A tactical look at the average positions map of last Saturday’s 1-1 draw away at bottom club West Brom.
The average positions maps, courtesy of WhoScored.com provide a general overview of the teams’ shape, as they show each player’s average position based on their touches during the game. They can be skewed at times when players switch positions (wingers switching flanks for example), but in general they provide a good overview, in particular how defensive or attacking they are set up, as well the overall balance, width and formation.
Average positions – West Brom 1-1 Swansea City (blue). pic.twitter.com/cZEFqkok3h
— Vital Swansea (@VitalSwansea) April 8, 2018
The first thing to notice is the greater overall balance for the Swans compared to West Brom. It’s far more horizontally symmetrical, and is a clear 3-4-2-1 setup, with Andre Ayew more central than Sam Clucas, behind the lone striker Tammy Abraham.
There was a severe lack of width though, and with only three attacking players in the opposition’s half, compared to 7 for West Brom, we struggled to cause many problems in front of goal as the wing backs weren’t given free license to get forward.
If we are brave enough (coy enough) to revert to a back four, the extra player in midfield (as a holding midfielder) will have the added benefit of pushing the other midfielders and attacking players further up the field. Offering Tammy extra support.
— Andy T (@andytidy_80) April 8, 2018
West Brom’s average positions show a 4-2-3-1 shape, with their left winger (14) wider than his opposite number (10) – who operated (on average) in a more central attacking role, and number 19 as their central attacking midfielder, behind the striker (9).
We also did a feature comparing the average position maps of Carvalhal’s first 3 games and his last 3 games (before the draw at West Brom) – you can read that here
