September 2011 Archives

I liked Nat Brown. I was in a minority, I know, but I did. I missed most of the 2002/03 season as I was at university in Norwich, but I did get to see the team a few times - I was still a season ticket holder at that point, and saw probably ten or twelve games. My most vivid memory of Nat Brown playing well is a game at Belle Vue, Doncaster, when he completely marked Leo Fortune-West out of the game, which was no easy feat, he terrorised better defenders than Nat during his career against Town. Towards the end of that game, a Town player gifted a chance to Fortune-West (memory suggests Jon Worthington) who tucked away the chance and Brown's good work was undone. It was a microcosm of his Town career, for me.

So I'm going to put my statistical bent on defending him, hoping the numbers back up my personal defence when I work them out. But first, a few 'facts' about Nat Brown, to get me in the mood.
• He never had a set position when at Town; he was mooted as both centre-forward and centre-back when coming through, and used as either in the first team.
• He played in one of the worst Town teams in recent memory. Players like Kevin Sharp, Scott Bevan, Lee Ashcroft and Kevin Gallacher will never win any Most Popular XI accolades.
• Since leaving Town, Nat averages a goal every 10.82 games; for point of illustration, Peter Clarke's career average is one every 10.48 games.

Just a short post today, with an illustration of how much Town have changed in the last few years and to highlight something I've come to enjoy about Saturday's opponents.

Before my story begins, I want to place the following caveat. I like Leyton Orient; my experiences at Brisbane Road have been positive, their fans seem friendly, and the team have played pretty good football when I've seen them. I see them as one of the better points of League One football, and its well worth a trip as an away fan if you find yourself at a loose end when Town are visiting. There was a time, however, not so long ago, when I was somewhat wary of Leyton Orient, and it was because I found them a little bit spooky.

Are you sitting comfortably? Then I'll begin. Long ago and far away in England, I watched Hartlepool United's run for the League One playoffs with a certain amount of relish, becoming particularly fond of both Joel Porter and Adam Boyd, who paired up for them in attack, and provided many goals for that team. Sadly, the Poolies' run came to an end in the playoff final, and the team was broken up a little, with Boyd moving first to Luton, then to Leyton Orient, where we will pick him up in our story again.

This post has bubbling under my radar since February, when I went to see Town score a frustrating draw at Dagenham. It felt like Town had 75% of the ball, but created chances only as often as Dagenham did - better footballers, but different tactics producing, on this occasion, the same result. I wanted to know if that game was typical at this level. If the length of time teams spend with the ball matters to the result, or whether Dagenham's more direct approach is just as successful.

Clearly, this was something that stretched beyond Huddersfield Town's games to the those of the whole of League One, and I've been collating figures for the first few weeks of this season. My anticipation was that possession probably only really mattered in extreme cases (and there are some extremes - a couple of 70/30s, and there was one 81/19 last season) and there wouldn't be much of a pattern outside of that; a lot of 'smash and grabs', in other words.

What purpose does it serve to know about this? Well, at a very basic level, if teams are generally more successful with more of the ball, then Town's tactic of keeping the ball (averaging 58.33% possession this season, having had more in all games except against Colchester) is more obviously 'going about it the right' way, despite the clogging hoofball that can dictate lower league games, and certainly seems to be a popular opinion of the media about the divisions below the Premiership.