EFL Championship 2019/20: Charlton Athletic vs Derby County – Tactical Analysis

After an amazing start to the EFL Championship season, things have slowed down for Charlton Athletic in their recent five matches. One win and three losses is somewhat an average record, but considering the strength of their opponents such as Fulham or Swansea, it’s an understandable record for Lee Bowyer’s side. With that in mind, they hoped to bounce back when welcoming Derby County to The Valley stadium.

In contrast to Charlton, Derby have had a slow start to the season with only three wins after twelve matches. But a strong form in the last five matches built confidence for the squad as they aimed for a positive result in London. Unfortunately, things went the opposite way for Phillip Cocu’s side. Macauley Bonne gave Charlton an early start with a goal during the first ten minutes. While Derby were still struggling to find a way to threaten Dillon Phillips’ goal, Naby Sarr doubled their lead and in-form player Conor Gallagher rounded up their 3-0 win at the 67^th minute.

This tactical analysis will provide an analysis of Charlton’s dominant win over Derby. Meanwhile, using statistics, we will point out what went wrong in Cocu’s tactics over Bowyer’s tactics.

Lineups

With Lee Bowyer received a three-match touchline ban, his assistant manager, Johnnie Jackson stepped up to replace the former Leeds player. He went for a similar formation to the one that Bowyer set up when Charlton played Fulham before the international break. Maintaining the back-five was one of the most noticeable points as he dragged Darren Pratley to the central centre-back position and replacing Jason Pearce in the meantime.

Lyle Taylor is only expected to return in mid-November and that gave Macauley Bonne the chance to lead the line. Besides Taylor, new signing Chuks Aneke, Ben Purrington and Lewis Page also missed out through different injuries. As a replacement for the injured full-backs, Jake Forster-Caskey was used as a left-back in recent matches.

Cocu opted to keep the same formation when they secured three points against Luton Town. The former PSV manager only made one change to the starting lineup, with Martyn Waghorn was chosen to occupy the right-winger position in place of Florian Jozefzoon.

Also, Krystian Bielik and Jayden Bogle both started after injury scares that forced them to withdraw from their respective national teams. Besides that, Derby had a few key names missed out from this match in Jack Marriott, Tom Huddlestone and Richard Keogh due to different injuries.

Charltons style of play

Lining up in a 5-4-1 formation, but Charlton didn’t show the intention of sitting back the whole time. Instead, they opted for a positive approach right at the start of the match. By using their formation in a flexible way, it was possible for the home side to keep doing what they have done best.

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