Huddersfield can still stay up, insists boss David Wagner
Huddersfield fell to a 2-1 defeat against Burnley in the Premier League on Wednesday night.
Wednesday 2 January 2019 22:42, UK
David Wagner was defiant about Huddersfield's chances of staying up, despite the defeat against Burnley that left them adrift at the bottom of the Premier League table.
Huddersfield, who took the lead at the John Smith's Stadium through Steve Mounie, but then saw Christopher Schindler sent off after Chris Wood had equalised for Burnley, eventually fell to an eighth-straight defeat - thanks to Ashley Barnes' late strike - for the first time in the club's history.
Huddersfield are now four points behind Fulham in 19th and eight adrift of safety altogether, but Wagner is insistent they can still escape.
"We gave ourselves a schedule of what we have to do until the end of the season," he told Sky Sports. "Obviously today was disappointing because we didn't get any points and we know the statistic that no team has ever stayed up with 10 points from 21 games.
"But we have beaten statistics before with Huddersfield Town and we still have the aim and ambition [to stay up]. We know what we have to do. We have to accept this result, but we will move forward.
"The table tells you the truth and the truth is that at this stage of the season we have lost eight games in a row."
Wagner was still full of praise for his side, who started the game well and finally saw a striker score for the first time this season. He admits, however, that Schindler's first-half dismissal is what ultimately cost them.
"The commitment, effort and attitude which the players have shown was absolute", he said. "They fought but unfortunately playing more than one half [with 10 men] is very difficult to deal with.
"We took the lead and scored our first goal from a striker. I have seen a lot of good things today but obviously we weren't able to keep the tempo and speed as high as when we played 11 v 11."
