Even this drab draw highlights Town progress David Hartrick
Carlos Corberan’s men started the game as favourites and Birmingham certainly played them as such. They will have to get used to more sides coming to the John Smith’s Stadium and playing that way this season. We’re more than a quarter of the way into the Championship campaign now, we’re past the point of thinking this good start has happened by accident.
There are other games where we can talk about not scoring, but there are also other games where Town won’t face a line of five with two midfielders on cover just ahead of it. What we have to accept and enjoy is that as things stand Huddersfield Town are the sixth best team in the Championship this season on merit.
Our mantra remains midtable represents progress and would be more than acceptable. Facts are presenting us with a play-off challenge right now. We don’t know if they can sustain it, but a drab game when you’re sixth from the top feels a hell of a lot better than a drab game when you’re sixth from the bottom.
WE’VE written about Lees and his impact since coming in. With free transfers we often judge them on whether if the player involved were sold tomorrow would you make a profit? If Town put Lees up for sale right now they could expect at least £1m. Not a bad return.
There are the things you can see just by watching him - the movement, the intelligence, the sense of calm. Matty Pearson looks better next to Lees. Levi Colwill looks better next to Lees. Naby Sarr looks better next to Lees. None of these things are coincidences.
But there are also things that when you start digging into the statistics begin to show you just how big an impact he has on this side.
On Wednesday he touched the ball 94 times - more than anyone else on the pitch. That is a huge influence. Context, that’s 31 more than Levi Colwill and 34 more than Jonathan Hogg. There are central defenders in this league who won’t touch the ball 94 times in three halves of football.
It’s not his best either, he had 128 touches in the Nottingham Forest game, the fourth-highest by any defender in the Championship this season. What’s impressive is from that time on the ball he produced 72 passes at a success rate of 83.7 per cent (in that Forest game it was 112 at a staggering 91.pc) and he’s not always playing the simple balls. Three times in the first half alone he took responsibility and carried the ball out of defence and played through the lines to Sorba Thomas and Harry Toffolo out wide. It’s getting difficult to find new ways to say what a difference he makes to Town’s defence. Hats off to the recruitment department for this one.
What we have to enjoy is that as things stand Town are the sixth best team in the Championship
on merit
LET’S be honest here, Town’s fundamental issue for the last three