Chelsea talking tactics: Sheffield United’s cutting edge has not dulled

Chelsea’s march towards the Champions League continues with an away trip to Sheffield United. The Blades have not dulled since the Blues saw them last.

Last season, when it seemed certain that Sheffield United was getting promoted, their tactics were a novelty to be analyzed. But there was also a sense that the novelty would translate poorly to the Premier League with many expecting the Blades to simply drop right back down.

The exact opposite happened. Chelsea got an early taste of it with their 2-2 draw early in the season, but Sheffield United’s novelty tactics proved to be quite legit. In fact, they may have dethroned Wolverhampton Wanders as being the best promoted club in recent memory in just the following season.

Of course, the restart was unkind to the Blades. Just one point in four matches, two of which were against Aston Villa and Newcastle, is not good reading. The following three matches did see an improvement with wins over Tottenham and Wolverhampton, so it is clear that the Blades have not dulled. They just needed some time to sharpen up before facing Chelsea.

Overlapping center backs have been covered before, but the summary is that the wingbacks will tuck in to support the midfield and provide coverage as the wider center backs take their position on the wing. It is all about taking advantage of the players’ skillsets and creating overloads in ways most teams are simply unprepared for. All of this is done from a 3-5-2, the formation that is perhaps best suited to adjust and create overloads overall.

Defensively they are just as fluid. While it could easily look like a 5-3-2 on paper, it often shifts back and forth between several shapes. This makes Sheffield United and incredibly difficult team to play against as, like water, they simply fill the cracks on offense and defense.

But on that same token, it also requires players who know each other perfectly. For that reason, Sheffield United rotates little. And with a game every three to four days, that is going to hurt. Sheffield United simply does not have the depth to keep going this much for this long which makes their resurgence after a rough post restart all the stranger.

The simple fact is that Sheffield United is a cohesive unit and Chris Wilder is (in a world where Liverpool did not walk away with the title in the fall) arguably the manager of the season. For all intents and purposes, this is a League One team nipping at the heels of Champions League qualification without looking out of place.

Sheffield United may have had their rough restart, but Chelsea cannot assume that they are any less dangerous than they were beforehand. This club will push Chelsea to be a total unit perhaps more than any other Premier League team. Frank Lampard will need to get his selection perfect and the players will need to come in motivated to deal with Sheffield’s flowing attack and defense. It already tripped Chelsea up once this season and now is not the time for it to happen again.