Analysis: A Look Into Rotherham United
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Paul Heckingbottom’s men are at home again as they host an out-of-form Rotherham United on Tuesday night in what will be a hotly contested local derby.
Sheffield United are now eyeing up four wins from four after coming from behind at halftime against Burnley at the weekend to win 5-2.
Since Matt Taylor took charge of Rotherham United, they have won twice in nine games – averaging 0.89 points per game.
The Millers still deploy a 3-5-2 formation which worked well for them under Paul Warne. This is how I think Rotherham will line up against the Blades on Tuesday evening:
Although the Millers are in poor form, they still have players that are capable of producing some real pieces of individual quality – notably the likes of Norton-Cuffy and Ogbene, Barlaser too.
Rotherham United average just 0.96 expected goals per game – the joint 2nd lowest in the division. However, they average 1.21 goals scored per game – the 10th best in the league. Proving that they are clinical when they get a chance to score.
The Millers have so far averaged 1.89 goal-creating actions per game, the 12th best in the league. Essentially this underlines that Rotherham United are capable of producing moments of skill via passing actions and/or dribbling actions which then lead to a goal.
I spoke about Barlaser earlier, he is the orchestrator for Rotherham. Rotherham this season has created 46 shooting opportunities as a result of Barlaser’s passes.
Ogbene and Norton-Cuffy create shooting chances mostly through their dribbling abilities, but they are more than useful when it comes to passing combinations in the final third.
The three combined [Barlaser, Ogbene, Norton-Cuffy] accumulate over 9 shot-creating actions per 90, which reinforces the concept that these three are a big triple threat for Rotherham United.
However, the main concerning thing from a Rotherham point of view is their recent poor form defensively. They have conceded twelve goals in their last five games, and only picked up just a single point in the process. They have also conceded the highest expected goals in the league so far.
The infogol model currently has Rotherham in 24th place based on their performance metrics combined.
I expect United to win the game, however, this is the type of game where the underdog in considerably poor form can spring the upset, especially given that it is a local derby.