David reviews the defeat at Deepdale
- David Wagner reviews defeat at Preston North End
- Head Coach frustrated at loss after good performance
- Wagner praises Philip Billing's showing
David Wagner cut a frustrated figure after seeing his side largely dominate the Sky Bet Championship game at Preston North End, only to come away with a 2-1 defeat.
The Terriers bossed the ball and created numerous chances, only to be kept at bay by loose finishing and a good performance from home goalkeeper Anders Lindegaard.
However, Nahki Wells’ late goal looked to have secured a win – only for two late strikes to leave Wagner empty handed.
“We are frustrated and disappointed. This is one of the harder days since we started our journey here in Huddersfield three months ago, because I think the gap between our performance and the result is unbelievably big. In my opinion, the lads did a very good performance. They played great football on the pitch,” David explained to htafc.com.
“Today we saw two different philosophies. One team liked to hit the long ball and the other tried to perform on the pitch, which we did very well. We created great goal-scoring opportunities, but we only scored once.
“We have to be more clinical. Before our goal, we had six goal chances where we have to score. Their goalkeeper was in unbelievable form today though.
“We then conceded one goal off a set piece and another from an easy mistake when we only had to hit the ball into the stand, so we have to accept this. At the end, when the game is over, we have to accept everything. We have to do these easy things correctly and we will speak about this.
“What we have to work on is totally clear. We have to make sure we make the next step; keep these performances and get points for them. We want to keep the identity that we did today, but we have to build on it.
“Normally it is not possible to play such a good game like we did today and get nothing. If we always play like we did today, I am sure we will get results – maybe starting next week against Nottingham Forest.”
Under-21 skipper William Boyle was the man who failed to clear the ball properly for Preston’s second, but David says making mistakes and learning from them is part and parcel of the game:
“This is one step you make in becoming a professional; you must learn from these situations, like we all have to learn game by game. On the other side, we had enough goal chances to score a second, third and fourth before this; then it isn’t important.”
Town still looked to have gained a point when Jonathan Hogg’s effort looked to have crossed the line from a corner, but David explained that the officials had to say.
“I asked the linesman after the final whistle if he saw the situation. If he doesn’t see it, he cannot give a signal. However, he tells me he saw it and it wasn’t a goal.
“From my point, I was too far away to see the situation.”
One major positive from the game was the performance of Danish 19 year-old Philip Billing in what was just his third start as a professional.
“He was very good; I was pleased with his performance. He did exactly what I expected from him after two very good weeks in training and it was the point to bring him into the squad.
“He is one of the interesting talents at our club and he did well today.”
Moving forward, Wagner is clear what needs to be done.
“Today I am disappointed, but maybe tomorrow I can be proud of the performance the lads showed today.
“It was much better than the last game, when we were not good, and when we looked at the Brighton game. I think this was exactly the performance we showed in the first 30 minutes at Reading and our target has to be to bring this on the pitch, as it will bring results in the future – for sure.
“We’ve shown again we are on our way, but again the next step is that we have to get points from results. The good thing is that everyone knows what we have to do and everyone in the dressing room is hungry to show better.”
