The FA Cup could have provided Huddersfield Town with a welcome diversion from their troubles in the Premier League. Playing a team in a lower division should have allowed an opportunity to express our footballing philosophy and maybe even score a few goals.

The sad truth is that the game at Bristol just highlighted the problems Town have at the moment. Confidence is through the floor, our attacks are predictable and our defence shaky. Despite Jason Puncheon and Jon Stankovic receiving praise from Wagner after the match, I don’t think a single Huddersfield Town player came out of this game with any credit.

The fringe players were universally poor

David Wagner likes to shake his team up for cup competitions, so it’s a chance for players on the edge of the squad to stake a claim for a place in the league starting XI. Absolutely none of the players that came in did anything but confirm that David Wagner has been right to not trust them up go now.

In my last article I described Adama Diakhaby as the second coming of Malvin Kamara, based on the Bristol game I feel like I’ve been unfair to Kamara in making that comparison. There were long spells of the game where I forgot that Diakhaby was even on the pitch, and I’d only be reminded of his presence because he’d be awkwardly pacing around, not sure where he should be stood. I refuse to believe he’s really as bad as he looked in this game, because we spent so much money on him. But he’s currently doing an impressive job of disguising the potential he must have in him somewhere.

Juninho Bacuna was another under performer, with his heavy touches letting him down once more. Based on what I’ve seen of him so far it may be helpful for him to have a spell out on loan in the Championship or League One, so he can get used to playing under pressure.

In goals we had Hamer, who looked nervous at times and could be blamed for getting beaten on his near post for the goal. Lössl doesn’t need to worry about his starting place being under threat in the near future.

In defence of the players I’ve mentioned above, the players that have regularly played in our starting XI were also mostly rubbish. Hoggy looked like he didn’t know what to do when he had the ball, Kachunga and Depoitre both lacked energy, and Durm struggled against opposition that he would expect to boss.

The Championship is a tough league

Some credit should be given to Bristol City, as they did an excellent job of soaking up the little attacking threat we offered, and they caused us problems whenever they went forward. Josh Brownhill showed the only moment of quality in the whole game with his clever turn which took out Hogg and Durm before blasting past Hamer at his near post.

Bristol City are a fairly good barometer for the quality of the Championship generally. They’re a decent side, but far from the best. So it’s slightly concerning that we only managed to muster a single shot all game.

Anyone thinking relegation will mean Town can expect to be a top team in the Championship will be in for a shock, as this game revealed our current team would struggle at that level too. The problems Town are currently dealing with must be resolved before next season starts or we’ll struggle, regardless of what division we’re in.

The last we’ll see of Depoitre?

Being subbed at half time is never a sign you’ve been playing well, and Depoitre endured a fairly miserable 45 minutes before Wagner hooked him. Given that the big Belgian only has six months left on his contract, it makes me wonder whether we’ve seen the last of him in a Huddersfield Town shirt.

Depoitre’s game against Bristol City summed up the flaws he’s been showing in the Premier League too. Tempting balls were put in front of him, but his lack of anticipation or energy meant he was flat footed in the box, rather than attacking the areas the ball was being played into. The service wasn’t always great, but Durm fizzed a perfect ball across the face of goal at one point and Depoitre wasn’t clever enough to be in position to take advantage of what could have been a simple tap in.

Thinking back to the bullying performances he put in last season, it’s hard to ignore the fact that Deptoire’s form has nosedived this season. He’s shown to Town fans already that he can be devastating on his day, but sadly it’s now a long time since he’s had that day. If Town are able to bring in a new striker then it may be a good opportunity for Depoitre to seek a fresh start elsewhere.

#WagnerOut calls intensify

Our losing streak continues to nine games now and inevitably the voices shouting for Wagner to leave have intensified. The performances on the pitch are now as bad as the results, so I can understand the frustrations of fans, even though I don’t agree with the proposed solution.

When things are going wrong it’s easy to look for a scapegoat, but Town’s problems run deeper than the manager, so replacing him now would merely pass the same issues onto someone else. I’d rather give David Wagner longer to try and turn this around, particularly as he’s better qualified to get Town back into the Premier League than any other manager that’s likely to want to come and manage us.

Cardiff is a must-win

The phrase “must-win” is used a great deal in football these days, but Town’s next match against Cardiff is as close as you could get to a must-win at this time of year. While survival will still be unlikely if we win, our season will be almost over if we’re beaten.

Bearing in mind our following games are Man City, Everton, Chelsea and Arsenal, the Cardiff game represents our best chance to break the losing streak for a good while. I can’t say I’m confident we’ll be able to get a win, but I’m hoping we’ll at least put in a better performance than we managed against Bristol City.