Tough terriers snarl their way to survival
At Stamford Bridge, all the talk was of Antonio Conte’s team selection. No Eden Hazard in the starting line-up, no Olivier Giroud. Huddersfield? they couldn’t give a monkeys. they. Are. Staying Up. they-are-staying-up.
What a feat that is. What a feat this was. Having taken a point at the home of this season’s champions at the weekend, they went to last season’s champions and did the same again. the run-in from hell has been, well, if not a walk in the park, certainly not the one-way ticket to the Championship predicted.
this was a performance of incredible bravery from David Wagner’s side. Not in terms of attacking impetus. Huddersfield’s play was not ambitious. But their levels of energy, their commitment, their ferocious application to the task — that took heart.
So, sure, they were buoyed by Conte’s bizarre decision to play the game at Newcastle on Sunday rather than the one ahead of him — but that should take nothing away from this point. Even a Chelsea without key individuals is still a mismatch man-for-man — but Huddersfield did not treat it like that. they even took the lead.
It came in the 50th minute, the first time Huddersfield had threatened Chelsea’s goal. Willian lost the ball deep in the opposition half — Chelsea players claimed a foul, but it seemed more of a tussle — and Aaron Mooy launched a long pass upfield.
Laurent Depoitre was on to it, and suddenly away. Out came stand-in goalkeeper Willy Caballero to make an impetuous and calamitous error. Basically, he won second prize in a fight, clattering into Depoitre on the edge of the area, but coming off worse and falling to the ground as the big striker powered on and put the ball into an empty net.
Cue mayhem in the Huddersfield end, consternation elsewhere. Suddenly, Hazard and Giroud were on — as they should have been from the start.
Chelsea equalised, but it was fortuitous and ultimately not enough. Cesar Azpilicueta crossed, Christopher Schindler cleared but succeeded only in kicking the ball straight on to the forehead of Marcos Alonso, who deflected it into the goal.
From there it was all Chelsea, but the second would not come.
On 82 minutes there was a goalmouth scramble so mad and frantic it might have been shot by Mack Sennett, but still no breakthrough. Chelsea must now win at Newcastle and hope Liverpool lose at home to Brighton to qualify for the Champions League next season.
And Huddersfield? they have survived a first season in the Premier League, against all odds and expectation. Incredible times. And it won’t just be Southampton who are not returning to the Swansea Marriott next season.
the terriers. Never has a nickname seemed more appropriate as Huddersfield snapped at snarled at Chelsea, a little, yappy dog that thinks it’s the size of a Dobermann.
A delighted Wagner said: ‘My English is not good enough to give the players the credit they deserve. If you have the passion, desire and spirit you can compete with top quality and you saw today that we can do it. We had luck, no doubt about it, but if any players deserve it it’s this set of players.
‘I never doubted their mental strength. We have so many experiences, the play-offs, the final, some very big dips in the season, five defeats in a row. We have always come back.
‘In this very exciting week with proper Premier League fixtures we have confirmed everything, we have done it. I am so unbelievably proud.
Huddersfield had nothing in the way of pressure on the Chelsea goal, but that wasn’t the plan. they came here needing a point for survival and to aim for three would be greedy. So they contained and chased, and got men behind the ball and harried.
It wasn’t pretty but, frankly, who cares? this was Huddersfield at the home of a club who measure their transfer expenditure in hundreds of millions. What were they going to do — take the game to them?
On the opposite side of the coin, the frustration continued to pile upon Chelsea boss Conte.
‘the only hope and intention was to keep our hopes alive and win the game,’ said Conte.
‘For sure we had so many chances and you must be good to take them. It is not the first time that we are not clinical, there are many circumstances for this.
‘We must accept the final result and the commitment was impressive of the players. We tried to win the game until the end. We were a bit unlucky in many situations.’ CHELSEA (3-4-3): Caballero; Azpilicueta, Christensen, Rudiger; Zappacosta (Giroud 54), Fabregas, Kante, Alonso; Pedro (Hazard 59), Morata, Willian. Subs not used: Eduardo, Barkley, Bakayoko, Moses, Cahill. Booked: Fabregas. HUDDERSFIELD (5-3-2): Lossl; Smith (Malone 85), Zanka, Schindler, Kongolo, Lowe (Hadergjonaj 62); Mooy, Hogg, Billing; Parra (Pritchard 53), Depoitre. Subs not used: Coleman, Ince, Quaner, Mounie. Booked: Lossl. Man of the match: Aaron Mooy. Referee: Lee Mason. Attendance: 38,910.