Huddersfield vs Reading: Training every day, bespoke pre-match meals for all players and using Jurgen Klopp’s style of play: How David Wagner turned the Terriers around
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DAVID WAGNER and Jaap Stam have completely revolutionised Huddersfield and Reading respectively.
Here, SunSport gives the inside track on how Huddersfield's German boss has turned the Terriers fortunes around.
The Yorkshire-side will play in the top flight after winning today's Championship play-off final.
Keep up to date with ALL the latest transfer news and gossip on our dedicated blog
Wagner’s methods:
1. Wagner has his players in almost every day for training, even if it is very light. It is an ultra-dedicated model unfamiliar to British players and some, such as Joel Lynch who left for QPR, did not fancy it.
Others, like captain Tommy Smith have fully embraced it, while the likes of Chris Schindler are used to it as it is the norm in their native Germany. Schindler revealed in a recent SunSport interview how Brighton’s Glenn Murray told him mid game how stunned he was that Huddersfield had trained on the morning of the match.
Schindler replied that it was a “pre-activation session” - but still, this is unheard of territory on these shores.
2. Wagner signed a number of his compatriots including Schindler, Michael Hefele and Chris Lowe in the summer and the trio make up three of his back four, along with Smith.
Schindler actually warned Wagner off the idea of signing so many foreign players from the same country after experiencing difficult Spanish cliques at his old side 1860 Munich.
But Wagner has signed the right characters to make it work and enhance the team. All three are leaders too, having captained their former sides 1860 (Schindler), Dynamo Dresden (Hefele) and Kaiserslautern (Lowe).
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3. The team also trains at times to mirror matchdays: If it is a 3pm kick-off, as it is tomorrow, then they train at that time in the days leading up to it. If it 7.45pm, then they will train around 6.30pm.
4. Wagner has introduced the Gegenpressing style favoured by best pal Jurgen Klopp, who Wagner was best man to at the Liverpool boss’ wedding.
It is a high-pressing style that seeks to get in opponents faces from the off and has had stunning results this season, most notably when they blew Brighton away in February.
5. The ex-USA international (Wagner has dual nationality) has also revamped the players’ diets, with Smith joking to SunSport earlier this season that the only way to get ketchup is to “sneak it in”.
A chef travels on the bus to all away games to cook bespoke meals of good nutrition.
6. Sport science has also played a bigger role in Wagner’s reign, with the arrival of Dr John Iga. Team spirit has also been very important - and clearly has been fantastic - and Wagner has helped improve this by taking his side to a hotel before every game, even if it is just for a meal together.