“A sleeping giant starting to wake up”: Why Jonathan Morgan’s appointment can aid Sheffield United’s Championship survival bid – scout report

When Neil Redfearn took charge of Sheffield United Women back in August 2020, the former Liverpool Women and Doncaster Rovers Belles Ladies coach stated that his aim for the club was to get them challenging at the top of the league and gunning for promotion to the WSL.

However, despite them playing some really attractive football over the last couple of years, they have never been able to realise that dream, and a fourth-placed finish in 2020/21 was followed by a seventh place in 2021/22 as the club fell away from where they wanted to be. This time around, they have really struggled, with them sitting third-bottom when Redfearn resigned as head coach in November and looking nervously over their shoulders at the prospect of exiting the Women’s Championship in the wrong direction.

Redfearn was eventually replaced in February by Jonathan Morgan, who had been in charge of National League North side Burnley Women for the first part of the season, but who has previous experience in the second tier as Leicester City Women’s title-winning manager back in 2020/21. Already, he has implemented several changes to the way that his new team play as they fight to avoid the drop, and this tactical analysis will look at those in more detail to show why his appointment may well have given them the spark that they have been searching for all season.

Attack

First, though, the analysis will look at why they are in such a perilous position, breaking down the errors that they have made on the field and the reasons that they have been so easy to play against, both with and without the ball, starting with their attacking play.

One of the most noticeable things this season with Sheffield United Women is that they have made themselves so easy to contain, even when they are counterattacking and look to have the advantage over their opponents.

In this case, they have made their way into London City Lionesses’ third of the field and are now looking to move the ball into the space behind London City’s defensive line before they have had a chance to close off all available avenues into it. Rhema Lord-Mears, in the red circle, has recognised the need for urgency and is pointing at the area for Courtney Sweetman-Kirk to run into, but the striker instead moves towards her teammate and removes the possibility of that early pass being made.