Chris reviews the 3-0 defeat at Leeds
Huddersfield Town Manager Chris Powell knows that basic mistakes cost his side dearly in today’s West Yorkshire derby defeat at Leeds United.
“I thought we started off well with regards to our ball retention, but goals change games. Their goals were primarily our own doing. You can’t make basic mistakes like that in any game, let alone a big Yorkshire derby, and they made us pay for them. We shouldn’t be making those at Championship level,” Chris told htafc.com.
“The killer blow was undoubtedly the second goal right on the stroke of half-time. If we went in 1-0 down we were definitely in the game, but 2-0 makes it a tall order.
“We still felt we needed to get the important next goal and we had the impetus and made chances, but we didn’t work their goalkeeper enough or hit the target. You have to do that, because you never know what can happen.
“Sadly for us they broke away again, we made another basic mistake and they killed the game.”
Town were soundly defeated on the afternoon, but Powell says the players had the heart and stomach for the game:
“No team of mine will lack heart and go out onto the pitch not looking to win the game. Emotions run high in games like this – I fully understand that – but there is no way that will happen with this group of players. It’s very easy to talk about heart, but these players will fight to the very end – and they’re going to have to, there’s no two ways about it.”
When asked if he could take any positives from the three goal defeat, Powell only had one:
“Harry Bunn was excellent today – our best player by a country mile. That’s the only positive I can take from today. He destroyed their right back, but we never made it pay by getting on the end of his crosses. When we did, we didn’t hit the target.”
With a week until Town are back in action – Millwall visit the John Smith’s Stadium next Saturday – Powell says it is important to stay positive despite today’s defeat.
“It’s been a big week for me looking at our players in games and the training we’ve done. We have to coach our players and get across exactly what we want. There are one or two things that we need to eradicate quickly if we’re going to move up from where we are at the moment.
“Confidence comes from winning games and getting points. I’ve only had three games, but I want to win every one of them. We have to get ourselves together.
“We have to stay positive and get ourselves going. It’s very easy to be negative and I know results change everyone’s mood, so we have to do our best to change that. I’ll lead from the front, but only they can go out there and do that; they have to go out there and show character.
“We knew it wasn’t going to be an easy season and we have a big job on our hands to move us forward – there’s no hiding from that – but we have to be positive and do our best between now and Millwall at home next weekend to get ourselves right.”
