Yes I am mate he's a popular guy is our Andrew, some of the **** he sends me through Whatsapp is ****ing scandalous mate
Worse mate I've passed a few tame ones on to Davy, he hasn't told me to **** off yet so I may up the anti and send more badderer ones
Have to take the positives from tonight, hard fought draw away from home. Bamford excellent for the equaliser, having the option of him and Roofe on form is brilliant. To take 10 points from these first 3 games is fantastic, don't think anyone on here wouldn't have taken that 3 or 4 weeks ago. No matter what happens this will be a very interesting and exciting season. I'm already excited to get to Elland Road when I'm home. MOT
All up I think it was a good game, and a draw was a fair result. I think we got a bit of a shock first half, in that Swansea were playing a very similar game to us, and it caught us a bit unawares resulting in us taking time to start putting it together. I think Swansea shaded it performance wise, especially in first half, but we brought'em unstuck in second. I don't think any of our players had an outstanding game other than Berardi who seemed to have an excellent game. Berardi's going to be hard to dislodge, and Pontus is going to have to bide his time. Goals against, keeper must bare the brunt of blame for both. First one he should've done much better, however, the shot shouldn't have been allowed to happen. Second one he was again caught 2 steps too far forward, and he flapped at the ball as it went over his head. We learned that Bielsa has brought resolve to the team, in that they didn't drop their heads and were rewarded for some good defence and attacking displays. We had the chance to steal the game if Harrison had shot first time instead of trying to walk ball into net. So Swansea caught us on blind side and sent a shockwave through our system, but better early than halfway through season. I think Bielsa would've recognised the shock and will go about countering any would be shockwaves to our system.
Swansea deserved to win, but we stuck at it and after the first half hour it was nip and tuck. Fer ran the midfield. Both goals the keepers fault? The first one has a question mark on it. Mcburnie hit it early, but he also hit it in a hard place for keepers to get down to. If it goes round the post it’s a great save, if it goes in it’s a mistake. I imagine he'll blame himself, but it’s in the category of ‘could have done better’ not the complete clanger one. The second one? It was a great header. It was also a free one. No idea where you’re coming from with that.
See my comments on the highlights thread...........you'll see that BPF got a hand to the ball, second goal, BPF out of position and flapping at thin air.
Only watched this one on TV (not travelling to Wales on a Tuesday night! ) so my thoughts may not be as detailed as they'd be if I'd watched the game live, but anyway: Definitely the poorest performance so far, but to provide some context: We still drew against a side with a superb manager and a squad of lower end Premier League/Upper end Championship standard players, away from home on a Tuesday night, after our captain gets injured in the warm-up and we play without a recognised centre half on the pitch all evening. I'll take that. Peacock-Farrell was a bit mixed. Think he should've saved the first goal (although the defending was atrocious), and the second goal, despite it being a fantastic header, his positioning didn't look great to me. He then pulls out two brilliant stops to deny McBurnie a hat-trick and Celina a winner, so he did redeem himself somewhat. Not sure if he's quite at the level to a number one over the whole season, but if Bielsa thinks so, who am I to argue? Defensively, not great today. Shackleton is definitely a prospect, and going forwards he looked excellent at times. He worked admirably, but he got skinned a few times (in fairness to him, Montero is frighteningly quick) and positionally wasn't always perfect. But he did set up the Roofe goal, and for an 18 year old making his full league debut, I can't criticise too harshly! Berardi was once again the better of the two centre halves. Ayling is an okay stop-gap, but he's completely wasted at CB. He's a full back all day long now. Wasn't much understanding between the two of them, which is understandable given the circumstances in which they were thrown together. Hopefully Cooper won't miss any matches - if he is out for longer, we need a loan CB in desperately (or need to throw Jansson back in). Douglas was solid on the whole, but gave away a few cheap free kicks and wasn't at the level we know he can be offensively. Phillips started slow and sluggishly, but the whole team did, and it was bold of Bielsa to make the change so early. Didn't really look like it worked much, but then we equalised twice so what do I know! I think the yellow card forced Bielsa's hand, because honestly although Phillips hadn't started well, he could've taken any of them off after the opening half hour. Klich was assured in possession, won a few free kicks, and generally kept the ball fairly well. Wasn't particularly inventive going forwards, though. Baker did well when he came on, I thought. Showed composure with the ball, a couple of nice touches and driving runs, and was dogged in his defensive work. A real find. Alioski was very poor in the first half, but to be fair to him, the service and assistance he got was non-existent. That said, he did get into one or two promising positions and fluffed his lines every time. This was more like the Alioski in our barren runs last year, on the periphery of games. There's a player in there for sure, and I have no doubt Bielsa will drag it out of him, but I don't think he's the right player to start against the bigger, more aggressive teams. Harrison was much more involved and seems to put himself about a lot more than Alioski. His final ball needs some work, but he's another who looks like a very promising find. Saiz just sometimes needs to take the simple option instead of going for the spectacular, but the way he carried the ball and some of his twists and turns yesterday were fantastic. Final ball was poor yesterday, though. Hernandez was probably one of the best players on the pitch for me yesterday. His goal aside, he finds space, uses the ball well, and even at his age he gets through his fair share of work defensively. A really disciplined display, with the requisite level of Hernandez flair. Roofe's movement in and around the box is superb, and a great goal again. He seems to drift into space constantly, and his pace is such a threat in behind. Bamford was also excellent when he came on - his turn for the goal was brilliant, and he actually had the nous to pick someone out in the box rather than just put the ball in and hope for the best. His pace was an asset against a tiring defence and his energy and pressing off the bench was great to see. He looks so hungry - could be a great signing. Overall, not a great performance, but only when you base it upon what we've already seen this season. Swansea were very good at times, but only one of our defenders would be a first choice in his position, so I think context is important. We'll play better than that and lose, so a hard-fought point sounds good to me. Nice to see the manager be so bold and proactive, and I like the fact we showed some steel and resolve to hang in the game when Swansea were on top and force an equaliser. Last season that would've ended 4-1 to Swansea, so progress and all that!
Could have told you, give the masses what they want, when they have got it they loose interest. Bit like children really.
We showed great character & resilience to come away with a point v a vibrant Swansea side especially with the enforced changes & no recognised centre-back in what was an enthralling game Positives We passed our first test of the season as we came back from being a goal down twice. Kept playing Bielsa's style of football, not resorting to hoof. Heads never went down. Our fitness told as we finished very strongly with the Swans tiring in the last 30 minutes. A point gained v another potential top six side Bielsa's no-nonsense tactical change after only 27 minutes Got more control of the game when Klich dropped into a defensive role Bielsa's bringing Bamford on who created our equaliser Gaining a draw with no recognised CB & playing three other players out of their natural position. The performance of young Shackleton. Great support from our fans which comes with the territory. Negatives Lost the continuity, rhythm & fluency of our first three games due to lack of resources & positional changes. Ayling is no centre-back. No dominant header of a ball at the back. BPF should have saved the scuff shot from McBurnnie. Referee was poor. First the M4 shut then the M1, arrived home at 4.30am. 7 Peacock-Farrell 7 Shackelton 4 Phillips 6 Ayling 8 Beratdi MOTM 6 Douglas 6 Saiz 7 Klich 7 Hernandez 4 Alioski 7 Roofe Subs 7 Baker 6 Harrison 7 Bamford
Pretty much what I saw too, with one exception. I didn't see Harrison bringing any plusses to the game. I'm struggling to think of anything positive he managed once he got the ball, and even less worthwhile activity off the ball. Perhaps I'm influenced by the hype that surrounded him when he signed, but even if there had been no hype, I'm pretty sure my opinion would be the same. "Ah, but you're an Alioski fan", I can hear you say. And it's true, I am. However, whilst it's clear that I don't think he was an improvement on Alioski, I agree that Alioski was not an improvement on him! They were both disappointing. That said, it's only just occurring to me now that the lowest common denominator could be that Swansea focussed their defence on our left wing, once they knew the Ayling threat had been neutered. It's possible, but cannot recollect sufficient detail to comment truthfully.
I've got to say I too was a little disapointed with Harrison, probably unfair on him as I was expecting more and I'd built up in my own head this vision of what he "should" be like, early yet though. Douglas was another who wasn't quite at the races for me, both in defence and going forward, maybe with Ayling not tearing up and down the right Swansea had less to concentrate on and nullifiedf our left, maybe Swansea are just a very good team and I'm not giving them enough credit.
He wasn't perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but I thought he put himself about more (pretty vague description, I know!). I basically just got the impression that Alioski shied away from the game whilst Harrison was keen to get involved - it's all perception, though. Harrison definitely should've shot when he was clear at the end instead of trying to walk it in, but he had the tenacity and drive to get into the position in the first place - and he found himself in promising positions a few more times. Granted, he wasted them, though! For the record, I'm a big Alioski fan as well - I feel he gets given a lot of undeserved stick, and actually had a fairly credible first season when you consider his goal and assist tallies playing for a side who rarely looked like scoring for half a season. He's not perfect, but if he were he wouldn't be in the Championship! I'm very happy having him in the squad, but he was very poor yesterday. I'll forgive him the odd bad game given he's been excellent in every other match. That's possible - Swansea did play Roberts at RW (a full back by trade, if I'm not mistaken), presumably to combat the Douglas/Alioski (and later Harrison) threat. I hesitate to say Bielsa was outmanoeuvred tactically, but it's fair to say Potter did his homework on us. Obviously it helped him that Cooper got injured, nullifying Ayling's threat (although Shackleton did well offensively!).
Agree with all of that other than second goal definitely being Berardis fault. If you don’t jump and give the striker a free header he will always make the keeper look poor. Otherwise good analysis.
