EFL Championship 2019/20: Preston North End vs Huddersfield Town – Tactical Analysis

At the Deepdale stadium, Preston North End welcomed in-form Huddersfield Town with the aim of extending their three-match unbeaten run and two-match winning streak. Their steady start to the season helped Alex Neil’s side rise up in the Championship league table and now occupy the second spot, just behind leader West Bromwich Albion two points.

Meanwhile, Huddersfield Town have seen a major U-turn in their form after the arrival of Danny Cowley and his brother Nicky Cowley. This earned the former Lincoln manager the October’s Manager of the Month award and they hoped to build on from this to improve their position on the league table. Unfortunately, facing Preston seemed like too big an obstacle for them as they found themselves being outplayed and eventually ended up with a 3-1 loss.

This tactical analysis will provide an analysis of Preston’s dominant 3-1 win over Huddersfield. Meanwhile, using statistics, we will point out what went wrong for Cowley’s tactics against Neil’s tactics.

Lineups

Preston entered this match lining up in their familiar 4-2-3-1 formation. One of their major absences from the squad was Ben Pearson due to suspension after he received the maximum of yellow cards. Along with that, another former Manchester United graduate in Josh Harrop also missed out from the match as he continued his recovery from injury.

At the same time, another central midfielder who also turned out to be Neil’s key player this season, Daniel Johnson, remained doubtful and was not registered among the substitutes. In contrast, though, veteran striker David Nugent and midfielder Brad Potts did travel along with the rest and they both enjoyed a short spell of the match.

At the other end of the pitch, Cowley lined his Huddersfield side in a 4-1-2-3 formation. Still, there were a few key absences among the squad that travelled to Deepdale and one of them was Jonathan Hogg as he missed out from the trip through a suspension. Two names who also didn’t appear on the squad list were Collin Quaner and Jaden Brown, who were still recovering from their respective injuries.

However, Terence Kongolo did manage to return on time to start in the left-back position while Darren Simpson occupied the opposite spot. Stevie Mounié also shook off his problem with injury to be included on the bench and also had a few minutes on the field when he replaced Adama Diakhaby.

Prestons style of play

As expected, Preston started off the match with a positive attitude by attempting to gain control more of the ball possession and progress the ball into the opposition’s half. When they were in possession, they usually put an emphasis on playing out from the back. Two centre-backs would remain in their half but also positioned themselves high up the pitch to connect with the midfielders.

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