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Huddersfield Town won their opening League One game of the season 3-0 despite playing over an hour with ten men. Wimbledon were dreadful but Town deserve credit for exploiting their opponent’s weaknesses so relentlessly and giving them a torrid afternoon. Prior to the game there were as many reasons to be skeptical as there were to be positive about Huddersfield Town but we were excellent throughout the whole game and set aside many of the doubts in fans’ minds. It’s perhaps a bit early to be getting too carried away after just one game but this match has laid a marker down for the season and given the players a standard that they now have to keep striving for. Here are some of my thoughts on the game… Three great goals Every 3-0 win is going to feel good but the quality of the goals in this game made it even more special. Each had something to really admire about them and are worth taking a closer look at. The first goal only happened because of Joe Taylor’s energetic pressing, which forced an error when Wimbledon were trying to get forward to attack. After snaffling the ball, Taylor made a lovely run forward and played a perfectly weighted pass into Derensili Sanches Fernandes. Our new winger had a lot to do when he received the ball but his movement looked effortless as he glided into the box and smashed the ball straight through their keeper. While we benefitted from some shocking keeping, the power of Fernandes shot helped to expose the keeper’s weakness. Fernandes’ second goal was a bit of individual brilliance but the opportunity only came about because of some really effective passing between Fernandes, Ledson and Bronkhorst. They moved the ball in their little triangle and like a chess grandmaster pulling their opponent into positions they don’t want to get into, some simple passes put Wimbledon into a position where they wanted to avoid, with Fernandes one on one with a defender inside shooting territory. The defender was slow to realise DSF was always wanting to cut onto his left and the pocket of space this allowed was enough for him to unleash a beautiful curling finish to the far corner of the goal. At the point Town scored their third goal, they were actually under a bit of pressure from Wimbledon but an incredible run from Balker down the right saw him burst into the box and cut a pass back for Radulovic to smash into the roof of the net. The credit should go to Balker for his bravery and energy to get so far forward but I really enjoyed Radulovic’s movement to check his run and get himself into the perfect position to finish. I’ve heard people say that Balker’s cut back was too far behind Radulovic but the replay shows that Radulovic had already slowed his run before Balker cut it back to him, suggesting both knew exactly what to do in this situation. Two big decisions There were two “sliding doors” moments involving the referee in this game which had an impact on how the afternoon unfolded. The red card saved Wimbledon from what could have been a significant defeat if Town had kept a full complement of players on the pitch. Then Wimbledon’s disallowed goal stopped them from pulling the game back to 2-1 with plenty of time left to push for more. The red card looked like the right decision in real time, as Mumba flew in recklessly with his studs up and caught his man. The replays make it less certain, as the contact wasn’t all that bad and a more lenient referee could easily have seen it as more of a yellow card offence. My opinion is that Mumba was silly for putting himself in a position where the referee had to make a decision in the first place. I’d also say that Mumba’s heavy touch was the only reason he had to attempt the tackle in the first place, so I’d blame him more for poor control of the ball as much as it was poor control in the tackle. Town fans want to see more passion from their players on the pitch this season and I suppose bookings and red cards are often a byproduct of a more committed approach. That’s not to excuse Mumba’s mistakes in this match but I did feel the rash challenge mostly came about because he was so eager to do the right thing that he did the wrong thing. Whether the red card was the right decision is open to debate but I feel pretty certain that the referee made the right call when disallowing Wimbledon’s goal. It was hard to spot the infringement in the moment but the replays clearly showed that Marcus Browne was challenging for the ball from an offside position. Whether Browne made contact with the ball is irrelevant in this situation as he was obviously interfering with play and Matty Young would have reacted completely differently if he wasn’t trying to cover the possibility of Browne making contact and diverting the trajectory of the ball. (Deren)sili season Anyone that’s shopped on Temu will know the disappointment of something arriving and not being nearly as good as the promotional material. suggested So it was a huge relief to see that Derensili Sanches Fernandes was just as good as his highlight reel when we got to see him in real life. I remember being excited about how good Adama Diakhaby looked from his YouTube clips before his Town performances made it look like he’d won a competition on a cereal box to play with a professional football team. I just loved watching the way Fernandes was driving the ball forward and taking on defenders. The fact that his flair frequently worked towards an end product made it even better. He gave Wimbledon’s back line a torrid afternoon and was a joy to watch from a Town perspective. His performance reminded me of five-a-side games where one team has brought in a ringer on the quiet. Fernandes looked like a player that was stepping down from a higher level of football and having a bit of fun against opponents that weren’t capable of containing him. If Fendandes was our secret weapon in this game, I suspect he’ll not have the same amount of freedom from other teams from now and he’ll be singled out for special attention. It’ll be interesting to see how he responds to being doubled up on and man marked in future games. If he’s dragging out two players to him then his movement should make space for others if he spreads the ball around but having seen his dribbling skill, it’s possible he may prefer to just try and beat everyone who comes near him. After two seasons of mostly playing with wingbacks or wingers with neither speed nor skill, it was a pleasure to see a proper winger playing for Town but it was extra special seeing someone come in and completely boss a game from this area of the pitch. Quality performances across the pitch It would take too long to go into detail about all the great performances we saw from Town players in this game but here’s a quickfire round with each player’s best bits: - Joe Taylor – Worked his socks off and used his pace well to cause Wimbledon problems. Unlucky to be subbed off at half time to allow a change of shape. - Ashley Fletcher – Used his experience and physique well to get into pockets of space and spread the ball around. Looks like a very intelligent player. - Ryan Ledson – Had some positive moments on the ball but shone in his role of protecting the back line and providing leadership on the pitch. - Marcus Harness – A brave selection in central midfield but repaid Drury’s faith in him with a fine performance. He plays central midfield in his own way and against a weaker team that will allow us plenty of time on the ball, he’s a really useful player in this position. - Illias Bronkhorst – Nearly scored an audacious goal from a narrow angle and provided us with good width down his flanks. No concerns defensively and some useful long throws too. - Ibane Bowat – A very solid debut and looked very promising on the left side. He was surely one of the players that played beyond the minutes recommended by the medical team, as he flagged before he was subbed and looked to be limping as he left the field. Hopefully nothing worse than tiredness. - Jack Whatmough – Won a lot of balls and provided a solid base for our defence. I could say nice things about the others but you get the idea. MK Dons are up next Next weekend will bring a different challenge for Town but I suspect that MK Dons will be more worried about us than we’re worried about them. Away from home and against a team that some see as dark horses this season, it’ll be interesting to see if we approach the game with as much attacking intent. I hope we do, even if it carries more risk against a trickier opponent. It’s still early in Martin Drury’s tenure as Huddersfield Town head coach, so we don’t know how much he’ll want to tinker with things from game to game. If he’s like his mentor, Carlos Corberan, we can expect every game to be given its own unique tactical approach. However, even if the formation and system changes, the standards should remain the same every game and this opening game has set a high bar for them to live up to. Hopefully they can keep it up over the course of the season. Any Other Business McGuane tribute – It was a nice gesture from the players to wear a message to Marcus McGuane on their training tops to show their support. The midfielder suffered a season-ending injury in training this week. It was clear from the way that Martin Drury spoke after the game that the whole club have been quite affected by this news and it was the right thing to show him some support. After missing most of last season through injury, it must have been a crushing for him to pick up another serious injury. As frustrating as it is to lose a quality player for the season, it’s hard not to feel sorry for him as a human. Radulovics celebration – What player doesn’t enjoy scoring goals? But if you watch Bojan Radulovic’s celebrations when he scores, it always seems like it means more to him than most players. He was absolutely delighted to open his account with our third goal of the afternoon and hopefully we’ll see that beaming smile plenty more times this season. Here’s a quick summary of his celebrations: - Both index fingers pointing upwards straight after scoring - He then drops one hand to convert this intiial celebration into an Alan Shearer single hand raised celebration - Then he blows kisses to the fans - Followed quickly by making a heart shape with hand - Then a Tim Henman fist pump - A jumping double air punch - A crouching fist shake - Sinking to his knees and hugging a teammate - Which quickly turned into a group hug - And just as it looks like he’s run out celebrations, Radinio Balker comes along and they both do the James Madison darts celebration. I’ve talked about the team setting a high bar for this season but Bojan’s ten different celebrations will really take some topping. New timewasting rules – Every club indulges in the dark arts of timewasting from time to time but most fans hate it. The new directives that have come in this season to speed things up when the game stops seem to be beneficial for the quality of the game as the ball should hopefully be in play more and we see more action. It’s long overdue and if Town really do intend to play front foot, attacking football, they should also benefit from the ball getting back into play quicker. Transfers feel less urgent after this result – It’s brilliant that this result and performance came without this week’s new addition, Archie Collins, featuring at all. He needs a bit of time to get up to speed but it seems like we’re fine while we wait for him to become available. Similarly, our lack of wingers seems less acute when we have the winger we brought in playing so well. Another similar threat for the left wing would be ideal but after such a great start to the season it doesn’t feel quite as pressing as it did a week ago.