Michael Duff’s Cheltenham Town were ever so close to winning the play-offs last season. After winning the first leg away to eventual winners Northampton Town, a surprise 3-0 loss at home meant that Cheltenham Town would have to play their 2020/21 football in League Two. This season, they have started the season well having won three of their first five League Two matches.
The season is early; however, I was very impressed by the style implemented by Michael Duff in Cheltenham Town’s first-leg win against Northampton, and after they lost the second leg, I felt that they would be in an even better position this season to fight for promotion to League One.
This tactical analysis will use video analysis and data analysis to analyse Michael Duff’s tactics, mainly at the set up of his side and how his players position in an effective way in possession.
The Duff defensive blocks – Part One: In the opposition half
The next two sections will take a look at the overall defensive side of Michael Duff’s Cheltenham Town tactics. This section will take a look at the press in the opposition half where video analysis highlights a broken block which has been effective in forcing the opposition into longer, riskier passes.
Michael Duff sets his team in a 3-5-2 formation(used 84% of times last season), though, it is likely that in some matches he will use a variation of this, in a 5-3-2/5-2-1-2/5-1-2-2 at the back formation or in a 3-1-4-2/3-4-1-2 formation where the wings backs would drop deeper to form a back five. Depending on the match situation.
It is becoming more popular for football managers to apply the phrase ‘defend from the front’ to their team tactics, such as at Bayern Munich. The attacking players are more active in making defensive actions compared to five years ago. It appears that when the opposition has possession in their defensive third, and the Cheltenham attacking players feel it is necessary, they will aggressively press and this will form a block in parts.
What I mean by this is, the two Cheltenham strikers will look to apply pressure on the ball, and they will be joined by one of the Cheltenham Town midfielders, likely to be Premier League West Brom loanee Finn Azaz. This forms a 3-4-1-2 block. The front three are shown to be in a much higher position compared to the rest of the team.
The striker closest to the ball will look to apply pressure on the ball holder and will do this aggressively and quickly to rush the opponent on the ball. The supporting striker and midfielder(Azaz) will support the block by occupying central passing lane potentials.
If the ball holder passes wide, the striker that just pressed the ball holder will be able to press again, in support of the wing-back who is in a high enough position to press the new ball holder, it this happens. This type of press has been effective as they only allowed 9.76 passes per defensive action per 90 last season. Below shows Azaz, George Lloyd and Andy Williams pressing high up the pitch.
