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Bournemouth Fan View: Howe shows Wagner that bravery trumps caution
I like Huddersfield Town a lot. Even when David Wagner was endlessly bleating about refereeing decisions after my side AFC Bournemouth tanned them 4-0 back in November I liked them.
I’ll never forget the play-off games we had in League One back in 2011. Even though we ended up losing on penalties, that night in West Yorkshire still sticks in my memory as one of the best matches I’ve ever seen live.
I was a huge fan of how they got promoted from the Championship last season as well, playing a fearless brand of attacking football. They often got well beaten – even in the second tier – but they stuck with it and were rewarded with a ticket to the “promised land.”
So it makes me a little sad that in recent months they’ve seemingly turned their backs on those principles – and are paying a heavy cost. They should be looking at us as an example of how fearless expansive style can work if you’re a smaller side in the Premier League.
David Wagner changes tact
Now we’re not exactly the same as Huddersfield Town, far from it. But there are definitely similarities. In fact watching the Terriers get hammered by Tottenham 4-0 at home in September was eerily similar to our own 5-1 humbling at the hands of the North London side in our first ever Premier League season.
However that defeat – and others like it – seem to have convinced Wagner to unwisely attempt to adapt a more defensive style. A style he seemingly doesn’t have the personnel for. Unlike, say, Swansea City or Brighton.
The stats are alarming, with the Yorkshire outfit scoring 19 goals all season – with seven of those in just two games. That means aside from those two fixtures they’ve scored, on average, one goal every two games.
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Bravery in numbers
This is because you rarely see Huddersfield commit players forward with gay abandon anymore. The few times I’ve witnessed Huddersfield on TV this season they rarely have more than two of their players in the opposition box. It’s sad to see.
Which is why I think they could very much witness what they’ve been missing when we rock up to the Kirklees Stadium this Sunday. Through the last three seasons we’ve stayed up in the Premier League by never giving up on our attacking principles. Or more accurately, Eddie Howe’s attacking principles.
Sure, we’ve taken some tonkings. There have been games where we’ve lost to lesser sides purely due to being too open. But ultimately we’ve stayed up twice because we’ve gone out to win games – not just avoid losing them.
A banana skin in the waiting
Now with all that said, I can see Huddersfield possibly returning to their old approach sooner rather than later in order to escape trouble. Sadly I can see them attempting to start doing this against us on Sunday. Because despite the gulf between the sides in terms of recent form, we can definitely be got at.
We’ve kept very few clean sheets this season, and have started many games slowly – even in our recent sparkling run. This includes our trips to West Ham United and Brighton – as well as our home fixture against Stoke City.
So we need to assert our authority in the game early on. And we can do that by attacking with numbers and pace – something I believe Huddersfield will have to do for the rest of the season if they harbour any hopes of surviving.
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