With Burnley offering a distinct threat with their overlapping full-backs Swansea need width to deal with this, but they need to make sure not to overcommit in attack
Against Manchester United, Garry Monk had his Swansea City side line up in what, for regular viewers of the Swans, was a very unusual formation. A diamond of Cork, Ki, Shelvey & Sigurdsson sat behind Routledge and Gomis, allowing us to match Manchester United in midfield and stifle their creativity through the middle.
This worked brilliantly apart from a fifteen/twenty minute period in the second half, but in fairness to Monk I think he adjudged that we were, despite United's dominance in possession and a succession of corners, unlikely to concede. It was 1-1 at that point, and Swansea's players have spoken since about how the gameplan was to be in a position to go on and win the game with twenty minutes or so to go, so I think Monk was gambling on our defence holding firm.
United had been able to change their system by bringing on Antonio Valencia for Paddy McNair, and later Ashley Young for Luke Shaw, and until we brought on Jeff we were giving up lots of space down the flanks. It didn't end up costing us a goal, but the reason I've gone into this is because Burnley do offer a genuine threat down the flanks, and by playing wingers we'd be able to stifle the space available for overlapping runs.
Kieran Trippier has four assists from right-back, Ben Mee has an assist and two goals, while in front of the full-backs Burnley do look a threat out wide. I watched their game against WBA and I was very impressed - the movement out wide was a joy to behold and they thoroughly deserved their two goal lead. We can't afford to give them that kind of space and it makes me think that Monk may go with Dyer instead of Montero for his defensive capabilities.
Whoever we go with out wide, I firmly expect us to revert to a 4-2-3-1. We need to be careful though - if we overcommit in attack we will be punished, and how effectively our wingers track back is likely to be a crucial factor in deciding the outcome of the match. With Danny Ings proving to be excellent in the air it's crucial we restrict service to the nine-goal frontman, and with Ashley Barnes also having grabbed himself five goals he needs to be watched too.