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Kevin Nagle responds to Huddersfield fans venting frustrations after defeat to Wigan

Kevin Nagle responds to Huddersfield Town fans who were venting frustrations after suffering a 2-1 defeat to Wigan Athletic.

First-half goals from Dale Taylor and Owen Dale did the job for Wigan, with another dent to Huddersfield’s promotion hopes, with their fans concerned their side could drop out of the League One playoff places.

Huddersfield manager Michael Duff was also shown a yellow card for dissent in the final quarter, leading to more chants from those in the away end.

Huddersfield Town owner and chairman Kevin Nagle tweeted after the game, saying: “Town Supporters, I hear you loud and clear. Trust me.”

Huddersfield Town Head Coach Michael Duff said, per Keighley News: “We had a decent enough team out on paper, but I just think we looked a bit disjointed and maybe lacking a bit of confidence,” he said.

“The best teams suffer from injuries…you’ve only got to look at Manchester City, who have had a lot of injuries – and we’re definitely not Manchester City.

“We just have to keep grafting and we’re still fifth in the league, which is unbelievable really. But we do need a reaction to this, and find something….maybe for a goal to go in off someone’s backside, something like that.

“We need to be better in every department and not be looking for excuses and turning on each other. I need the players to look in the mirror now, because footballers being footballers they blame everyone else and I was one so I can say that.

“There are some good players in the group, but the performances need to be better. I thought the two goals on the night were terrible, I will say that.

“For the first one, we’ve let the ball go under a foot and the second one…there’s three men out there on the touchline, and we’ve allowed the winger to get his cross in.

“That should never happen and, when you add individual mistakes to being disjointed to lots of injuries, it becomes a difficult evening.”

Wigan boss Shaun Maloney said: “The first half was amazing. The fluency of how the team played was as good as anything we’ve produced this season.

“And we were clinical, although I would have loved the game to have been dead by half-time because after 50 minutes, the game was definitely not dead.

“I’ve always felt the performance levels have been there, it’s just been how clinical we’ve been and we did that in the first half.

“We’ve not really had that for a lot of this season, but I do feel the squad is a lot stronger than it was four or five months ago and hopefully the more time these guys spend together, on the training ground and on the pitch, we’ll have more games like that.

“Once they scored there was definitely a 10-minute period when I think the game maybe could have got away from us, so I have to credit the players for that.

“The goal I didn’t like, we tried to fix that problem at half-time and obviously we didn’t, but in fairness to the players, we adapted tactically and how they adapted to that was all on them.

“We gave up the ball in the last 25 minutes, but we defended the space well and the substitutes all came on and made an impact.”

Twitter users gave their reaction as Kevin Nagle responds to Huddersfield fans venting frustrations after defeat to Wigan…

@waynedf1982: So what are the answers? Never seen so many injuries apart from last season 🤣. Does the entire fitness team/analysts need replacing / is it the coaching? No identity or style/ is it the recruitment? Too many same style players. let’s be honest if we did go up we’d need a rebuild

@NicholasBarlow1: @KevinNagleMLS I appreciate what you are trying to do for our club. However, the players recruited aren’t good enough, the injuries are a joke, the football is dire/boring and the atmosphere in the stands toxic. Changes on and off the pitch are needed or the fans won’t renew STs.

@NickShackleton: I’m struggling to name a home game that I have enjoyed this season. As much as it’s a results oriented business, it is also about entertainment. Right now we have neither. We had hundreds of school children in attendance vs Peterborough. After watching that they won’t rush back.

@TealeVroom: Please be aware that those calling for Wagner to be appointed spent much of the time he was at Town calling for him to be sacked.

@TerrierYeadon: Welcome back Kevin. This season is in danger of becoming an anticlimax. We are fast becoming a laughing stock, the club announcer gets released from his duties for some comments but a director of football can offer to take a supporter outside and this goes unpunished. Disgusting

@GraemeWalton7: Not solely Duff’s fault. Recruitment and fitness/medical teams pose more questions than answers.

@HarryUTT1: Full support in you kev you’ve put a lot of money in, it’s just the certain few you’ve employed who can’t do there jobs correctly.

@andyneedham01: Kevin your investment so far is admirable but you are being badly let down. Re-engage someone who understands UK football, a Dave Baldwin character, who can find people to take you forward. Edwards is a good choice for property manager. A sporting director with connections and judgement is fundamental and people who understand the Town and supporters have to be around the club, Andy Hobson & Paul Ramsden are good men and you need those types right now. Good luck.

@MarcusMib: Hi Kevin, I’m pretty certain the majority if not all fans 100% appreciate what you are trying to do, but as a friend of mine (involved with Town a few years ago) said “all well and good having lots of branding but you need the right culture inside and connection to the outside”

@nashiemate: Kev we need to have a long review of everything at the club. We have the foundations. You have provided investment into the club. You have just as much passion for the club as anyone else. We just need improvements. I have faith that you will provide that.

@Holbers88: Take a bow @htafc, you’ve successfully created one of the worst sides we’ve seen here in years. Shameful, pathetic, embarrassing and so much more! Never has there been such a disconnect, and we had Jan Siewert!

@joshuanuttman1: Sack Cartwright then, the fans have been crying out for him to go and identified many of our issues during the window and we’ve been proved right. It’s not the results we’re most angry about it’s that we lose with a whimper rather than a fight and no one’s playing for the badge.

@Scottyryan1981: What’s the plan @KevinNagleMLS? Teams are pulling away and we look like a duck out of water. Each team that has come to the JSS recently have looked head and shoulders above our work rate and ability.

@NobleofLiam: Poor performances are ultimately down to the PLAYERS. Not Duff, not MC, not Nagle etc. Some blame is on them but it’s the players on the pitch, not running, not making simple passes, when there are 3 players there not stopping a cross into the box! Basic stuff! They aren’t playing for the shirt. One or two are, like Kasumu, but he’s that knackered he’s injured himself again. This is the same team that was running for each other and creating chances—just not finishing them. It’s also nearly the same team that, last year, when we got relegated, downed tools and accepted relegation. Injuries or not, wanting to be here or not, the bare minimum for this club is effort. Duff has said it, TC said it in January: effort is non-negotiable. Yes, Cartwright deserves blame for not clearing out enough players and not bringing in the right ones for Duff’s style. Kevin is poorly advised, and I don’t see how he still has a job. Duff sets the tactics, but once the players step over the white line, they forget everything. You can see him fuming on the touchline. They improve in the second half (not hard when they’ve been terrible), but that’s only after he’s torn into them! Duff has somehow got this shambles of a squad to 5th. Just think about that. He barely has a starting XI and we’re still 5th! Maybe his tactics aren’t perfect, but they’ve played well under him before. Remember what Andre said about the club? A shambles. We haven’t cleared out enough players, so the squad defaults to old habits. Some of these players have been through relegation battles over and over again. Some of them are scared to play at home. That’s not on the manager, not on the board—that’s on the players. To fix this, the squad needs GUTTING. We need a new Sporting Director and we need to keep Duff. He’s the right man, but he’s not even boxing with one hand behind his back—he’s in a straight jacket against a prime Mike Tyson! This season is a write-off. If a player doesn’t care, bin them off. Don’t put them in the B team, don’t even let them turn up. You can’t change the culture without a proper clear out Duff has tried, but failed with this lot.

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