Huddersfield Town and Cardiff City played out a drab goalless draw, where there were few chances and the main talking point was Jonathan Hogg’s red card. Before the game it had been billed as the start of our season, but it felt more like a false start.

Here’s my player ratings from the game…

Ben Hamer – N/A

A defensive mixup early on meant he had to rush out and got tangled up with an onrushing Cardiff played. Had to come off injured too early to give him a score for this game.

Terence Kongolo – 8 out of 10

I’ve been critical of Kongolo’s attacking ability when he’s playing as a leftback, but he was great against Cardiff. He made some excellent tackles in defense, but he really shone when going forward and was the only Town player that looked capable of getting through Cardiff’s defensive line. Created several openings and blasted a shot into the side netting.

Christopher Schindler – 7 out of 10

Solid at the back and put his body on the line when up against the physicality of Zahore. He didn’t win every battle, but always did enough to stop his man from getting past him.

Zanka – 6 out of 10

Looked a little shaky at times and a few dodgy passes that squandered possession. Not a terrible performance, but far from his best.

Florent Hadergjonaj – 5 out of 10

Another poor performance from the Swiss defender. His tackles didn’t seem to stick and his crossing was poor. I’ve a feeling he’s going to improve as the season goes on.

Hogg – 2 out of 10

Very disappointing to see one of our most experienced players lose his head and get sent off. The red card incident had a huge influence on the direction of the game and was completely avoidable. Passion is an important part of Hogg’s game, but he’s got to show better discipline in the future.

Billing – 6 out of 10

Showed both positive and negative aspects of his game. At times he looked lethargic and disinterested, but in others he made positive attacking runs and showed some classy passing.

Mooy – 6 out of 10

He played further forward than the other two central midfielders, more like a number ten. This meant he was higher up the pitch when he got on the ball and was usually surrounded by Cardiff players, which made it harder for him to influence the game. There were a couple of passes he played towards the end of the first half which opened up the Cardiff defence, but there wasn’t enough of that kind of thing from him.

Rajiv van La Parra – 7 out of 10

Good to see him starting after the rumours he might be leaving on loan to Middlesbrough. He worked hard on the wing and made several runs up field. Probably the most threatening of our attacking players. There were a few occasions where he could have taken a shot or put in a cross but chose to mess around with the ball. This isn’t a new problem for him, but it’s still frustrating to watch at times.

Adama Diakhaby – 5 out of 10

There were a couple of occasions where he showed his electric pace, but he didn’t hurt Cardiff. There was one situation where Mooy released him and sent him clear through on goal, but his pathetic cross/shot/pass dribbled straight to the keeper. I still like the look of him, but his decision making and final ball may need some work.

Steve Mounié – 7 out of 10

This was one of the busiest shifts I’ve seen Mounié put in, which was good because he didn’t receive a lot of service from his teammates. He relentlessly closed down Cardiff’s keeper and defence and made some excellent clearing headers from Cardiff’s corners and long throws. He also had Town’s only attempt on target, unfortunately the cross didn’t have enough pace on it for Mounié to generate the power on the header needed to beat the keeper.

Substitutes

Jonas Lössl – 7 out of 10

It’s tricky for keepers to come off the bench midway through a game, but Lössl did well when he came on. His passing was (but for one dodgy ball upfield) looked good and he made a some decent saves.

Isaac Mbenza – 4 out of 10

I wasn’t very impressed by Mbenza’s performance, he looked off the pace and didn’t seem on the same wavelength as the rest of the team. It’s early days, and he’ll still be adjusting to Wagner’s instructions, but there’s definitely room for improvement.

Laurent Depoitre – 6 out of 10

Grafted when he was brought on to freshen up the forward line. By that time our wingers had dropped back to shore up the defence, so he was isolated and had to close down several players on his own, which he did without fuss.