How the appointment of Neil Warnock has greatly boosted Huddersfield Town’s survival hopes – tactical analysis

Neil Warnock is 74 years old, but retirement doesn’t seem to interest him just yet, with the football legend currently lending his service to Huddersfield Town in the EFL Championship. Warnock currently holds the record for most promotions in English football, with eight, but this season sees his expertise being put to use in saving Huddersfield from relegation to League One.

Mark Fotheringham was the club’s last permanent manager before Neil Warnock returned, with the Scotsman being relieved of his duties after winning just five of his 21 games in charge, but Warnock’s record already makes for a more positive reading with the Yorkshire club winning four of their 10 games under the veteran. This record includes the Terriers’ current run of five games unbeaten – only Premier League-bound Burnley have produced better form in the last five games.

This resurgence has put Huddersfield back in control of their future, with the club now three places and two points above the relegation zone.

This tactical analysis will look at how Warnock has managed to rejuvenate this side in attacking transitions, with an analysis of the tactics implemented by the ex-Premier League manager. We will also look at some of the data from Warnock’s most recent five games in comparison to Fotheringham’s final five, to give us a statistical representation of Warnock’s impact.

Formations

The image above paints a picture of a team that lacked consistency in their pre-Warnock days, using a variety of formations over the course of the season, but the positive results rarely followed. In his opening 10 games, Warnock seems to favour 4-2-3-1 more often than not, although they do deploy a three/five at the back shape when coming up against a team doing the same thing.

Low block

Fundamentally speaking, Warnock hasn’t come in and made wholesale changes when it comes to tactics. Prior to his arrival, Huddersfield were no strangers to conceding the majority of possession and doing hefty amounts of defending in their own half. That is still the case, and frankly, Huddersfields defence hasn’t seen a drastic improvement in terms of pure numbers, but Warnock has improved the overall effectiveness of their defending in a low block, both as a unit and individually.