YORKSHIRE PRIDE
A bumper preview of Huddersfield Town v Sheffield Wednesday
CHRIS LOWE gives a goofy grin when he is asked if Huddersfield can stick the pace at the Championship summit.
“Why not?” says the leftback, a summer signing from Bundesliga 2 side Kaiserslautern. “But, remember, in Germany, we play 34 games in the whole season. Here, we have 35 left. It is as if we haven’t even started!”
Lowe finds much about English football baffling.
The leniency of referees, their tendency to take offence.
Three of the 27-year-old’s five bookings have been for dissent.
“In Germany, the referee will book you very quickly for a foul, but you can get away with a lot of shouting,” he says. “In England, it is the opposite.”
Today’s mid-day kick-off – “a very strange time to play football” – against Yorkshire rivals Sheffield Wednesday is another source of consternation.
Language
Yet, chatting to the former Dortmund protege at the Terriers’ Canalside training base, it is obvious he is loving his new surroundings, if not the biting Yorkshire wind that sees him swaddled in a woolly hat and gloves.
“For sure, signing here was the biggest decision of my career,” he says. “I have a little boy of 18 months, so it was a big step for me and my wife.
“But I knew the manager, which made it easy. I knew I could speak to him in our language and I knew what he would want from me. I thought ‘What have I got to lose?’”
That manager, of course, is David Wagner, Jurgen Klopp acolyte, exponent of ‘full-throttle’ football and the mastermind behind Huddersfield’s shock tilt at the top flight.
Tipped to struggle in August, the Terriers welcome Wednesday to the John Smith’s Stadium eight points ahead of last season’s beaten play-off finalists.
And, while Lowe is a big fan of Huddersfield – “people told me it was a small place,” he says, “but compared to my home town, it is like a city!” – it is obvious the man who nurtured him in Dortmund’s B team exerted a far greater pull.
“He is a great coach,” says Lowe, who made seven firstteam appearances for Dortmund before joining Kaiserslautern in 2013.
“Really enjoyable to work for, really thorough. The way he prepares you for a game, you know you cannot know any more about the opponent. Tiny details make a big difference.
“I didn’t actually play for him that much at Dortmund because I was part of the firstteam squad, but it was one of the best times in my career for sure.”
Wagner, then, is the brains behind a start that has yielded eight wins from 11 games, an away victory over Newcastle and a 100 per cent home record.
Among his innovations are training sessions that coincide with kick-off times. In the days before a 5.30 kickoff, his players will train at 5.30. Double sessions, designed to both improve fitness and allow time for tactical analysis, are now standard.
Only Brighton and Reading have so far managed to withstand his side’s frenzied pressing and crafty counterattacking.
Most are convinced it won’t last; that heavy pitches, tiring legs and – above all – a lack of quality will ultimately derail Wagner’s men.
On the first two counts, Lowe is cautiously optimistic. On the third, however, he says Huddersfield have been badly under-estimated.
“We have a great, great togetherness,” he explains.
“You can see that in the games. We mix very well. Everyone can speak English. We don’t have groups of different nationalities.
“Tareiq Holmes-Dennis, he came at the end of pre-season which can be hard. But I think if you ask him he will say he settled in very easily.
“That has helped us, but we also have great players. Outstanding players. Maybe people don’t realise how good they are.
Difference
“The manager and Stuart Webber (Huddersfield’s head of operations) did a great job in the transfer window. The players they signed are, in my opinion, as good as any in this league. Aaron Mooy, Kasey Palmer, Jack Payne – they are all top quality. “Aaron can play Bundesliga, Serie A, Premier League as well. He
is a fantastic player who can make the difference between us and the other team. We all know that, with him, we have a chance against anybody.” If Aussie international Mooy is Huddersfield’s creative heart, the German contingent represent their granite foundation. Elias Kachunga, defender David Hefele and £1.8m record signing Chris Schindler, a powerful centrehalf, all joined Lowe from the Bundesliga this summer. All four have bedded in with remarkable ease, a process Lowe believes was eased by their formative years in the Fatherland. “In England, the quality of single players is much better than Bundesliga 2, especially the defenders,” he says. “On the tactical side, maybe Germany has
a bit more quality. “In Germany, we get coached tactical things from when we are children. We learn early, so it becomes easy and natural to do certain actions in the game – with pressure, in front of big crowds. None of that matters.
“Of course, experience also helps. I’m 27, so not the youngest player any more. But, in general, we know what can happen in certain situations.
Original
“It makes it easier to adapt to new things, but everybody still needs time. For me, it probably took two or three games to really feel comfortable.” So, back to the original question: are Huddersfield really more than a flash in the pan? “We had a good pre-season, we are really fit,” says Lowe. “The best thing that can happen is if you are top of the league and we all enjoy it. “We know it is hard. We have won all of our games by just one goal, so small details are everything, as I said before. “The important thing for us is that we have seen we can beat everyone. Even the games we lost, we saw that we were able to win. We have no fear.”