As usual, Januarys congested schedule is getting heavy with some cup rounds occurring in this period. In the FA Cup third round, Sheffield Wednesday from the Championship met Luton, currently second in League One. This tactical analysis will focus on how they ended up with a goalless draw.
When a match ends goalless, there are two main reason. Firstly, both teams had a bad day thus were awful in front of the goal. Or secondly, both teams were good at eliminating the opponent’s strengths. In our case, the second option explains the scoreline, as both Wednesday and Luton struggled to create goalscoring chances.
Besides the struggles, let’s see what chances there were. Looking into the first half you may see the biggest chances came when one team won the ball and counter-attacked the oppositions unsettled defence. Luton in particular had some promising chances. However, when both sides had to build from deep, they struggled a lot due to the opponent’s pressing scheme. Therefore pressing phases were important factors in this game.
Team News
The home side lined up in the usual 4-1-4-1 formation where both wingers drop into the midfield line. However, in possession they move to the first line. Furthermore, when Wednesday had the ball Matias and Boyd usually positioned themselves in the half-spaces, rather than next to the sideline. This was important in this match due to the opponents narrow set-up. On the other hand, Luton formed a 4-3-3/4-3-1-2 shape.
Sheffield Wednesday pressing scheme
The home side employed a 4-1-4-1 formation without the ball with Hutchinson responsible for covering the space in front of the centre-backs. Also, he tasked with an important marking role which aiming to cover Lee in the #10 space. As a result, only the rest of the midfielders and the forward featured in the pressing phase.
Moreover, Wedn
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