Town’s Manager reacts to the 5-0 loss
Huddersfield Town Manager Chris Powell was very disappointed with the second-half performance from his 10 men in today’s heavy defeat at Norwich City.
Town started the game at Carrow Road in decent fashion and created the first real scoring opportunity through Nahki Wells, who hit the crossbar.
“That’s the way it’s been going for Nahki recently,” Powell admitted post-match. “The ‘keeper made the save and then he hit the bar with the rebound and you just want it to go in.
“Especially away from home, that would have given us a real chance to get a foothold in the game. We haven’t been great away and we were willing it to go in.”
Shortly after that chance, Murray Wallace was shown a straight red card for a foul on Cameron Jerome that denied a clear goal-scoring opportunity.
Chris continued: “It was the correct decision. You don’t want it to be a red card when it happens, but looking back we know that we didn’t deal with the first bouncing ball. Murray was on the cover and didn’t make it; he was the last man, so it’s quite a straightforward decision for the referee.”
Conor Coady dropped into centre back and helped the Terriers get to the interval on level terms.
“Conor did very well, as he did in similar circumstances filling in against Charlton earlier in the season. That left Nahki sharing a job out of position with Grant on the left and we knew they would have more ball possession and really attack us, but we held out until half-time. We rode our luck once or twice, but we needed to get in at half-time to reorganise.
“We even had one or two melees in the box, but it just wasn’t to be.”
Powell made a change during the interval, replacing Nahki Wells with Paul Dixon – a decision he explained after the game:
“We tried to settle them down and then get into a shape that would help us, but sadly it didn’t.
“We wanted to firm it up at the back. I know I have Anthony Gerrard who can play in the centre, but I wanted a balance and we’d second-guessed that Nathan Redmond would come on. We knew Nahki was playing out of position and we felt we could relieve that pressure somewhat.
“It didn’t work. Sometimes you gamble and they come off for you and sometimes they don’t. Even though we put an extra man in defence - we went with a back four when Murray went off – it didn’t happen for us.”
Powell put today’s defeat down to a terrible start to the second 45 minutes at Carrow Road that saw his side ship three goals in the opening six minutes.
“If you start any game like we did the second-half, you won’t get anything from any game at any level. We didn’t give ourselves a chance. After conceding the first you want to bounce back, but to then concede another two in the next five minutes – with 10 men – made for a long afternoon. We didn’t get going and we paid the price.
“We allowed them to do exactly what they wanted, which can’t happen. I’ve told the players that afterwards. Norwich’s players were allowed to pass with ease and run off us. We didn’t stop crosses and you will pay for that at any level, but particularly against a side that has some players of Premier League calibre.”
It looks likely that the Town Manager will be without the services of two centre-halves – the suspended Wallace and injured Joel Lynch – for next weekend’s home game against Birmingham City.
“Anthony Gerrard is ready – and he’ll have to be. I doubt that Joel Lynch will be ready fitness-wise,” Chris explained.
“We now have to look at our team and ourselves and get the balance right, because we’re playing against a Birmingham side that got a good win today. We have to bounce back in a really positive manner in front of our own fans.
“I’m treating this as a one-off, because it hasn’t happened since I’ve been here. I’ll make sure we don’t do that again.”
