Those slating smith clearly don't realise what he does for the team. If you were actually at the game you would have seen that he got chambers out of the s*** a number of times, covering when he made errors. This sort of thing goes unnoticed but is vitally important. Yes smith makes the odd mistake, but when he does there is no one covering him which makes it look worse than it actually is. In my opinion, he was the better of the two centre halves today.
I really do wonder if some people have watched the same game as I have....

0

Shouldn't we have gone 3-2 up just after they equalized? Chopra missed an absolute sitter in front of goal (against the post). Looked an entertaining game but only again due to our inability to defend once in the lead.

0

No Match programmes for sale in West Stand at half-time - all sold out we were told - and only 16,000+ at the game !
My thanks to the kind lady who came out of the Hospitality area at the end of the game with a handful of programmes and kindly gave me one to read .

0

bluebell32 - agree with you - some of the critism Smith gets from moronic minds is totally unjust.
The lad is still learning his trade, and as Mick Mills rightly said yesterday, he needs a 'commanding / leading' centre back beside him for at least another season or so, i.e someone of the Mowbray, DeVos, MaCauley calibre.
Why our excuse of a Manager has not, or refuses to, recognise this - only he knows, but the fact is he has had ample time, and more, to do something about it.

If you look at the rubbish Smith has had to try and play with - he has done well, so get of his back people.
Jewell has, and continues, to do the lad no favours - Smith shouldn't have to be getting people like Chambers out of the sh#t - he's still very the pupil himself.

Sign that 'leading centre back' Jewell - it seems that only you would have a problem doing so. They are out there, and available - AT THE GOING RATE of course.

0

..... should read 'very much the pupil' .

0

Agreed posts about Smith above, amazing just how many posters who says 'he's just not up to this level' then totally forget or don't want to know the fact that he was quite a few times MOM second half of last season. I do feel he needs a break for a few weeks, hardly had a break during the off season.

0

An exciting match with the draw being a fair result, we had more of the play but Huddersfield looked the more dangerous. I thought the back 4 looked nervous throughout with only Ainsley really impressing, we are still all to easy to score against with just long clearances causing our defence problems although to be honest we've been like that for years!
The 2 goals yesterday yet again came from us giving players too much room and lacking organization. With second goal, Hamill had taken a knock and was slow to get up and our whole team forgot about him as he ran to rejoin the move, I said to Mrs Runaround they forgotten him and five seconds later it was 2-2! If I could see that from SBR lower then surely 1 of our team should have?
On the positive side we put together some good play at times and Taylor showed promise but once again didn't take enough chances although at least they showed the fight they clearly hadn't in previous 2 matches.
You can see what Jewell is trying to achieve with a younger, hungry team with energy and good passing however its still obviously we need further defenders and a real organizer in there. If Jewell can get one we could challenge top 10, without it we're only a couple of injuries way from struggle

0

My first game of the season but not my last!, being a resident of Yorkshire I was down for the weekend, thought I would look at individuals, some of whom I have now seen in action for the first time.

Loach - My MOM for not just the penalty save, but also a couple of good stops from a very lively Vaughan. Unsighted for the first goal and exposed for the second. I have to say I am pleased we have a proper number 1 at last.

Ainsley - Played in his proper position and did not look out of place, defensively ok, he also overlapped a few times and put in one peach of a cross, although other crosses were not of that standard.

Cresswell - Nothing to write home about, but then made no errors either.

Smith - Decent in the air, but lacks pace (in common with Ipswich defences of recent years). Did not have a bad game but is he really what we need to do well?

Chambers - Defensively poor, one paced and did not win much at all in the air. Going forward he seemed to win more and obviously in the right place for the goal. Nice to see a "captain" coming to clap fans both before and after the game. Jury out!

Luongo - Very neat and tidy, did not set the world alight but has good ball skills and will be a valuable squad player this year.

Drury - Small flashes of creativity but for me a tad disappointing.

Murphy - Does add something to us, despite his lack of pace he won nearly everything in the air. The only trouble then was that we seemed to play that long ball to his head for every move, in the second half Chopra did start to get some of the flick ons. Reminds me of the Steve Whitton out wide days.

Martin - Hot and cold, is obviously talented but no end product. He was not in position to track back with their Number 11 (who had previously been on the floor) when he set up the Huddersfield 2nd.

Chopra - Ran his socks off, the first half was not really in the game but in the second much better. Comes alive in the box and always likely to score, I would love to see him with a big partner.

Taylor - Looks a good signing, skilful on the ball, bursts of acceleration stunning and definitely a great acquisition - I was impressed.

0