EFL Championship 2018/19: Swansea City vs Sheffield United

In the EFL Championship evening kick-off, Swansea City saw off an in-form and promotion-chasing Sheffield United side by the smallest of margins at the Liberty Stadium. In this tactical analysis, well look in depth at how Swansea City were able to recover from a poor first-half to take all three points.

It was a game of two halves. The first belonged to the Blades, who wasted two big chances, before Swansea took theirs. It was an interesting tactical battle even if it did lack clear-cut chances in the first half.

The form books were slightly in favour of the visiting side. Chris Wilder’s side had won four Championship games in a row which saw them leapfrog Norwich City into the automatic promotion places before the 3pm kick-offs. During that four-match winning streak, the Blades had scored 10 goals, conceding just once. Ending such a run didn’t look highly likely for a Swansea City outfit who have struggled at home this season.

Incidentally, this was their first win on home soil against any side currently above them in the table. Their only away win against a side currently above them in the table also happened to come against Sheffield United, on the opening day of the season.

The line-ups

Both sides lined up as expected with only one team change between them as Oli McBurnie returned from illness to replace Courtney Baker-Richardson up front for the Swans.

Sheffield United lined up in their recognised 3-4-1-2 shape. Iit was going to be interesting to see how Swansea City would cope with their opponent’s desire to push their wide centre-backs forward in attacking support.

Sheffield United dominate from the start

Sheffield United like to get the ball into wide areas where their overlapping centre-backs provide added support. Swansea City quickly recognised this, and were keen to get numbers across and limit their space and availability to send crosses into the box.

The visitors also committed players forward in attack. For the first 15 or 20 minutes, they pinned Swansea City back in their own half, while their hosts lacked an outball from deep.

The scre