Grant’s on top for two clubs after wonder strike
KARLAN GRANT’S wonder strike against West Ham means he is now top scorer for both Town and Charlton this season.
The 21-year-old joined the Terriers on a three-and-a-half year deal from league One Charlton Athletic at the end of the January transfer window.
The £2m (£1.5m plus add-ons) Town paid for the Englishman already looks a snip as Grant has scored three goals in his first six Premier League games for the Terrers.
In a season where the Terriers have found it difficult to hit the back of a net, that tally is enough to put him joint top scorer alongside centre-back Mathias ‘Zanka’ Jorgensen.
Grant’s proven goal-scoring ability was one of the reasons Jan Siewert wanted to bring him to the John Smith’s Stadium.
In 28 League One games this season he bagged 14 goals meaning, even though he has not been around for Charlton’s last eight league fixtures, he is still their top scorer this season. His old strike partner Lyle Taylor is on 13 goals and will no doubt hope to overtake him soon.
Jan Siewert has been keen not to put too much pressure on the young forward.
After Grant was awarded his first Terriers goal, following the club’s appeal to the Premier League to reverse an own goal decision against Sead Kolasinac, Siewert warned: “It’s not just about Grant, there are other people who have the ability to score and to work. I don’t want this guy under so much pressure, because when you come from League One it’s a big jump, but he has proved it was right to do this jump and we are all helping him.”
If Grant is feeling any pressure he isn’t showing it. His shot the top corner he didn’t look like a man with the weight of the world on his shoulders. YOU can learn lessons in any defeat but in the one Huddersfield Town suffered at West Ham you could learn enough to write a book.
The big one Town’s players will be taking away – and it is one they should already know by this point in a challenging season – is that they must stay switched on for 90 minutes. A dejected Tommy Smith said as much after the match.
Looking from the outside there were a number of things fans could
More than anything Town fans have been desperate for something, anything to cheer in recent weeks. Here they got to see three goals fly in for the first time in more than a year.
Sure, West Ham defended poorly for the first two goals but for once Town were clinical in punishing opposition mistakes.
On top of that, Karlan Grant
It is going to be an important summer for Town. Whether it is through bringing in fresh faces or working with the players that are here, Jan Siewert has a big job on his hands to rebuild a team bereft of confidence and mental toughness after a punishing season.
At 3-1 Town should have been able to close the game out but they never really seemed to believe they were capable.
As soon as O g b o n n a’s header went in you could see the doubt and panic creep in. It is what led to one of the most notorious poachers in world football being left totally unmarked at the back post after a half cleared West Ham corner.
It is what made a succession of Terriers squander a gift of a chance to win it at the end. And it is what
He may have a young team but it is easy to forget that Siewert himself is a young coach. The 36-year-old said after the game that he got is game plan right an it would be hard to disagree with him.
Town harried in defence and looked reasonably solid without their captain and best defender, Christopher Schindler. Up front they were dangerous from set pieces and were clinical enough to take a 3-1 lead.
In the last 30 minutes Siewert brought off arguably his two best players in Karlan Grant and Juninho Bacuna and switched them with Jason Puncheon and Steve Mounie.
The substitutes could not match the industry of their colleagues and did nothing to stem the rising tide of West Ham pressure.
Maybe Grant and Bacuna were starting to tire but these were big decisions from the manager at a key time in the
At 3-1 Town should have been able to close the game out but they never seemed to believe they were
capable