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How Luke Jephcott's role change unlocked Swindon's attack

Luke Jephcott’s increased involvement in the build-up helped to unlock a forward line which has struggled to score goals all season. Total Sport’s Joe Acklam looks into the role of the on-loan forward.

It was evolution rather than revolution from Scott Lindsey which saw Swindon Town step up a level and deliver a performance which befitted their early season league position.

Swindon switched from a 235 in possession to a 2314 during the second half against Bradford before Lindsey utilised the same shape from the start at the One Call Stadium as they ran out 5-2 winners against Mansfield Town.

The new shape predominantly saw Jonny Williams provided greater freedom to roam around the field instead of remaining on the forward line, but it was the changed role of Jephcott which played a huge part in Town’s greater dynamism.

Since his arrival from Home Park, Jephcott had largely been used as a poacher and when we looked at his role shortly after his arrival it was clear he was being asked to stay within the width of the penalty area and to stay as close to goal as he could, he was almost a non-factor in build-up.

However, all of a sudden in Nottinghamshire his movement further away from goal became a far bigger part of Swindon’s game plan and proved to be a catalyst for all five of Swindon’s goals.

According to Sofascore, Jephcott had 31 touches against Mansfield when he has 16.5 touches per 90 so far this season, almost exactly double, and also completed 18 passes where he averages 7.5, showing that he was just much more involved than he had been.

It was not just by getting on the ball that he was able to positively impact the game, his off-the-ball movement was crucial and his influence was clear in each of Swindon’s goals.

For the opener he identifies the target of the throw-in, quickly drops off to win the ball before setting Jacob Wakeling away to set up Williams.

For Williams’ second goal he drops deep to receive the ball from Darcy, dragging Stephen Quinn with him before setting the ball wide to Remeao Hutton.

After passing the ball, he immediately darts into the right channel, taking Quinn with him again and freeing up the huge patch of grass that Swindon’s right-back charges into and create the goal.

Not only did he score the third goal, but his movement in the build-up created the chance.

He dropped off the last defender into space to give Ellis Iandolo a passing option and this commits not only Oliver Hawkins, who follows him, but also John-Joe O’Toole who squares up to attempt to stop his through ball for Wakeling.

His move here creates the space in behind for Wakeling to run into and creates the situation Swindon had been struggling to find in recent games in which the defenders are unaware of their surroundings.

This caused Hawkins and O’Toole to both try to cover back and prevent Wakeling playing the ball across goal to try and stop a tap in, not knowing that no one was in position to do this, allowing Jephcott to hover in the middle of the box for the cutback and have a simple finish.

The fourth goal was another example of him dropping deep to free up the space in behind as he pulls off the back line to create an option for Louis Reed and Hawkins followed him.

Instead, Reed played a sublime ball in behind for Hutton and Wakeling to chase and this eventually resulted in Ronan Darcy’s fine strike.

Then Jephcott won the penalty, but it was his anticipation which put him in that position as before Hutton attempted to slide in Tyrese Shade, he has already made his move beyond Hawkins and when the pass is overhit he is in position to chase it down and win the penalty.

Examples of Jephcott using his movement to cause havoc are not entirely new, against Colchester his movement helped set up Shade’s wondergoal as no Colchester defenders followed him as he received the ball, which allowed him to quickly play it wide to Williams to assist the only goal of the game.

The signs from the weekend were that this use of the summer signing could be the solution to Town’s biggest problem so far this season which has been allowing opposition defences to be settled and not have time to communicate.

If Jephcott continues to play this way it forces teams playing Swindon to make a decision on how to deal with it between having their defenders follow him into midfield areas and create space for Wakeling to run into, as happened against Mansfield.

Or have midfielders cover him and afford more space to the strongest part of Swindon’s team and allow the Town midfield to take even more control.

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Swindon Town FC

Swindon Town Football Club

STFC are Swindon's top football team, based at The County Ground Stadium.

The County Ground, County Road, Swindon, Wiltshire , SN1 2ED

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