Well. Bloody hell. I don't think you'll find a game that suits the phrase "a game of two halves" more than this one (except for possibly the Cardiff game). Adams got it wrong with the initial team selection. I know they won the week before, but this was a Huddersfield team that sat back and were content with the point unlike Wigan were last week. First half was appalling. We lacked width enormously and the build-up play was incredibly slow and drab. But fair play to Adams. The game was crying out for Nathan Redmond and he obliged. Redmond's impact completely changed the game, and in the end we could've had 7 or 8. That second half was arguably our best performance of the season for me, and let's now hope we can push on from this.
Player Ratings:
Ruddy - 8. Made some absolutely top drawer saves, that kept us in the game at times. The one from Wells in the first half (even though Wells clearly handballed it),and made 2 excellent saves in the second half as well that were heading into the top corner.
Whittaker - 5. Absolutely f*cking appalling first half. Gave the ball away every time he got it and was caught out of position all the time. Did improve slightly second half but on the whole was very poor (again).
Martin - 7. Very solid performance from Rus. Relatively comfortable in the air, good in possession, and seemingly has a good understanding with Cuellar. Did get caught out a couple of times but on the whole he was impressive.
Cuellar - 8. Had Holty in his pocket for pretty much the whole game. Similarly to Rus he was great in the air, and comfortable in possession. Very good at reading the game as well.
Olsson - 7. Didn't think he got forward as much as usual. However he did whip in a great cross for Redmond's goal, and he was defensively solid, keeping Scannell pretty quiet.
Howson - 7. Pretty relaxed in the centre of midfield. Didn't attack as much as he usually does, and I also didn't think he was great in the first half, but he looked much more comfortable second half, and was influential in the first goal.
O'Neil - 6. I like the fact that he keeps things simple on the ball, and he rarely gives it away. However he kept it almost too simple at times. He was often reluctant to cross the ball, and moved it around quite slowly. We certainly improved after he came off.
Tettey - 7. Like most of the team, he was far too lackadaisical on the ball first half. Much improved in the second, battled hard in midfield, and a lot of our play went through him.
Johnson - 9. Man of the match for me. I was impressed with him first half as well, but second he was particularly good. 2 well taken goals, confident on the ball, whipped in some good crosses, made some very good challenges, and in general was superb.
Jerome - 7. Hold up play and aerial ability was great as always. Scored a good goal and should've had another when his shot from Redmond's pull back was saved.
Hooper - 7. Missed a sitter in the first half, but as usual his link-up play with the midfield was superb, and he showed a very good understanding with Nathan Redmond. He also got 2 assists.
Subs:
Redmond - 9. Completely changed the game when he came on. Destroyed the Huddersfield left back, gave us a real option down the right hand side, and scored a very good header. If he had a point to prove he definitely proved it.
Hoolahan - 8. Brilliant to see him back again. Great through ball to Grabban for his goal, and so effortlessly beats players when on the ball.
Grabban - 7. Took his goal really well and in general looked very good on the ball. Worked hard and was a real threat.
The first half was quite frankly atrocious. We started relatively well but that soon fizzled out we were actually on the back foot a little bit up until the sending off. Once they go down to 10 men you expect us to push on a little bit and really have a go at them. But in the first half we never really did this, and instead were sort of knocking the ball neatly around the back and midfield, with no particular urgency. We would get into good crossing/shooting positions yet instead we would keep playing the short pass, trying to walk the ball in. We massively lacked any sort of width and the change to bring on Redmond was blatantly obvious. Fair play though to Adams, who did make the change, and it completely turned the game around. It wasn't just Redmond's injection of pace, but it was the fact that with proper wingers it created much more space in the middle of the park, particularly with Huddersfield down to 10. This meant that Howson and Tettey had a lot more time to pick the right passes, which immediately showed when Howson played the ball into Jerome, who touched to Hooper to pull back to Johnson for the first goal. I'm delighted for Redmond to get that goal. It was clearly playing on his mind, and it must be a huge weight off his shoulders. There was a spell when we were 3-0 up where we inviting pressure on a bit too much, and I thought that it was only a matter of time until they scored. Yet we remained pretty solid defensively, and Ruddy also played his part to keep a clean sheet. But once Jerome got the 4th Huddersfield clearly gave up, and by the end I was actually a little bit miffed we didn't get more than 5.
It was great to see Holty back at Carrow Road. There were some typical Grant Holt moments in there, that we saw plenty of times over the 4 years he was here. The most obvious being when he just shoved Martin Olsson to the ground, and somehow the ref didn't give a foul. He worked hard as usual, and it was difficult for him being the lone striker. However though Carlos Cuellar had complete control over him for pretty much 90 minutes.
I'm still not completely convinced with us despite the emphatic nature of our win today. We do certainly seem more solid defensively though since Phelan came in. You do have to wonder whether it's a coincidence that he's been in the job for 2 full weeks, and in that time we've got 2 wins and kept 2 clean sheets. I don't really care though who's responsible for it, whether it be Adams or Phelan, as long as we keep winning. It is essential now though that we push on from this. Derby away next is a very tricky game, and to be honest I'd take a point now. Although after their result yesterday we might even have a good chance of winning, which we wouldn't of done just a couple of weeks ago. I'd be amazed if Redmond doesn't feature from the start next game, and if he doesn't then Adams has a lot to answer for. As I said, I'm still not convinced, as all we've done is narrowly beat a team in the bottom 3, and win at home to a team who had 10 men for most of the game. The signs though are very promising, and let's just hope that this is now and end to that poor run.
It's still incredibly tight at the top of the table. We may be outside the play-off places, but we're only 6 points off the top of the table. Now that one or two of our injured players are returning, if we can really put a run together we could easily get back into the automatic promotion places in the next few weeks. Plus the club have said that there will be money to spend in January. If we could spend that wisely, and keep hold of the likes of Hooper and Redmond, then we're onto a winner. Obviously it's only 2 wins though, so let's not get ahead of ourselves.
