Searing honesty from Tom Lees and Andre Breitenreiter after Huddersfield Town return to bad Championship ways at Cardiff City

SEARING honesty arrived in the appraisal of Huddersfield Town’s defeat at Cardiff City – when they returned to the bad old days of winter.
Leon Wobschall
By Leon Wobschall
Published 8th Mar 2024, 06:00 BST

After some bouquets in recent times, Town were handed a few brickbats after a poor loss in the Welsh capital, venue of one of their finest hours during last season’s memorable ‘Great Escape.’

Following a revival in the caretaker tenure of Jon Worthington and two uplifting results at the start of the Andre Breitenreiter era, the Terriers suffered a meek 1-0 reverse, which served as a lesson according to senior defender Tom Lees.

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He said: "It's a reminder. When you look at the performances over the last four, five, six to seven games, we've been absolutely at it.

Huddersfield Town's Jack Rudoni and Cardiff City's Ryan Wintle battle for the ball during the Sky Bet Championship match at the Cardiff City Stadium. Picture: David Davies/PA Wire.Huddersfield Town's Jack Rudoni and Cardiff City's Ryan Wintle battle for the ball during the Sky Bet Championship match at the Cardiff City Stadium. Picture: David Davies/PA Wire.
Huddersfield Town's Jack Rudoni and Cardiff City's Ryan Wintle battle for the ball during the Sky Bet Championship match at the Cardiff City Stadium. Picture: David Davies/PA Wire.

"We're not good enough to even drop 10 to 15 per cent and I think that's what we did.

"We're all honest enough to say we were off it and payed the price.

"It was a different task to what we have faced in the last couple of weeks with the way Cardiff set up.

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"Allowing them to score first played exactly into how they wanted the game to be.

"They were a team who sat deep and were happy to let us have the ball and we weren't good enough to break it down.

"We didn't start well enough and have only got ourselves to blame and it was a really frustrating night."

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The result means that Town are out of the relegation positions on goal difference alone.

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They will drop into it before they are next in action at home to Carlos Corberan’s West Brom on Sunday lunch-time if either Sheffield Wednesday or Stoke City pick up a point against Leeds United and Preston North End before then.

Like Lees, Breitenreiter also pulled no punches afterwards.

The German added: "There are reasons why we are 21st in the table and in the last few years nearly the same.

"It is not possible to change things in two weeks. But I learned a lot about the team and observed many things we should change because we are fighting for our lives to stay in the league.

"I could have changed everyone after the first half, it was too slow and it was too easy for Cardiff to create chances."

Related topics:Tom LeesCardiff CityCardiffStoke City