Just one of those days, that’s was how assistant boss Chris Hutchings summed up Jay Emmanuel-Thomas’s disappointing display in the Championship opener against Blackburn. However, Paul Jewell’s deputy says the former Arsenal man has shown that when on form he can be a match-winner.
Hutchings says that sometimes it’s more noticeable when a player out wide is having a less than effective game than those in other positions: "These things are going to happen, especially to wide men. When wide men aren’t creating, aren’t contributing much, you think ‘Get him off!’. If he’s a [central] midfielder and he’s still going around competing, you don’t notice it so much.
"He had one of those games on Saturday where it didn’t quite work for him, but we’ve seen on numerous occasions that when he’s on form he’s a match-winner for us.
"We give him all the confidence that we can, but we have to accept that sometimes [it won't be his day]. We had to make a change for the good of the team and it worked.”
The former Chelsea full-back was pleased with Josh Carson’s contribution on the other flank: "Josh worked extremely hard defensively.
"Sometimes I look at it and I don’t think we can have two out-and-out wingers, especially with the two central midfielders that we have.
"JET’s a little bit more forward-thinking than Josh is, although Josh can work hard getting up and down, so we have to try in certain areas to be a little bit more compact and not susceptible to the counter-attack.”
Luke Hyam also impressed Hutchings: "Luke did very well, we know what he can do. He played very simply and that’s what we’re trying to get him to do.
"We’d like him to switch play a little bit better than he does, the same with Mass, the same with Andy Drury, but we’re working on those things.
"I was very pleased for him because he is a good player, that’s why he’s at the football club, that’s why he’s in the starting XI. He’s keeping other people out and he’s got to maintain that form to stay in.
"When I was at Chelsea I was told that to get in the first team I had to train every day to the best of my ability and then play to the best of my ability in the games to make sure I stayed in the team. And that goes for anyone.”
He says Hyam will get better the more he plays: "He’s getting about the pitch a lot better and his understanding of the game [is improving].
"He’s a young lad, he hasn’t had much first team experience, so his knowledge of knowing where to be at the right times is getting better.
"He’ll probably be the first to admit that when he makes bad passes, he beats himself up. Everyone makes bad passes, it’s a matter of how you deal with that. It’s not all about going into your shell and sometimes you can try too hard.
"It’s about finding that happy medium of keeping things simple, keeping it moving, keeping doing the things that you’re good at. Don’t try and do too many things that you’re not good at. That’s what football people notice - doing the simple things well.
"But it’s only one game,” he added. "He’s got to continue. Same with JET, it’s only one game. If he has three of them on the trot, he’s not going to be in the starting line-up, that’s how it is.”
Emmanuel-Thomas scored and was one of Town's top performers in the 2-1 loss at Vicarage Road in March and Hutchings is looking for a similar performance this evening: "If we’d taken our chances at Watford [last season] it would have been a different result.
"If he’s in the starting XI, he’s going to go out with something to prove after Saturday.”