EFL League Two 2019/20: Salford City vs Swindon Town – Tactical Analysis

With the League Two season have gone halfway through the first stage, the league table was left without a distinctive gap between the promotion-chasers and the mid-table teams. The distance between the leader Forest Green Rovers and their chasers in Bradford City, Swindon Town and Crewe Alexandra was only one point. At the same time, they were only separated with the twelveth and thirteenth-placed Cambridge United and Plymouth Argyle by just eight points, which left the race to the promotion-chasing group wide open.

Among the matches that weren’t postponed due to international duties last weekend, Swindon’s trip to Salford City’s Peninsula Stadium really caught the eyes of the fans. As mentioned, Swindon were one point off the top spot and with the strong form of three wins and one draw in their last five matches, they were heading close to their hope of returning to League One. On the opposite side, Salford are enjoying their first season in the Football League system and have had a strong start to it. With 24 points after seventeen matches, the promotion hopes all of a sudden became a reality for them.

That strong run came to a halt as they fell short against Swindon in a game where Salford’s Adam Rooney scored a brace from the penalty spot but didn’t manage to help his team came out on top. This tactical analysis will provide an analysis of Swindon’s 3-2 win over Salford. Meanwhile, using statistics, we will point out what went wrong with Graham Alexander’s tactics against Richie Wellens’ tactics.

Lineups

Salford entered this match with a little twist to their formation in the previous match against Tranmere Rovers in the EFL Trophy. From a 3-5-2 formation, Alexander switched to a 4-4-2 that was implemented in recent weeks. Among the players who missed out through injuries, loanee Jack Baldwin’s service would be missed as Liam Hogan was chosen to fill into his position.

At the same time, goalkeeper Kyle Letheren was also absented from the squad list with Chris Neal returned to the number one spot and the former York goalkeeper was registered on the bench. Ibou Touray hoped to continue his strong run to the season at left-back with the form that helped him secured two goals, three assists along with a 7.18 rating from WhoScored.

On the opposite side, Swindon also saw their formation being switched from a 3-5-2 to their familiar 4-2-3-1 formation. At the heart of their defence, Wellens didn’t have the service of Dion Conroy on his books as he missed out through injury. Also saw their names weren’t included in the squad list were Lloyd Isgrove and Cameron McGlip as they were recovering from their respective injuries.

In contrast, Rob Hunt managed to shake off his injury problem to complete the team’s back-four that already consisted of centre-backs Mathieu Baudry, Zeki Fryers and left-back Ellis Iandolo. Danny Rose also made the substitutes alongside Norwich loanee Diallang Jaiyesimi and former Birmingham defender Paul Caddis. The team’s main goal-providers would still be their attacking midfielder trio of Jerry Yates, Michael Doughty and Kaiyne Woolery and they provided the support for Eoin Doyle.

A tepid first-half from both sides

Approaching this match after a strong run that saw them secured three wins and a draw, it was no surprise to see them playing with high confidence. When in possession, Salford players tended to play out from the back. While both full-backs usually pushed higher up the pitch and positioned themselves in an attacking position, two central midfielders would stay back and create a passing block along with Cameron Burgess and Liam Hogan.

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