Talking Tactics: 3-4-3 Blind Mice scared stiff by the Swans

Opposition Line-Up

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Luke Williams opted to make two changes from the side that lost 2-1 to Ipswich in the last outing for the Swans with Liam Cullen coming in to replace Sam Yates and Placheta in to replace Oliver Cooper out on the left wing. Swansea set up in their usual 4-2-3-1 formation with emphasis on their two wide men in Placheta & Ronald to stretch the Sunderland defensive line wide and exploit quick transitions on the ball.

Sunderland Line-Up

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Internal rumours had been flying around that Sunderland were going to switch formation with an injury to Jack Clarke, this came to be true as Mike Dodds opted to start the game in a 3-4-3.

With Dan Ballard’s suspension, Dodd’s made four changes to his starting XI, Jenson Seelt came in to replace Ballard, Rusyn was re-introduced for Mason Burstow, Callum Styles came in to deputise for the injured Clarke and Romain Mundle made way for Abdoullah Ba.

Styles & Hume operated as Sunderland’s wingbacks creating width and Hjelde came in to form a back three with O’Nien and Seelt.

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Out of Shape & Out of Ideas

Dodds opted to utilise his squad rotation and worked through the week on preparing for this game by changing the natural team shape to better accommodate the players available to Dodds on matchday however it backfired and did so in spectacular fashion.

I for one have not been averse to Sunderland switching to a 3-4-3 in games they feel they’ll be possession-shy in, however switching shape is something that should be done during an International break or pre-season, not after the week Sunderland has just had.

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The back three/five seemed fairly orthodox however the midfield & attacking lines were totally disjointed. Rusyn operated wide right, Jobe as a central striker and Abdoullah Ba was left isolated out on the left wing. So much so that Ba didn’t have more than 15 touches of the ball until Sunderland were already 2-0 down.

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Setting Traps from Ourselves

Mike Dodds is no tactical slouch and knew that Swansea were going to come to the Stadium of Light and press high, by switching to essentially a back five, the clear intent was to draw Swansea out through quick interchanges inside of the Sunderland final third before quickly transitioning through the lines and attacking with pace.

By opting for three central defenders, the plan was to form two box midfields similar to the diagram below between Hjelde, Styles, Neil & O’Nien on the left and then Seelt, Hume, Ekwah & O’Nien on the right side in order to play through the press.

The addition of O’Nien as the central defender meant there was always an extra body present to bypass the press however Sunderland were the architects of their own downfall at times.

Coaches Voice

Sunderland had clearly planned to invite Swansea in, but I’m sure many fans (myself included) didn’t expect 42% of the ball to be within Sunderland’s own final third during the first half, early warning signs appeared when Ekwah & Styles had wayward passes pounced upon yet Dodds persisted in his ways in the hope of finding some joy through a quick breakaway.

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Swans Expose in Styles

Whether Luke Williams was aware of a potential debut for Callum Styles or not, it was clear from the early exchanges that he was being targeted down the left flank for Sunderland — Styles unfortunately looked like someone who hasn’t played for a while, and off the ball he was being torched by Ronald Pereira every time space opened up for a quick give and go.

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Unfortunately for Styles, it will probably be a debut to forget as both goals came down his side and he’ll probably feel like he could’ve done more to prevent both strikes if He’d reacted with more urgency and taken a better natural position defensively, he did however make 7 recoveries in this game whilst also winning 2/2 of his aerial and 4/8 of his ground duels from the Left-Wingback position.

Styles looks like he could be a useful asset for Sunderland and certainly showed flashes of quality in his close control on the ball, it’s just his defensive work off the ball and lack of match sharpness that came to the fore in this one up against a tricky customer in January signing Ronald.

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If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it

Dodds pulled the plug on his three back gameplan on the 36-minute mark (albeit Swansea could’ve been half a dozen up by this point) and swiftly culled his experiment with an hour left to play for Sunderland so salvage something from a miserable opening 30 minutes.

Unsurprisingly, as soon as Sunderland switched back to their more natural 4-3-3 / 4-1-4-1 they began to assert dominance over Swansea and managed to test Carl Rushworth before the close of the half.

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The second half will of course be clouded by the fact that Swansea had no real desire to attack with a lead to defend, though Sunderland’s switch back to their normal formation saw sustained pressure for pretty much the whole 45-minute spell.

Clear-cut chances were still few & far between however the introduction of Mundle and Hemir did offer Sunderland a different kind of threat.

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It’s clear that the players are far more comfortable in their natural discipline of when to press, when to move into space and when to drop in a midfield three and it showed, familiar patterns of play began to emerge after the tactical switch and the players looked more at ease in their natural shape man for man against Swansea.

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The Legend of Semedo

Luis Hemir Semedo saw his first minutes in a Sunderland shirt for what felt like months, the Portuguese striker came on with 20 minutes to play and to his defence, looked sharp and determined to offer Sunderland something in the final third. His touch was good and his link-up play stood out to me as a target striker, with 4/4 lay-offs complete and 2/3 duels won as a lone striker. Hopefully in latter stages of the season we’ll have the opportunity to see more of Semedo as Burstow’s loan comes to an end and Rusyn occupies the Jack Clarke shaped void we’re about to encounter.

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Set-Piece Scoring

Sunderland surprisingly continued in their utilisation of set-pieces to pull one goal back with a lovely delivery onto the oncoming O’Nien’s head for him to plant one with time left on the clock and if not for a goal-line clearance would’ve also seen Anthony Patterson on the scoresheet to steal a point.

Despite being a real area of weakness in the past, Sunderland seem to have made more of their set-plays this season and it’s nice to see us becoming a more genuine threat from them.

Photo by Athena Pictures/Getty Images

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Wide-Right Rigg

We also saw a glimpse of Chris Rigg being shoehorned onto the right wing in the latter stages of this game and still the youngster seemed to fit in seamlessly in the latter stages of the game, in his 18 minutes he had 12 touches, 5/5 accurate passes including 1/1 on a lovely diagonal switch whilst also making two passes into the final third in the process.

Despite only being a limited cameo, I hope we see more of Rigg as the season draws to a close and next year becomes the priority.

Photoby Michael Driver/MI News/NurPhoto via Getty Images

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In Conclusion

If we’ve learned anything from this match it’s that we’re not quite ready to switch formations on the fly and fluidity as we’d like to think and despite the final run-in now being a chance for Dodds to experiment, I’m sure he’ll think twice about doing so in future. With Sunderland almost seemingly out of the playoff race now it’s a good opportunity to trial for life without some of our star players from last season however it might be a tad too early to try and change too much for now. With Norwich, Southampton & Leicester all on the horizon I’m sure we’ll see the return of three central defenders in a conservative approach but this time more to survive than be expansive & invite pressure.