WELLS: THIS IS BIGGEST GAME OF THE SEASON
FRUSTRATED and bewildered, Chris Hughton stood in the icy Yorkshire air and attempted to explain his team’s destruction.
“There’s nothing tactical they did that we didn’t already know about,” said the Brighton boss after David Wagner’s Huddersfield romped to a 3-1 victory on Thursday night, overwhelming the league leaders with a blitz of pace and pressing.
“But knowing about it and coping with it are two different things – and we didn’t deal with it well enough.”
Lewis Dunk, dismissed for a tired lunge on Izzy Brown, certainly couldn’t. Nor could Bruno, the skipper’s ageing legs incapable of coping with the frenzied intensity of winger Rajiv van La Parra.
Alex Ferguson once referred to Barcelona’s passing game as “a carousel”, and if Huddersfield’s full-throttle football is less aesthetic, it is no less mesmeric.
The passing and composure of midfield lynchpin Aaron Mooy. The relentless movement of Nahki Wells and Elias Kachunga. Above all, the constant, claustrophobic pressing born of Wagner’s long partnership with Jurgen Klopp.
Very few teams have coped with Huddersfield this season, not least Newcastle who were comprehensively outplayed at St James’ in August.
Even those who triumphed – Sheffield Wednesday are the solitary side with a 100 per cent record – were forced to scrap, run and endure long spells under pressure. Trying to impose your own game on Wagner’s men is like trying to play chess in a hurricane.
“What it boils down to is having ten players on the pitch who work every bit as hard as the Huddersfield team do,” added Hughton, whose side had conceded just 18 goals in 27 matches ahead of their visit to the John Smith’s Stadium.
Today, that job falls to Leeds, who were beaten 1-0 at Elland Road in September. Another full house is expected. Optimism is rampant. For the first time, it feels like Huddersfield are not just plucky outsiders but genuine promotion contenders.
All the doubts – that the Terriers couldn’t sustain their furious tempo, that the squad was too thin, that Wagner would be worked out – have been dispelled by a performance Wells ranked the best of the season.
“You’ve seen again how good we can be,” said the Bermudan striker, who scored his 100th goal in English football against the Seagulls. “We can change our style when needed. We can adapt to opponents.
“People talk about the tempo, but the management staff also do a great job picking out a team’s weakness and teaching us how to nullify them. There’s a lot of work done in the classroom, on a chalkboard. “And you can forget about starters and subs. We made nine changes for the Brighton game because any one of our lads can come in and do a fantastic job.”
With Leeds starting the day two points ahead of the Terriers, today’s clash promises to be the most hotly-contested Yorkshire derby for several years. “It’s our biggest game of the season,” added Wells. “There’s so much at stake.”
Garry Monk’s side have relied on possessional dominance this term and, according to Brighton’s Bruno, that is key to countering Huddersfield’s press. “You cannot spend all the time defending against them,” said the Spaniard. “You must pass three, four, five times to kill their momentum.”
Yet, as Hughton said, it’s one thing to say it and another to keep calm with Wagner’s “heavy metal football” assaulting your senses. The Whites have their work cut out.