Prior to the 1-1 home draw with Walsall, Swindon had taken one point out of a possible 15 and were sliding down the table at an alarming rate – sitting 17th after the defeat to Crewe Alexandra and only four points off the bottom two.

Some of those creeping fears have been assuaged by three improved performances against well-fancied sides in Walsall, Barnet, and Bristol Rovers, from which Town claimed five points.

Switching to a back three and playing some more exciting and direct football, things have been looking up, and the numbers back that up.

In that run of five games, Swindon scored just one goal, and rarely looked like scoring. Their attacking play was often pedestrian, with very few risks taken. That has changed in the last week, with four big chances created across the run.

In that period of five games from York City to Crewe, Town produced a combined xG of 5.21; in the last week alone, they have created 5.19 xG.

Swindon have created more and looked more dangerous, and the stats show very clearly how their methods have changed. Town have had possession figures of 38, 28, and 42 per cent, respectively, across those games, but over half of their completed passes have been inside the opposition’s half.

Joseph Hungbo has looked dangerous on the counter attack for Swindon Town (Image: Andy Crook)

They have been moving the ball forward far more effectively and have been able to capitalise on it when they do. Against Barnet, a whopping 62 per cent of their passes were in The Bee’s half of the pitch, leading to 11 shots on goal.

Swindon have been at their best this season when they have been sitting back and looking to counter, as evidenced by the fact that all four of their wins this campaign have come when they have had less possession than their opposition, and their new style leans into that.

There has also been a noticeable jump in the energy of the team. Swindon have run over 104 kilometres in each of the three games, something they had only done once in the ten games before that.

Ian Holloway spoke last week about how his players had not just run longer distances, but this had also been at greater intensity, with Billy Kirkman, Mitch Clark, and Aaron Drinan each covering over a kilometre at a sprint or high speed against Barnet.

The new style has brought the best out of Aaron Drinan (Image: Focus Images)

With their lower possession numbers, a lot of this work has been without the ball, and this has seen these three games all place in the top five for most defensive actions in a Swindon game this season. The new shape has done a strong job at blocking the middle of the pitch, leading to a lot of crosses, but Town have consistently been able to deal with those.  

The only area of caution has been defensively, as this kind of effort and aggression has led to only two goals conceded in the three games, but they have had to rely on Connor Ripley’s top form to do so.

Town have given up more than 1.9 xG in each of the three games; only against Oldham Athletic and York have they done that before this term.

Having been able to become more dynamic in attack and energetic all over the pitch, the next step will need to be preventing so many attacks from making it to the point of having shots on goal, with Barnet and Rovers having 22 attempts each, behind only Oldham this season, even if many of those were low-quality efforts.