How Scott Lindsey used Ronan Darcy vs Rochdale

The use of Ronan Darcy as a right-back in Swindon Town’s 3-0 win against Rochdale was a move that surprised many, so what was Scott Lindsey trying to achieve with this selection? Total Sport’s Joe Acklam looks at how Darcy was used.

In spite of the strong start to the season that has been made by Remeao Hutton as Swindon’s first choice right-back, Lindsey chose to move the former-Bolton midfielder into that role for the visit of League Two’s bottom club.

Speaking after the game about the decision, Scott Lindsey said: “It was a gamble from me because he has never played there before.

“I just felt that we were lacking in how I wanted us to play and I wanted certain actions where my midfield players rolled out and my full-backs rolled in.

“I wanted to dominate and control from those deep areas and I know how good [Darcy] is on the ball, he will never go hiding or missing and he will always try and find angles and get on the ball.”

So, the idea was to use Darcy as an inverted wing-back, who would come inside and allow Ben Gladwin and Saidou Khan the freedom to drift into wide spaces without going into places on the pitch which were already filled.

It was apparent that Lindsey was right when he said that he wanted “actions” where Darcy would come inside as he would not constantly be playing inside, often behaving like a regular full-back to provide a wide option, but there were obvious early signs of the strategy working.

Three minutes in Darcy came into the centre from a throw-in from the left flank and into a space vacated by Abraham Odoh who had come across to press Louis Reed, Darcy became an easier option to receive a pass and quickly worked it out to Harry McKirdy in space on the right touchline.

Just a minute later the first-time right-back remained central as Swindon kept possession, and with the ball at the feet of Sol Brynn, Khan moved out to the right channel unmarked to receive a clipped pass from his goalkeeper as Liam Kelly had remained with Darcy centrally.

Much of this movement was enabled by the Rochdale left-winger Odoh, who was being used largely infield and not covering wide areas, allowing Khan and Gladwin to drift wide into space which was not being covered.

These same movements were generally not seen on the left from Frazer Blake-Tracy, as the movement of Jonny Williams inside meant that space out wide would be created from the winger rather than the full-back.

Defensively, Darcy would generally play narrowly, presumably because it was a more familiar position for him without the ball and this again was helped by how narrow Odoh was playing.

This narrow position did cause problems of its own though, as Liam Kelly and Cameron John could find space outside Darcy if Town players did not properly stick to their assignments.

Although this could help in defensive transitions, in this still Khan has just turned the ball over but instead of being able to play forward to Odoh, as would have been possible if Darcy had been on the right touchline, Rochdale are forced to play backwards and allow Swindon to get back in their shape.

This had been an issue for Swindon against Leyton Orient as Reed was tasked with defending a large space of the pitch in front of the defence on his own, which allowed for good chance for both Paul Smyth and George Moncur.

Overall, defensively this was ploy was not wholly successful as Rochdale were more dangerous down the Swindon right as they were afforded space out wide, but this issue can be eased by familiarity and in possession it allowed Khan and Gladwin to be far more creative as they could roam and attack a greater amount of space.