Premier League 2019/20: Wolves vs West Ham – tactical analysis

In the Premier League midweek fixture, Wolves played against West Ham at the Molineux Stadium. Last weekend, the home team secured a 1-1 draw on Sheffield United, recorded a 9-game unbeaten role, that was the longest unbeaten streak of the team in history. Wolves participated in continental competition this season, played more matches, but they managed to obtain a balance between both competitions. They qualified to the knockout stages while occupied the 5^th position in the domestic league.

Despite the 1-0 victory at the Stamford Bridge, West Ham played poorly recently, that was the only win in the last eight games. Manuel Pellegrini was under pressure, he must produce some positives results in the short term.

In this tactical analysis, we will show you the analysis of both teams, and how Nuno Espírito Santo’s tactics won the game.

Lineups

Wolves lined up in a 5-4-1 formation, which they seldom used in last season. Romain Saïss was suspended last game, he returned to the squad and Max Kilman was on the bench. The Belgian Leander Dendoncker continued to play as a right centre back, ahead of proper centre back Jesús Vallejo. The rest of the team remained the same from last game, which Jonny Otto, Rúben Neves, João Moutinho, and Matt Doherty at the midfield.

For West Ham, they played in a 4-4-1-1 formation. Same with their opponent, Pellegrini only made one change in his lineup. Michail Antonio was injured, the most expensive West Ham player in history, Sébastian Haller backed to the lineup. Felipe Anderson was behind the lone striker, with Pablo Fornals and Robert Snodgrass on both sides.

Poor defending of the away team

In order to illustrate the weak defence of West Ham, first, we showed how easy could Wolves kept the ball under their feet. Nuno’s team style was not playing from the back, but the West Ham defence, again, lacked intensity, allowed Wolves to keep the ball.

West Ham defended in a 4-4-2 shape in this game. When Wolves got the ball, their centre backs, Dendoncker, Saïss and Conor Coady split wide to stretch West Ham players, with Doherty and Jonny provided the width on both sides. Meanwhile, Neves occupied the centre of the pitch, and on occasions, Moutinho dropped to receive the ball.