Playing out from the back

Is there ever going to be a traditional goalkeeper again? Or does every keeper have to be better with their feet than their hands?
Football is constantly evolving and the philosophies that the top teams impose ultimately make their way down the footballing pyramid. Pep Guardiola likes his teams to play out from the back especially using the keeper. Joe Hart was a victim to this when Pep first took over at City. A brilliant shot-stopper in his day, but not as great with his feet, which is why Guardiola signed Bravo. He knew the Chilean would concede more than Englishman, but it is what he added in the build-up play that Pep saw to be so vital.

In Town's case

In Huddersfield's 4-3 defeat at Stoke, Town made 2 errors as a result of playing it out from the back. Veteran defender Richard Steerman gifted the home side possession which resulted in a big chance and Joel Pereira misplaced his pass to Richard Steerman which resulted in the third Stoke goal. I think there is a time and a place for playing out from the back, but when you are being pressed in your box and you're the keeper, that's when you need to clear it up the field.
Joel Pereira recorded a 91% pass completion, which was the joint-most on the field with Jonathon Hogg and he made 44 passes, which was more than any Stoke player. Only 4 were long balls though - in my opinion, this is what caused the defeat. You could blame it all on the keeper, but maybe we should be questioning why the defence is not moving the ball out and giving it back to Joel.
I also think you have to remember that when players are making this amount of passes in a game they are bound to misplace at least one pass and when that pass is misplaced in the defensive third, nine times out of ten it results in a chance. So although it is good to have possession, you firstly need to convert that into chances - something Town doesn't do enough and then if you don't you are holding the ball in the middle third or your defensive third of the pitch and running the risk of being pressed, giving the ball away and giving the opposition a chance.
As you will see below in the pass map, Joel takes 40 short passes and most of those are inside the Town box. He only took one goal kick which went long and the two long kicks that took place outside the box were taken in injury time, as Town tried to get a late equaliser. For me, he should have attempted more long passes, something Ben Hamer does often when he is in goal.

Taken from Whoscored. Joel Pereira's short pass map against Stoke.

Taken from Whoscored. Joel Pereira's long pass map against Stoke.

Pereira's performance yesterday

I don't think it will be a debut to remember for Portuguese 'keeper, but I did see some positives in his performance. He was quick off his line on several occasions to claim a loose ball and he did make some good stops on what was a very slippery pitch, but this still wasn't good enough in my opinion. I always try to stay positive when writing about players, but the mistake for the third goal along with the ball going under him for the second and then waving his hands at the fourth cost us. Something else I noticed is that Joel made a lot of short passes, Hamer, on the other hand, likes to make more long passes and while I think Joel is not good enough for Town, he is more a natural sweeper-keeper and more comfortable playing out from the back then Ben Hamer is.

Who starts on Tuesday

I would like to see Ryan Schofield be given a chance on Tuesday, as when he played against Middlesbrough last season he was very good and after Pereira's performance against Stoke, I would play the former England Youth international. Although this will likely depend on whether Ryan Schofield is at a high enough level of match fitness as he is still recovering from a thumb injury.

It has not all been bad

It may seem like playing out from the back is useless and just causing us issues after yesterday, but remember Town have scored some cracking team goals this season and they have included play with the keeper. Town are bound to make mistakes every now and then using this system. Bacuna's goal against Derby was an example of how good we can be when playing out from the back. As fans, we need to trust the process and the groundworks that Carlos Corberan is laying at Town as I believe there is a clear system that he is implementing, something I don't think I have seen at Town since Wagner got us promoted in 2017.