Wagner's tenacious Terriers competing with Championship 'big dogs'

The Championship is known for its unpredictability, and while the likes of pre-season favourites Newcastle and Norwich find themselves among the top six, the team leading the way is a real surprise.

After six games Huddersfield have dropped just two points, with a new-look squad already fully immersed in the philosophy of former Borussia Dortmund II coach David Wagner. An interesting appointment from the Terriers for a number of reasons back in November - principle among them the assumption that Wagner was set to follow close friend Jurgen Klopp to Anfield - the ex-US international instead opted for a far less glamorous destination.

Wooed by chairman Dean Hoyle’s appreciation of his work with Dortmund’s second string, Wagner was tasked with translating the style that he had fostered at his former club - very much in the image of Klopp’s first team - in Yorkshire. It would prove to be a dramatic change in approach and one that the players would need time to adjust to.

Appointed after a 2-2 draw with Reading under former boss Chris Powell left the club in 18th, three straight defeats, starting with a 3-0 home loss to local rivals Leeds with Wagner taking the reins thereafter, put the manager under pressure early on. The double training sessions he had introduced would unsurprisingly take some getting used to, but despite some predicting that the players would react negatively, the German claims there was no resistance from his squad, who would instead took on his ideas as their new identity began to take effect.

After a run of one point from six matches left Huddersfield down in the relegation zone, they would go on to win five of their next eight, scoring 18 goals in that time. As they began to enforce a more intense pressing game somewhat unfamiliar to the Championship, the side was starting to perform in the image that the manager and chairman desired.

Nevertheless, with no pre-season to adapt to the physical demands such a game plan brings, Huddersfield tailed off towards the end of the campaign and, knowing that survival was assured, would pick up just 6 points from their final eight games. However, while such a disappointing finish could have left the fans fearing the worst for the the season ahead, there was confidence that the manager had moved the club forwards. It was a confidence that is certainly proving to be justified.

Bringing in 13 players in his first summer transfer window was certainly a risk from the young manager, and one that he understood could backfire if he didn’t ensure that they bed in immediately. A trip to an island off the coast of Sweden was Wagner’s idea of team bonding, forcing a group of professional athletes to cope without electricity, toilets and - perhaps more worryingly for the players - even mobile phones was another bold move. Switching camping partners throughout their 4-day stay, players old and new were encouraged to form relationships that would enhance their understanding on the pitch as well as off it. Six games and 16 points into the new campaign and it’s an exercise Wagner unsurprisingly insists was a ‘100% success’.

Huddersfield’s modest manager is quick to praise his players wherever possible for accepting the changes he has enforced and buying into his way of thinking. Wagner calls their new style the ‘Terriers’ identity’, claiming ‘Exactly the style of football I love is like a terrier. We are not the biggest dog, we are small, but we are aggressive, we are not afraid, we like to compete with the big dogs and we are quick and mobile and we have endurance.’

All those points are bear out in the numbers. Huddersfield’s financial muscle is nowhere near that of a number of clubs in the Championship, but their fight on the field has made up for it. Wagner’s men have made the most tackles per game in the league thus far (22.7), while they have won possession in the attacking third more than any other side (31). Moreover, four of their nine goals have been scored in the 79th minute or later, with said strikes earning a side that has secured all five of their victories by a solitary goal 7 points. That all four crucial late goals have been scored by substitutes only strengthened Wagner’s case to be named manager of the month for August, and deservingly so.

Winger Joe Lolley, who was given his chance under Wagner having arrived from Kidderminster last summer, would go on to repay the German's faith to become the side's highest rated player last season (7.11), and spoke to WhoScored.com about the manager's impact. "He's massively changed the club culture, the professionalism. The intensity of training and times in which we train are different but he's given the team a belief, since the first day he came in, that we can compete with any team in the league and that has only grown.

The winger continued "I think mentally the first few games were so important for us. To start the way we have has almost confirmed our belief that we can beat anyone and we try to do that every game. Home or away we go into the game with the idea of hurting the opposition and we try to always stay true to our identity, which is playing on the pitch and being aggressive without it."

That philosophy again bears out in the stats. With a combination of pace and trickery on the wings and in attack, particularly through the likes of Lolley, Rajiv van La Parra and Jack Payne - who have combined for over two thirds of the team’s total dribbles this season (47) - and steel in midfield, with summer additions Chris Lowe (3.5 tackles) and Aaron Mooy (3.2 tackles) among a number of impressive acquisitions, there’s little to suggest that Huddersfield’s start to the campaign has been a fluke.

Lolley is an exciting player typical of a young squad that is full of options, perhaps best epitomised by the fact that all 9 of their goals thus far have been scored by different players. Elsewhere Elias Kachunga and Nakhi Wells provide Wagner with competition for places up front, with the former arriving along with three others from Germany in the summer. Wells, meanwhile was sought-after this summer having scored 17 league goals last season and he is part of a versatile attacking line-up, like Kachunga, capable of playing from wide if needed as Wagner looks to the pace of his side on the counter.

The fact that all nine of their goals have come from open play - more than any other side - is testament to the quality of chances that their high-pressing system conjures. Indeed, only four sides have had fewer shots than Huddersfield (10.8 per game), with the club instead faring well in both shot accuracy (36.9%) and chance conversion (13.8%).

While the improvements Wagner has made to the attack were evident last season though, scoring a respectable 43 goals in the 31 matches he took charge of, it was the defence that needed the most work having conceded 50 in that same time. Chris Lowe and Christopher Schindler have slotted in superbly to help solidify that area of the side, while Danny Ward’s arrival on loan from Liverpool was something of a coup between the posts, with a WhoScored.com rating of 7.22 thus far second only to Brentford’s Daniel Bentley of keepers to appear more than once.

It’s evident, then, that with time to invest in the sort of players he knew would cope well with his demands, Wagner has proven capable of upsetting the odds with this young squad. They’ll have to do so again to get the better of a Brighton side that have underwhelmed so far but will go into Tuesday’s game as favourites at home. Huddersfield have already taken points from the likes of Newcastle and Villa to record their best ever start to a league campaign. Another three in midweek would be yet another indicator that this Terriers' side is more than capable of competing with the league’s 'big dogs'.

Can Huddersfield continue to mount an unexpected push for promotion this season? Let us know in the comments below