Huddersfield Town finished 19 th last season in the Championship, only 11 points above the relegation zone.
This season, they have been top of the league and currently find themselves
in 3rd , despite being relatively financially underpowered.
Their German manager David Wagner, best man at Jurgen Klopp’s wedding,
has implemented a style of football with The Terriers that leans heavily on Klopp’s work,
bringing in tactical astute players at bargain prices and playing a fluid, high pressing,
incisive style of football.
Huddersfield Town line up as a 4-2-3-1 but in reality this appears as a 2-4-1-3, with
one of the central midfielders, usually Jonathan
Hogg , dropping deeper towards the centre backs if
required, and the full-backs, usually Tommy Smith and Christian Löwe, pushing high up the pitch.
Huddersfield play with width and attack down the flanks, especially through Tommy Smith,
the right full-back, who currently leads the assists chart.
The two front wide players, usually Elias Kachunga and Rajiv van La Parra, play
as inside forwards, cutting inside to allow the full-backs to overlap. Kachunga , on loan from FC Ingolstadt, and
Chelsea’s on loan Kasey Palmer and Isiah Brown,
show Huddersfield’s savvy in the transfer market, but the loanee that really stands
out this season is Aaron Mooy , from Manchester City.
Mooy fills the deep-lying playmaker role, providing a pivot, especially between Hogg
and Smith, and generally being the player who keeps and recycles possession.
In front of these passing triangles, the front four is fluid,
overlapping, and mobile, with Nakhi Wells the focal point.
Huddersfield score a lot from through balls or low crosses, as Mooy’s
passing and the front four’s movement create space for attacks and the full-backs overlap.
Huddersfield are not afraid to pass long,
especially through centre-back Christophe Schindler, and their high line and compression
of space means that vertical transitions are needed from the back to get the ball to the
fluid front four; Schinlder and Mooy are the keys to this.
It is Huddersfield’s press that has been so impressive this season and again, much
stems from Wagner’s ability to coach the right
work ethic and situational awareness needed to
implement a complex scheme in the Championship.
Huddersfield’s attacking shape creates the conditions needed for the press, by compacting
space vertically with a high line and strong central presence, and forcing the opposition wider.
The press is triggered when the opposition take the ball wide.
Huddersfield’s flexibility, coupled with their attacking shape, allows the team tosqueeze the
opposition across, denying passing options and regularly winning the ball back to launch attacks of their own.
Wide-channel pressing is most effective because the touchline acts as
an additional defender, it’s hard for the opposition player with the ball to switch
the play, and the centre-back is high and well positioned to sweep up any long balls.
Should Huddersfield’s opponents sit deep, they will happily revert to a 4-4-1-1 in defence,
but ready to spring forwards into the press is required.
This style of play is complex and requires excellent coaching and players who are fit and intelligent.
The combination of Huddersfield’s dynamic gegen-press, fluid attacking four, and ​
the excellence of Mooy and Hogg as a double pivot, means that the Terriers are currently the most innovative, tactically interesting side in the Championship.