implement their games, it was the best half of football I’ve seen in League One this season.
Both sides were at it. And it meant that we had to play sharper than we’ve had to do all season in order to play our game, beat the press and get in behind, which we did brilliantly.
There’s not much more that can be said about Keshi Anderson. The goal is an absolute beauty and to see him return, put in the shift he did for an hour and produce that moment of quality is a testament to him, how hard he has worked and why he has become such a trusted lieutenant this term.
The second half was less enjoyable as a spectacle. Dion Charles going down like he was shot when Huddersfield had their first opportunity to put the ball in the box didn’t help, neither did seven substitution breaks and injuries to Iwata and Lees. It became bitty and both sides were beginning to look spent having put so much into the first hour or so of the match.
We had to dig in and dog it out and we did just that. Davies showed his pragmatic side with late changes. Everybody played their part.
Grant Hanley made his debut and I’m not sure he touched the ball. But it was good to hear Davies talking him up in midweek, stating he “had made us better without kicking a ball, through his behaviours and the way he carries himself”. And it’s no surprise to see Davies speaking highly of such qualities given the importance he places on players that putting in the effort and responding to tactical input.
We had numerous concerns last year with a lack of leadership. Now we have Hanley joining Jutkiewicz, Allsop, May, Anderson, Davies, Dykes, Bielik and Klarer. We have Laird, who both Mowbray and Davies have talked up, while Cochrane, Paik and Iwata appear to be leaders in their actions if not their voices. Davies said in his mid-season review that he has never seen a side collect fewer fines and it’s hardly a surprise when you look at the group we have.
And it’s a big reason as to why we..
are 16 unbeaten in all competitions
are 8 points clear of Wrexham in 3rd with two games in hand
have collected 17 points from 7 matches against the current top 5
are on track to match Reading’s EFL record of 106 points
Chris Davies. Birmingham City. Magnificent performance.
Looking ahead and it’s Rotherham United this weekend. This will be the first of seven consecutive double-game weeks – provided we beat Stevenage in our Vertu Trophy quarter-final this coming midweek. Playing Wrexham on a Thursday is unquestionably helpful.
There has been conversation around when we look to rest players. Technically, the FA Cup is of least importance of the three matches coming up but we also want to play live on TV against Premier League opposition in front of what will likely be a sold-out St.Andrews with our best available side out, so it’s tricky.
I think if changes are made for any game, it will be at Stevenage. If rules allow it, I can see the likes of Sampsted, Hanley, Dowell, Bielik, Wright and Harris all stepping back in to the XI. Not bad when you look at those names, really.
One player who is likely to be missing a couple of weeks is Tomoki Iwata. Jonathan Hogg, a name I’m very familiar with and still hear when somebody slides an easy pass into me when playing five-a-side, was fortunate to stay on the pitch for the challenge. I’m not one to go all in on referees. It is what it is. But it’s always galling when you see one of your players have to go off injured because of such a challenge and you can’t help but wish the appropriate punishment was dished out.
It means we will be forced into one change for the weekend. I'm assuming Dykes starts again because of his height from set-pieces (we are facing a Steve Evans side after all). Gardner-Hickman most likely drops back into midfield meaning Wright or May will start, or perhaps both with Stansfield and Anderson still recovering from previous injury issues. If Wright and Anderson start, it will be the first time we’ve started with two genuine wingers since beating Bolton 2-0 back in October (Anderson and Hansson).
An exciting week ahead. Have a good one all.
KRO.
Nice piece, Ryan. That feels like a very important win. The defence is superb. It's taken a while to get used to this but Davies clearly places great store in it. It isn't boring, it's efficient and effective. To coin a phrase 'we only need one goal '!