Russell making a noise in Terriers’ play-off bid
EVEN the most capable football coaches will tell you there are some things you just cannot teach players regardless of how many hours on the training pitch they might have with them.
Positioning, timing, one v one battles? Yes, yes and yes. But touch, technique and poise under pressure? Early in a player’s career, they either have it or they don’t. And Jon Russell has it in spades.
There was doubt about whether his delicious lob over James Shea against Luton was deliberate or not. It was not apparent either way from the stands. Neither manager was quite sure, either. But having been practically unable to tear our eyes away from the replays, it’s clear as day it was indeed what the big former Chelsea midfielder intended to do.
We never should have had doubts. Russell has shown his lack of experience at times since breaking into the first team in January and did not enjoy his best outings against Millwall, Bournemouth or Hull City, but that’s no crime for a 21-year-old who came into this season with all of 26 senior appearances to his name with League One Accrington.
Look to social media, and you will find one or two fans of the Lancashire outfit who have been surprised at just how well Russell has done in this Town side.
Our sightings of Russell in the B team in the first half of the season left us with doubts as to whether his lack of pace would prevent him from having an impact at Championship level, and Carel Eiting’s arrival on deadline day seemed to offer everything Russell had in terms of class on the ball but with the benefit of more proven experience.
We confess now we were guilty of something we usually try not to do with young players, looking at the shortcomings in his game more than the brilliant upsides, in part because we felt a lot of fans were unfairly pitting those strengths against Scott High - another talented young player we like who supporters have, for some reason, not taken to nearly the same degree. But in sticking up for High, we perhaps ended up doing Russell dirty in much the same way.
Carlos Corberan’s decision to stick with Russell has been more than vindicated, though.
The Championship is made up almost entirely of very talented players with one or two notable flaws in their game, that’s why they’re not Premier League players.
In this division, you don’t need to be particularly quick when you are able to make the ball do the hard yards for you with an excellent range of passing, while Russell’s cool, calm demeanour and physical dominance under pressure allow him to hold challenging opponents off more often than not.
His recent run of more underwhelming performances show areas for improvement in his game, particularly when it comes to correcting positioning against quicker runners off the ball and his mobility when making himself available for passes.
But if Russell can come up with moments of superlative elegance like that anywhere near semi-regularly, he is not just worth abiding with, he is on course to transcend his current cult favourite status and become a key player for years to come.