'What they are doing is outstanding' - Everything Jamie Carragher said about Sheffield United in Sky Sports tactical analysis

The unorthodox 3-5-2 formation employed by Chris Wilder has attracted attention in United’s first season back in the Premier League – but is nothing new to Blades followers.

It was used successfully in United’s promotion-winning campaign and has been effective during their impressive start to this season.

Speaking during Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football show, Carragher provided a cutting edge analysis of the system.

“They play a 3-5-2 – or three at the back – and they do it different to any other team I have seen,” said Carragher, during a studio discussion with ex-Blade Conor Coady.

“Conor’s involved in a back three (at Wolves) and I actually made my debut for Liverpool as part of a team which played a back three.

“The whole point of that system is you’ve got strength through the middle, so you’ve got three centre backs – normally three players in the middle – and maybe two strikers at the top of the pitch. And where you feel you can be exposed or the opposition feel that system can be exposed is in the wide areas.

“The reason they do it so differently is because they expose the opposition in the wide areas where they are supposed to be weak.”

Carragher pointed to United currently topping the attacks in wide positions statistics, with Wilder’s men third behind Manchester City and Liverpool in the most open play crosses.

“Sheffield United, you wouldn’t expect them to dominate possession and to see them in those positions,” he said. “When you play wing backs it’s not necessarily easy to get crosses in because a lot of the time that man is in his own. Sometimes you need overlapping runs, you need strikers making runs – that’s why they get crosses in.

“There’s two or three people finding themselves in wide positions and run off people which means they’ve actually got time to get crosses in. I think what they are doing is outstanding and it is something completely different from what I’ve seen for three at the back.”