Local knowledge is overrated. Two years ago Carlos Carvalhal and David Wagner were virtually unknown in England but now they are jousting for the right to lead one of the country’s former champions to Wembley and perhaps on to the Premier League. Huddersfield host Sheffield Wednesday on Sunday in the first leg of their Championship play-off semi-final and it has been a long time since fans of either club have been so excited.
Both managers have excelled to guide their clubs this far. For Carvalhal it is the second impressive exploit in a row, as the Portuguese steered Wednesday to the play-off final in his first full season at the club before losing to Hull City a year ago. He has defied expectations again by turning that disappointment into fuel to drive another promotion challenge. Their fourth-place finish in this season’s Championship was two places higher up than last term, spawning even brighter hopes that Wednesday will return to the top flight, from which they have been exiled since 2000.
Huddersfield’s wait has been much longer. Three times champions of England in the 1920s, the club have not been in the top division since 1972. Last season they were happy just to survive in the second tier, Wagner leading them to a 19th-place finish after being headhunted one third of the way through the campaign. In his first full season he has surpassed all expectations and helped generate a vibrancy that the club has not felt for decades. The vibrancy refers not only to the team’s style of play.
Off the pitch Huddersfield have developed a singular bond with their supporters. That can be seen even at the club’s training ground, part of which is open to paying members of the public and staff from the big chemical plant across the road. Players regularly prepare for matches near people enjoying a lunchtime pint or social snooker. The closeness between players and fans can be felt most keenly on match day and the exhilarating atmosphere at the John Smith Stadium could give Huddersfield an edge in Sunday’s match.
The stadium is likely to be a sell-out, as it has been for most of this season, the average attendance being above 20,000. The huge jump from last season – when the average was 13,500 – is attributed partially to the decision by the chairman, Dean Hoyle, to cut ticket prices (a policy he has kept for the play-off: the most expensive ticket for this semi-final is £20) and partially to the attacking brand of play encouraged by Wagner.
But Wednesday have already won at Huddersfield this season, 1-0 in October thanks to a penalty by their top scorer, Fernando Forestieri. There was an amusing incident in that game when Wagner passed a note containing tactical instructions to his own team’s top scorer, Elias Kachunga; Wednesday’s Ross Wallace grabbed the sheet of paper off Kachunga and smirked as he read the plans.
But even though Wednesday also won the teams’ other regular-season meeting – 2-0 at Hillsborough in January – it would be rash to deduce that Carvalhal’s men have Huddersfield’s number. Both matches were tight and the results turned on details that may not necessarily be repeated, such as the penalty in the first match or Jack Payne’s red card in the second.
There are some patterns to expect on Sunday. Huddersfield look likely to enjoy a lot of possession and will press high and hard when they lose the ball. They will hope to show their superiority in central midfield thanks to two players on loan from Premier League clubs, Chelsea’s smart-running Izzy Brown and Manchester City’s tenacious creator Aaron Mooy. Wednesday will probably direct most of their attacks through Wallace and Adam Reach on the wings and count on Forestieri, in particular, to finish any opportunities they create. He is a more consistent marksman than anyone at Huddersfield, whose lack of a clinical finisher has been a rare frustration in an otherwise uplifting campaign.
“I’ve told the players that it is time to find some new legends for Huddersfield Town,” says Wagner. “There is no better moment than this.” Carvalhal has no doubt said much the same to his players.
Little can be read into the teams’ form. Huddersfield lost six of their last 10 matches in the regular season, while Sheffield Wednesday won six of their last seven, but some of those defeats came in matches in which the managers omitted key players to preserve them for the play-offs. That seemed necessary for Wagner’s team, in particular, because they have a smaller squad and, as the season wore on, looked a little jaded by the relentless pressing style. If they have fully recovered, they can be confident of taking a lead into the second leg. But even if they do that, this finely balanced Yorkshire tie is likely to be alive until the very end.
- This article was amended on 14 May to reflect the fact Sheffield Wednesday won six of their last seven matches of the regular season.
