EFL Championship 2019/20: Sheffield Wednesday vs Leeds United – tactical analysis

Saturday’s lunchtime kick-off in the Championship saw Gary Monk’s Sheffield Wednesday play out a 0-0 stalemate with Marco Bielsa’s Leeds United at Hillsborough. The point for both sides saw Wednesday drop from third in the Championship table to fifth and Bielsa’s side drop from second to third, with Preston North End moving into the automatic promotion spot.

This tactical analysis will dissect the goalless draw, highlighting areas of the two sides’ tactics which led to the result and use analysis to explain their set-ups further.

Lineups

The home side opted for a 4-4-2, a switch from the 4-1-4-1 system Monk used in Wednesday’s last outing – a 1-0 home victory over Stoke City. Throughout this season Wednesday’s manager has loyally stuck with four-back formations, fluctuating between the 4-4-2 and the 4-1-4-1. Monk has deployed a 4-2-3-1 on one occasion, but not since his first game in charge – a 2-0 away victory over Huddersfield Town. In terms of personnel changes, the 40-year-old made three changes to his starting lineup. Cameron Dawson, Julian Börner and Massimo Luongo made way for Keiren Westwood, Joey Pelupessy and Atdhe Nuhiu.

Leeds’ head coach, Bielsa, opted for a 3-4-3 – which he has done on occasion this season. Predominantly the Argentine’s formation of choice in recent months has been a 4-1-4-1, with some experimentation of three-back formations. The 3-4-3 was last deployed by Leeds the weekend before the goalless draw in a 1-0 home victory over Birmingham City. Despite the change in structure from the midweek 1-1 draw with Preston, Bielsa made no changes in personnel to his starting lineup.