After two years in the second tier of English football, Sheffield United are back in the Premier League. Under Paul Heckingbottom, the Blades had a total of 32 wins, eight draws and 13 losses in all competitions last season.
Characterised by a three-at-the-back system, high intensity and aggressiveness, Sheffield United’s identity seemed intact throughout the years. Last season, they ended up with the second-best defence in the league, conceding 39 goals against an xG of 51 in 46 games.
In this tactical analysis, we’ve overviewed Sheffield United’s behaviour and tactics in the three main phases of the game. We also decided to provide analysis of an extra angle related to the unusual offensive involvement of one of the defensive elements. Moreover, we discuss who’s the key player and one player to watch this season. We finished this scout report with a prediction of the Blades in this 2023/24 Premier League season.
Concerning the attack, Sheffield United were the third-best team offensively, with 73 goals scored, against an xG of 61. As we will lay over further in this piece, such offensive success had to be mainly done with a high and deep positioning due to the audacity and objectivity in the last third of the pitch.
The passion of their crowd drives a team which was and still will have a highly demanding task next season. Such a challenge is due to the increasing inequality among the English first football tier teams.
It will be interesting to see how the head coach will adapt his game plan to his squad’s depth. In fact, the club posted a £15.2m loss this season, and as it goes, their summer transfer window will be highly constrained.
Besides, at the moment, they are 19th classified concerning their squad value in the Premier League. Although it’s common among recently promoted teams, there is a £86.8m gap between Sheffield United and the 18th-placed team (Burnley FC).
Yet, with the departure of some players as free agents, the club was forced to bring in new names, such as Bénie Traoré and Anis Slimane.
The 20-year-old Ivorian was signed for €4.6m from the Swedish side BK Häcken. With just 14 matches played, Traoré scored 12 times and assisted twice, becoming the league’s top goalscorer. His physique can be a setback to his game in the Premier League since he’s only 172cm tall. However, he already showed that he can bypass such limitations through explosiveness and pace.
As we can see in the radar above, Traoré ranks in the 71.4th percentile in dribbles per 90 minutes, and as it goes, he’s a player that feels comfortable progressing with the ball throughout the match. This is his primary weapon, and we are all excited to see how we’ll adapt to the probably most competitive and demanding league in the world of football.
One of the most significant setbacks for Sheffield United was the inevitable departure of their last season’s creative, James McAtee. After a successful loan with nine goals and three assists, the 20-year-old seemed to call the attention of Manchester City’s head coach, Pep Guardiola. In fact, he was called up for Man City‘s pre-season tour in Asia.
With that said, and although they have signed Slimane, we still think that the Blades should sign a player more similar to McAtee.
According to our speculative tool xGold, we discovered that Désiré Doué from Rennes (Ligue 1) has 79% of similarity with the Englishman. Resorting to Transfermarkt, his current value is €15m, and with some top European clubs approaching him, plus such financial problems, I find it hard for this deal to take place.
As a viable alternative, our xGold tool also suggested the 20-year-old Newcastle promise, Elliot Anderson. We detected a 78% similarity rating between Anderson and McAtee using the tool. Above all, these two players are identical in their outstanding dribbling, excellent vision and technical quality, which allows them to make smart passes into the final third.
Following the above radar, Anderson ranked in the 69.9th percentile in dangerous passes per game, which confirms such a thesis. Besides, he incredibly ranked in the 98th percentile in dribbles per 90 minutes, which means that, on average, he was one of the players with more such ball progression last season. Finally, one aspect in which Anderson overtakes McAtee is concerning the aerial duels, where the Scottish ranked in 82.3rd percentile (%) in aerial duels won.
With 22 appearances last season for Newcastle’s first team, Anderson is becoming part of the Magpies project. However, due to the increasingly high-quality players they are signing for his position, it can be challenging for him to prove himself in the team. That said, a loan to Sheffield United can be an exciting option for both parties.
Additionally, as we will look at it further in this scout report, the Blades need more speed in their midfield. Although this topic was more noticeable in the Championship due to the significant number of transitions per game. In the Premier League, it also can be a severe problem.
Attacking phase
Although, on the ball, their system is constantly changing during the different moments of the game, they were positioned in a 3-5-2 as a general model.
In the build-up last season, they were a team that preferentially opted to play short with both centre-backs down on the pitch to support such a strategy. One of the full-backs remained down, forming a four-man line to begin the play.
However, usually, the full-back leaves the defensive line. It ascends his positioning in the pitch, leaving the formation in a 3-5-2, which can be turned into a 3-3-4 if both full-backs are significantly deep.
The midfielders also have an important role in shaping the success of their offensive organisation because they are essential to connect with the attack. One of the details that we found interesting was that the midfielders were positioned in three different depth lines across the pitch. The defensive midfielder was the most back-tracked, while the left-centre midfielder (the position played most frequently by James McAtee) was the most advanced element.
The creative 20-year-old was especially important due to his vision and ability to make key passes into the depth, especially to McBurnie and Ndiaye. The other midfielder chosen to play right behind McAtee was Sander Berge, whose function was to rule the rhythm of the game with good flank variations.
The two more used attack figures were Oliver McBurnie and Iliman Ndiaye, yet both of them have different roles at this stage.
McBurnie typically positions himself right on the opposition’s defensive line, seeking a free-depth space to attack or an opportunity to have the ball with his back turned to the defenders in a dangerous position.
On the other hand, Ndiaye likes to be deep on the field, right into the opposition’s defensive line. This positioning allows him to increase different future alternatives. In other words, as we see below, he can occupy the space between the lines or even an eventual depth attack.
Moreover, Ndiaye also is intelligent in varying his positioning while looking for free space. In fact, it is quite usual to see the Senegalese giving solution on the flank, where he can upset the opponent with his decent pace and good dribble.
Yet, as we said previously, these players are pretty mobile in possession, and it was also noticeable descending movements from McBurnie to explore spaces between-the-lines, and McAtee deep near the flank.
Alternatively, they usually opt for the direct game, where Oliver McBurnie is the aerial reference. This player last season ranked in the 93.4th percentile (%) in aerial duels won, which is a stat which verifies such a statement.
The fact that the Blades opt to play with only two elements further on the pitch creates space for other players to integrate the offensive process. Such space is generally between the opposition’s full-back and centre-back, and the midfielders are the ones who most likely take advantage of it.
In our opinion, these kinds of movements are crucial to destabilising the opposition’s backline because, typically, the defenders are not expecting such off-the-ball action from the midfielders.
Moreover, one thing that could have defined the Blades’ success last season was their objectiveness and offensive efficiency. Referring to Wyscout, they not only shot about 12 times per match (two shots more than the Championship’s average) but were by far one of the most accurate teams in their league, with approximately 24% of shots on target.
As we see it, Sheffield United’s way of building and organising in attack was positive last season. Yet, next season in the Premier League, they need to be careful because such deep positioning exposes them to a possible counterattack, which in this top tier is most of the times very threatening, especially when you aren’t an endowed pace team.
Defensive phase
Concerning their defending strategy, the full-backs join the backline, forming a five-man line that gives shape to a 5-3-2.
The centre-backs, physically gifted, especially in height, are predominant in aerial duels and assure their team defensively in crossing situations or even set pieces.
Furthermore, they have an active role while defending by shortening the space between them and the offenders. Even though such behaviour can impede players from receiving the ball in that dangerous region, it also can threaten their defensive cohesion if there isn’t any coverage by the two other defenders when such a movement is made.
Another aspect that we found interesting to report is related to the non-symmetric xGA distribution displayed above. In fact, there is a higher tendency to be more threatened by Sheffield United’s right side than the left side. Jayden Bogle’s highly offensive pattern can explain such a stat.
Although this player wasn’t the most used as a right-back, in some cases, when he played, he took too long to reintegrate the defensive line because he was high on the pitch.
One of the more distinctive characteristics of this team is probably their high and intense pressing, with the primary objective of obstructing the opposition’s build-up. Indeed, according to Wyscout, their average PPDA was 8.69 while the League’s was 10,94, meaning that Sheffield United pressing was more well succeeded than their last season’s opponents.
This type of strategy implies a man-to-man marking during such a process. To succeed in it, intelligent and tactically developed players are required to adapt to different scenarios.
For instance, the midfielders seemed to understand their task well, especially in understanding whether the other team played with a three-man backline or not.
This high pressing also has its downsides, where huge voids are created due to this man-to-man marking. For example, the image below shows us that the consistent individual marking from the defensive midfielder opened a massive gap between the lines.
Finally, although the front two elements are pretty intensive in the first moment of pressing, if the other team build-up successfully, huge space is created behind them because they take too long to drop.
Transitions phase
Concerning their reaction right after they lost possession, Sheffield United were one of the best in their league.
As we can see above, their couterpressing recoveries were 714, which gives us 15.5 recoveries per game within 5 seconds after a possession loss. Again, this is one of Heckingbottom’s primary weapons, and we can expect a very intense and aggressive team this season in the Premier League. We also would like to highlight the experienced Oliver Norwood’s role in this aspect of the game where he was crucial, ranking in the 95.9th percentile (%) on defensive duels won.
On the one hand, although the counterattacks aren’t their most potent weapons, they have intelligent players capable of reading the different stages of the game and, in this way, seeking another way to hurt the opposition.
On the other hand, regarding the chapter on defensive transitions, Sheffield United’s flaws are due to their midfield’s lack of pace. This may be their biggest weakness, and to increase their defensive solidity, they need to recruit quicker players to their midfield.
Interesting attacking involvement by the centre-back
While watching this team’s matches, we noticed an unusual offensive pattern: the involvement of the right-centre back in high-pitch zones during their offensive organisation.
The Bosnian Anel Ahmedhodžić is a very interesting centre-back not only due to his stature (190cm) but, more importantly, due to his technical abilities.
Such qualities should have drawn attention to the head coach, and he took advantage of it.
As we referred, because the Blades only play with two attackers, there is free space to attack between the centre-back and the full-back. Ahmedhodžić, with this movement, surprises the opposition, who weren’t used to having one extra, unexpected attacker in such a dangerous position.
The uncertainty created in who should attack that space gives the Blades an extra advantage in attack.
Besides these movements, Ahmedhodžić also can upset the opposition with his dribble and ball progression in the build-up. As we can see below, the centre-back had a considerable number of dribbles after the halfway line, which is quite unusual for a player in his position.
We’ll also leave a game sequence below, where we can understand what he can technically do. Indeed, it is very unusual to see a centre-back with 190cm able to dribble past three or four opponents in such tight space.
Key player: Iliman Ndiaye
In our view, Iliman Ndiaye was a fundamental player in achieving Sheffield United’s goals. The Senegalese was the second most regular player in the last season’s Championship with 3.178 minutes. Such regularity was due to his consistently good performances, which allowed him to score 14 times and assist 11 in the league.
Referring to the radar above, Ndiaye is quite a balanced player in his in-possession game. He ranked in the 91.3rd percentile on passes made per 90 minutes and in the 92.3rd in passing accuracy. This offensive influence comes up not only due to his technical abilities but also his positioning, which, as we mentioned, is varied during the game, always looking for free space. He ranked in the 84.7th percentile in received passes per game.
He also stands out due to his on-ball capacity, especially in the dribble, where he combines his decent pace and technical quality. He ranked in the 93.4th percentile in dribbles per game — a revealing stat of his ball-progressing consistency.
He’s the type of player every centre-forward likes to have right behind them. With good vision and proper pass quality, he was crucial to The Blades’ offensive strategy. At 23 years old, Iliman seems in his ideal form to shine and surprise in this Premier League’s 2023/24 season.
One to watch: Anel Ahmedhodžić
We think that Anel Ahmedhodžić is a player to keep an eye on next season. The 24-year-old centre-back is one of the most valued elements of the Blades’ squad, where according to the Transfermarkt, he’s around €20m.
Such market appreciation is because of the type of player we have on hand. Indeed, as we referred, his technical quality and offensive involvement makes him a rare centre-back type. To verify what we just stated, the above radar shows that Ahmedhodžić ranked in the 95.7th percentile in shots per 90 minutes. Furthermore, he also ranked in the 97.4th percentile in the opposition’s box touches per game.
However, we foresee that such offensive contribution will decrease next season to what the new scenario demands. Defending first will be Sheffield United’s top priority, and as it goes, such on-ball incursions will be less usual in Ahmedhodžić’s game. Yet, we think he will still be able to call attention, especially in build-up moments, where he will surely manifest his quality and comfort.
TFA Verdict: 20th
Keeping Ndiaye was key to Sheff Utd’s survival hopes and at the time of writing, he was off to Marseille. Replacing him will now be key and they have recruited will in Benie Traore and Anis Slimane. However, it still does not feel like enough and they will be battling with Luton for bottom spot.
