League One 2021/22: Wimbledon target Oxford United’s set-piece woes to end winless run – tactical analysis

We are into the first international break of the 2021-22 season. With various top-flight leagues taking a skip, the EFL League One delivered some great club football action across England with Wimbledon against Oxford United being among the best ones.

Wimbledon came into the match on a 4 game winless run after registering an opening day vitctory. Oxford United, on the other hand, came into the game following an impressive win against Lincoln City last week.

This tactical analysis discusses the tactics deployed by both teams and how Wimbledon executed an impressive victory against their opponents. Lets begin the analysis.

Lineups

Wimbledon made 3 changes to the lineup that drew against Ipswich Town. Alexander, Assal and Pressley made way for Guinness-Walker, Rudoni and Mebude as Robinson decided to ring in the changes to put Wimbledons season back on track.

Oxford United made one change to the lineup that beat Lincoln City 3-1 last weekend with Ryan Williams coming into the lineup for Gavin Whyte.  Despite the changes in personnel, both of them went with the same formation into the game.

Oxfords off-ball shape struggles against Wimbledons direct approach

Oxford United are one of the very few teams that have used 4-3-3 shape extensively both with and without possession. A system assumed to be only useful for the elite clubs like Manchester City, Liverpool, etc in the world, is put forward to good effect at the 3rd division by Karl Robinson. They play with the same structure both in and out of possession. The structure does shift into a 4-5-1 without possession if they decide to defend in a mid-block.

Though the 4-3-3 off