In his first eighteen months at Huddersfield Town David Wagner has completely transformed the way the club play. He’s introduced his own personal variation on gegenpressing, the high tempo pressing style of football made famous by Jurgen Klopp in his time at Borussia Dortmund.
I’ve heard that gegenpressing was an idea that developed between Klopp and Wagner during their playing days when they were roommates at Mainz. They talked about the way they both believed football should be played and developed it into a tactical system that can be seen today at Liverpool and Huddersfield Town.
But what is it? When asked for a name for Wagner’s style of play he’s shied away from gegenpressing and preferred to use the expression “Terrier Identity”. But what exactly is it?
High pressing
The most noticeable thing about the way Wagner likes his teams to play is the way they press. The idea is to unsettle the opposition by putting them under pressure all over the pitch, particularly around the time possession turns over to the other team.
There’s nothing particularly revolutionary about playing a pressing game but it does require a lot of fitness and dedication to keep up over the course of a game. It’s amazing how many teams I’ve seen try to replicate our pressing game for ten to fifteen minutes but then lose their drive when it doesn’t yield results.
Part of the reason Huddersfield Town pressed so well last season was simply that our team were incredibly fit. This meant that we often had the edge over teams in the final sections of games, which I think contributed to our ability to hold on to a lot of single goal leads over the season.
Patient build up play
Another key part of Wagner’s style of play is controlling possession. Where possible the keeper plays the ball out to feet, with the centre-backs dropping deep to receive the ball. The ball is then tentatively moved around the back while the forward players move around and try to find space.
It’s been a bit of a journey for Town fans to adjust to this style of play. In the early stages, there were frequent shouts to “ger it for’ard” whenever it seemed we were taking too long to build up an attack. However, the patient style of play means that we can wear the opposition out as they close us down and gives us plenty of time to wait for opportunities to attack.
There have been many games where Huddersfield have had over 70% possession, which didn’t always lead to lots of goals or even chances. But it did mean that the opposition were denied the opportunity to have the ball, which is one of the principle benefits of this style of play. Dominating possession means the other team don’t have the ball as much and therefore can’t hurt you as easily.
Fluid attackers
When defending everyone has a specific role to play and needs to stick to their position but in attack Wagner instructs his players to operate with more freedom, particularly the front four players.
There is technically one striker, an attacking midfielder in the number 10 role and two wide men either side. However, the reality is that there’s a great deal of overlapping and swapping around. This helps to create confusion among opposition defenders and, in theory makes space to break through defensive lines to get into scoring positions.
The natural width provided by the attacking full backs means that the wingers start from a narrow position than typical wide-men. They occupy the “halfspace” between the centre and wide areas, making it tricky for centre backs and fullbacks to work out who’s picking them up when up against a traditional flat back four.
The main striker often drops deep to pick up possession and the attacking midfielder has the licence to bomb forward and get into the penalty area, as well as popping up on either wing. This allows them to exploit whatever space they find and to support the other attacking players.
A high defensive line
David Wagner’s system works best when the defenders play high up the field, as it compresses the space and makes it easier for Town to press when they don’t have possession. It also means that the whole team are closer together in possession and means it’s easier to play an intricate passing game.
The risk of playing such a high defensive line is that opposition teams that counter with speed can exploit any lack of pace in individual defenders. This was badly exposed in the four-nil home drubbing Town received at the hands of Fulham towards the end of last season. While Fulham provided a masterclass in fast, flowing counter-attacking football it was all the more effective because Town’s positioning meant there was space for Fulham to attack.
Attacking full backs
The formation is described as 4-2-3-1 on paper but in reality, it changes depending on whether the team is in possession or not. When defending the team play in this shape but in with the ball the deep-lying central midfielder, usually Jonathan Hogg, drops in between the centre backs and forms a back three. Then the full backs will push forward and look to attack down the wings.
So when Huddersfield have the ball it’s closer to a 3-3-3-1, with the full backs occasionally being so far up the pitch it becomes 3-1-5-1. It’s easy to get bogged down with the technicalities of the formation, but the thing to note is that the full-backs get forward when Town have the ball but this is balanced out by the defensive midfielder dropping into defence.
Variations on the system
The bulk of Huddersfield’s games were played in this style last season but there were some games where the tactics altered. Derby away in the league, Man City at home in the cup and all three playoff games saw the team play a more conservative way.
If Wagner feels that the opposition are going to retain possession and have individual players that can hurt Town if left one on one with defenders then the tactical system changes and the pressing game is cut back.
The playoff final against Reading was a good example of how the team were instructed to allow the opposition to have possession up to the half-way line but once they got close to the final third Town would pressurise them and look to get the ball back.
This deeper lying approach meant that there was less space to exploit at the back but it also left Town relying on counter attacks and set pieces to create chances. Too few players were willing to risk getting out of position and there was a general lack of attacking ambition.
David Wagner’s tactics in the Premier League
It’s hard to know how Wagner will evolve Huddersfield Town’s tactics in their long-awaited return to the top flight. It’s tempting to think that he’ll play the more conservative tactics we saw in the playoffs, but I don’t think he will. While we’ll not want to roll over and let opposition sides tear us to shreds, I suspect the basic approach and shape of the team will stay the same. We got promoted by playing positive, attacking football and I think we’ll see plenty more of that in our first year back in the top flight.