Johnson and Huddlestone

[Mafiabob]

Immaculate.

Johnson has finally found that Johnson who used to bully, harass and do all the simple things well, and took a great yellow, what he did at Leeds and Norwich.

Huddlestone was beautiful... did things needed to do.

Thought they broke up play well tonight. 

[Sith Happens]

4 minutes ago, Mafiabob said:

Immaculate.

Johnson has finally found that Johnson who used to bully, harass and do all the simple things well, and took a great yellow, what he did at Leeds and Norwich.

Huddlestone was beautiful... did things needed to do.

Thought they broke up play well tonight. 

First half especially both played some superb balls. Totally agree both were excellent. 

[MackworthRamIsGod]

I thought Huddlestone started a bit sloppy, then he found Forsyth with a world class pass which Forsyth immaculately crossed for Jerome to head with precision.

After that Huddlestone was sheer class.

[Zag zig]

I’ve always been a Johnson cheerleader for his battling abilities, he adds steel without always being effective on the ball and his critics are quick to jump on that.

You’re right though this combination seems to suit as he gets forward a bit odd times, but his passing has gone up a notch of late too. Maybe Hudds just suits him in the centre.

Was a tough call between him and Curtis for M.o.t.m but keeping Mitrovic quiet shades it. Still think Johnson is looking more like the player we paid a lot of money for and unlike some he still looked very strong at the end. Holding that middle ground will be key on Monday.

[EnigmaRam]

Johnson gets the rough end of the stick if you ask me. I guess some people need a scapegoat though and a couple of wayward passes justifies that...........for some at least!

[Shaftesbury st]

26 minutes ago, Mafiabob said:

Immaculate.

Johnson has finally found that Johnson who used to bully, harass and do all the simple things well, and took a great yellow, what he did at Leeds and Norwich.

Huddlestone was beautiful... did things needed to do.

Thought they broke up play well tonight. 

Johnson was immense as was Davies, Wisdom spot on too. Need to keep this going and get at them Monday and take our chances. 

Vydra was poor I thought and Lawrence quality with the final ball was shocking so if them two can get better we really do have a chance 

[SaintRam]

4 minutes ago, Shaftesbury st said:

Johnson was immense as was Davies, Wisdom spot on too. Need to keep this going and get at them Monday and take our chances. 

Vydra was poor I thought and Lawrence quality with the final ball was shocking so if them two can get better we really do have a chance 

Vydra completely commits himself if there's even a sniff of someone being able to play him in behind - full sprint. He's always knackered pretty early on when he starts games. I genuinely think he (and by extension, we)'s better when he comes off the bench.

[Derby blood]

I also thought Johnson and Huddlestone where very good tonight, love the way Johhno gets in the faces of the other team, some of Toms passes where spot on, also thought Johhno played a few nice passes as well, in fact the last 4 games these two have made a massive difference, think Gary now has a very good balance in his first 11.

[Comrade 86]

Great post. We were under the cosh at times tonight for sure but we've also got some key players finding a rich vein of form at precisely the right time. Some posters on the match thread have argued that it's advantage to Fulham but I just can't see that. They won't be looking forward to playing us on Monday, I'm pretty sure of that and all the pressure is now on them to deliver a performance they couldn't and didn't tonight.

[Bris Vegas]

Huddlestone was fantastic on the ball. Disagree out of possession though, both far too slow and don’t press enough.

With more mobile holding midfielders we’d be a much bigger threat as we could overturn the ball more.

The only time we really overturned possession was the CBs making a tackle and the holding midfielders picking up the scraps or Fulham misplacing a pass.

Bradley Johnson for instance made zero tackles, and five fouls. Means he can’t press well and when he does he commits fouls.

 

[Alph]

I thought Huddlestone was very good. Passing showreel.

Johnson I thought was alright. But that's it. I think he gets praise for doing stuff he should do anyway but doesn't. Like passing to one of our players.

Last night he hit some awful passes where there was no need for them to leave the floor. 

Thought the real hero was Davies. A lot of Fulham passes came through our midfield for Mitrovic to take and wait for runners. But before the runners could even test our concentration Curtis Davies was there to mop up Mitrovic. 

And the flanks were well defended too. 

As team our shape was spot on. 

Most the good stuff on the ball came from Huddlestone. He found Forsyth for the goal. Many were quite wasteful when Fulham had committed.  

[r4derby]

4 hours ago, Bris Vegas said:

Huddlestone was fantastic on the ball. Disagree out of possession though, both far too slow and don’t press enough.

With more mobile holding midfielders we’d be a much bigger threat as we could overturn the ball more.

The only time we really overturned possession was the CBs making a tackle and the holding midfielders picking up the scraps or Fulham misplacing a pass.

Bradley Johnson for instance made zero tackles, and five fouls. Means he can’t press well and when he does he commits fouls.

 

This seemed to be a team thing. The majority didn’t press Fulham until they crossed the half way line, and then started pressing. I guess the idea was for the forwards to press first, while Brad and Tom Boy sit and patiently wait to pick up the midfield runner and help with Mitro.

It was a tad frustrating at times, as I agree they looked like they weren’t pressing as much as we wanted, almost giving Fulham too much respect.

[r4derby]

Thought there were a lot of 7 and 8 out of 10s. Bradley and Tom did excellent in the middle. The right side of defence was rock solid all night, Keogh and Wisdom worked really well and Curtis was brilliant. Lawrence had one of his most influential games. Really wanted the ball every time it was near him. Weimann played well. Vydra didn’t offer as much as when he’s come on against tired back line in second half recently, and Jerome looked sluggish at times, poor movement too often

[Comrade 86]

Maybe I don't see the nuances that confirmed students of the game do but I thought Johnson was immense again last night. He's not and never will be a technical player like Huddz who was sublime in his vision and passing, but by god he can be a nasty ****** to play against and he'd run through walls for the team right now. He does a lot of the spadework that gets less attention, I suppose, than the 'creative' players but I sure as **** wouldn't want to line up against him in his present state of mind. Man's a beast and he's our beast to boot! I'm massively chuffed to see both him and Fozzy showing something like what we know they are capable of and some of the kudos for that must go to GR too. We're running into form again and nobody will be wanting to play us much, which I rather like ?

[Shaftesbury st]

8 hours ago, SaintRam said:

Vydra completely commits himself if there's even a sniff of someone being able to play him in behind - full sprint. He's always knackered pretty early on when he starts games. I genuinely think he (and by extension, we)'s better when he comes off the bench.

His body language at times just does not look good, take out his willingness to get on the end of something and there’s not much else to defend him for. When we haven’t got the ball he is anonymous and we can’t afford that against Fulham so you are right in saying he needs to come off the bench 

[Comrade 86]

4 minutes ago, Shaftesbury st said:

His body language at times just does not look good, take out his willingness to get on the end of something and there’s not much else to defend him for. When we haven’t got the ball he is anonymous and we can’t afford that against Fulham so you are right in saying he needs to come off the bench 

I kind of get what you're saying but there is the small matter of 21 goals we can defend him with, no? As for his demeanour, Chris Martin and Tom Ince were the same and I'd like to think their frustration is a positive expectation more than anything, though I have myself moaned about this before now.

[Mafiabob]

8 hours ago, Bris Vegas said:

Huddlestone was fantastic on the ball. Disagree out of possession though, both far too slow and don’t press enough.

With more mobile holding midfielders we’d be a much bigger threat as we could overturn the ball more.

The only time we really overturned possession was the CBs making a tackle and the holding midfielders picking up the scraps or Fulham misplacing a pass.

Bradley Johnson for instance made zero tackles, and five fouls. Means he can’t press well and when he does he commits fouls.

 

Bris, for all your football knowledge and what you think..... I do think you miss two of the most crucial factors of being a fan of a football team is all about...... the emotion and pleasure of just watching..... instead of dissecting every single thing in a game, try and enjoy it

 

[Alph]

5 hours ago, 86 points said:

Maybe I don't see the nuances that confirmed students of the game do but I thought Johnson was immense again last night. He's not and never will be a technical player like Huddz who was sublime in his vision and passing, but by god he can be a nasty ****** to play against and he'd run through walls for the team right now. He does a lot of the spadework that gets less attention, I suppose, than the 'creative' players but I sure as **** wouldn't want to line up against him in his present state of mind. Man's a beast and he's our beast to boot! I'm massively chuffed to see both him and Fozzy showing something like what we know they are capable of and some of the kudos for that must go to GR too. We're running into form again and nobody will be wanting to play us much, which I rather like ?

I'm not sure what Johnson did that was immense mate. I don't remember any tackles. His passing was what I'd expect from anyone else but way better than what he usually produces. He kept shape pretty well and... I can't really say a lot else. 

By his standards i think he was excellent. But if Huddlestone/Ledley put in that performance it would just be alright. 

Huddlestone's passing is way above this level though. If he had legs I wonder who he'd be playing for? His passing opens the pitch up for us. Not even just the Hollywood passes but the clever little moves under pressure. 

[Shipley Ram]

3 minutes ago, Alpha said:

Not even just the Hollywood passes but the clever little moves under pressure. 

Everyone spots the quaterback type passes but he's so impressive when he gets an awkward looped ball to him with two closing him down, and without looking up he finds somone with a first time short pass.

[Comrade 86]

2 hours ago, Alpha said:

I'm not sure what Johnson did that was immense mate. I don't remember any tackles. His passing was what I'd expect from anyone else but way better than what he usually produces. He kept shape pretty well and... I can't really say a lot else. 

By his standards i think he was excellent. But if Huddlestone/Ledley put in that performance it would just be alright. 

Huddlestone's passing is way above this level though. If he had legs I wonder who he'd be playing for? His passing opens the pitch up for us. Not even just the Hollywood passes but the clever little moves under pressure. 

Maybe you're right bud. I dunno. It struck me that he seemed to make them really uncomfortable is all and maybe I'm assigning too much credit to that alone. Johansen and Mitrovic seemed to spend quite a bit of time on their arses and they are players I usually think of as doers not the done to. I'm not overlooking Curtis's efforts as regards the latter either, but between them, every time Mitrovic had the ball played to feet with back to goal he had one of them right up his backside. Players seem to want to unload the ball when Brad's lit up and incoming and while there are stats for tackles made and passes completed and the like, there are none for scaring the crap out of the oppo. He's not afraid to take one for the team too though maybe where he's concerned I just see what I want to see. That said, he's a dog and every team needs one. Even that great Barca team had Macherano who looked pretty ordinary for  the Scousers yet was revered in one of the best club sides ever when all he really did was run around shoeing people ? I'm probably being unfair to him now!

As for Tom, the lad's a prince. Before he game folk were raving about Cairney being Fulham's engine room and everything good being worked through him but I don't see him as being any more influential than Huddz. If he's worth £30 mill then Tom was a bargain at £4,5, in my eyes at least. Of course there's massive bias in my appraisal but I love watching him operate in tight quarters where he always seems to be able to find enough space to complete a pass. To me that's one of the signs of a really top drawer player. His Hollywood stuff, as you rightly put it, is just that. Pure Hollywood. Most players can't even see the passes he does, let alone complete them. I was so happy when it was announced he was coming back to Derby and he's not disappointed one iota. Lad's a Rolls Royce.