Breezy, I don't think that anyone is freaking out, we are all rooting for our team in different ways. Observations on perceived weaknesses do not necessarily imply criticism of what is being achieved. No matter how well a team performs there is always room for improvement. The moment you stop seeking that improvement and settle for what you've got is when you start to go backwards. We are doing a lot of things right at the moment which is why we are where we're at. But we are doing many things wrong as well, mainly because we are new to this level and still learning; and we have to keep learning otherwise we'll be back in the NPC before we know it. Now we've tasted the Premier League I don't think that any of us fancy the trip back down. Buck obviously agrees that there is much room for improvement. You don't publicly state that you need 4 to 6 new players if everything is hunky dory - and I doubt he is looking just for squad backup. Imo, he is looking for quality that will slot into the starting line up. Over the years I have trained, played with and against, spoken to at length, many professional/international players some of whom have been close friends and colleagues. The abiding message that I pass on from their experience, not my own, is the fact that in every game you endeavour to work the opposing keeper as hard as you can. From what I can see, we do not do that and we certainly do not translate our overwhelming possession into clear chances at goal. Buck will know this and, despite his public statement that we were excellent against Villa, he will privately, I believe, accept that their keeper having to make just one save in the entire game was not good enough. What we must realise is, that whilst we are still learning about the PL, other teams are not standing still. They are also learning. About us. What we have to do to stay up is to learn quicker than them, certainly with regard to the other teams around us. This is what this thread is about. Dai has been pretty vociferous but he is not being the Prophet of Doom, he is merely expressing his anxiety, his great anxiety, that we don't sit back and let it all slip through our fingers. We are all chuffed about where we are and how well we are doing and personally my chest puffs out with pride when I see praise for our team in the media. We are doing great but there are issues to be addressed and it would be folly to ignore them - not that we can do anything about it via this forum or any other. The thing is, we can at least debate those issues and concerns, swap views, criticise and praise to our heart's content on here. We can all be managers but poor old Buck, well he's stuck with the real thing and thus far doing a fine job. Long may that continue.
We exude quality , for peanuts , all over the pitch . I couldn't possibly be more proud of the League 1 regulars that got us here in the first place & threw injuries to others , again , are keeping us in the race no matter the league . It's stupendous what they've accomplished these past 4 years & I refuse to hunt for things to be wrong amoungst them . They are the creme de la creme of footballers . Gary Monk ? It makes me crazy to hear bad things about Captain cool as he does more than a job , injured or not . Gower ? Don't get me started ? . You guys can draw up all the wish lists you want .. at any price , but I'll pass , these kind of guys & there minutes do it for me & so does the accumulating Bank account
Breezy that's a good read in fairness to Ivor, can't argue with it, I suggest a beer while you read it, could get a bit thirsty before the end!............... please log in to view this image
Do we really need 4 to 6 players , seriously ? Or does someone need to know he can have 4 to 6 players ? I was thinking of 2 possibly 3 but after watching a bit of Lita the other day I'm back to 1 possibly 2 . A versatile defender & possibly a mid fielder ( depending on Bodde ) . 4 to 6 players will rock the boat & possibly break what doesn't need to be fixed . No disrespect & I so enjoy reading all the posts on here but in the end it's what I believe . I just have to question asking for that many players when good players are coming back & on the bench
What a magnificent post Mostly the things I feel about the Swans (i.e - not working the keeper hard enough) that I wanted to say but keep quiet in case of any reprisals, mostly because most of my posts are constructive criticism and perhaps it might have been one too many for some of you guys. I asked the question a couple of months ago about who was going to get the goals for you (I think after 4 games). The question perhaps is not who is going to score but how? Does BR need to change the way the team plays? Can the team play another way? These are what he needs to figure out and it is as much a learning curve for him as it the players. The Swans play nearly 'total' football that is enjoyable for the neutral to watch but it just lacks that bit in the last 20 - 30 yards. Be patient, give BR time to make the changes I am sure he knows he needs to make.
i'd disagree that its good to watch for the neutrals. they almost sent me to sleep with the help of villa on sunday. all that passing in their own half for one shot on goal. whats the point if you aren't going to carve out chances at the end of all that possession? i think its a total myth that swansea are good to watch. what swansea are is a very good passing side but you need more than that. norwich are a very good passing side BUT we aren't afraid to open up and play a long ball or be more direct when the moment requires it. its strange, both clubs are doing pretty well in this league but neither have quite got the balance right. swansea are perhaps too negative and we are perhaps too positive if anything, hence the lack of clean sheets. but on the evidence so far i doubt either team will go down, so will either manager be thinking about changing something that may well be flawed but currently working well enough? the only teams who get the balance perfect usually end up in the top four - well, unless we suddenly throw £100m+ at it, i think thats unlikely for us!!
its good to see that most people agree with me and Ivor is spot on about the fact that it is not about criticism of anyone but an observation on where we are lacking in the team. cracker says we dont need 4-6 layers but i beg to differ and also does brendan........the side has many positive but fans must realise that we have a few minuses also. one being our lack of goals and our midfielders lack of penetration with to many back passes when they come under pressure, some players are not as productive in the premiership as they were in the championship one being imo Sinclair.i will and have criticised brendan on a few occasions about his substitution policies, So we can improve in all departments including management decisions and im sure any shortfalls we have will be rectified in january just like every other club will be doing and we must start by injecting some strength and depth into the team......so far the team as done us proud but its clear that improvements need to be made...
playing your brand of football is very admirable but you need to try and do it about 30 yards further up the pitch for it to really be effective. when we played you at carrow road earlier this season lambert got his tactics bang on - we pressed you on the edge of your penalty area! you kept passing and passing but barely got 40 yards from your own goal. we tackled hard and pressed high and if other teams do that to you its debatable whether you have a plan b. lambert knew this would work following our matches last season. your problem may be the 2nd round of matches when everyone in the league realises this is how to grind you to a halt. i fully expect lambert to delve into the market for four players in january so i would think rodgers will do so too
Like most of your posts Ivor , this one was a joy to read & I got a lot out of it . If it sounded like I was disrespectful toward your post , I apologize . It wasn't meant that way sir . I get very nervous changing the team to much , to quick . I enjoy watching money guys from teams like Liverpool , Man U & other teams with multi-million pound signings get frustrated at lack of time with the ball . Sometimes we may not know what to do with it in the end but at least the big fish players from the money teams have limited time to figure out what there going to do with it either . To me , 4 to 6 players in January is to much & trying to bring in that many , so quickly , may not bring the quality for money spent . I'm nervous we will spent big & go backwards .
Quite an astute post Teams are now locking on to the fact that if they push 3 up to our penalty area when we have a goal kick we have to go long and our basic build-from-the-back is cut off.
Perhaps the answer is to bring all outfield players back to the edge of our own box for a goal kick. Vorm should be able to pick one of them out unmarked
No apologies necessary, Breezy. I respect your views and at this stage of the season who is to say you won't, ultimately, be proved right? At the end of the day this forum is a medium where we express opinions and read what others have to say. We will never all agree and I think that that is part of the fun. It's good to know what others think and understand why they they think it. Like the Swans need to keep learning on the pitch we posters can all learn from each other and modify our views on occasion. I have frequently been given food for thought by some of the posts on here and altered my pov as a result. One thing we all share is our love of football in general and in particular the love of our Swans. We are united in the common goal of seeing our team survive this season and then go from strength to strength in the future. It's just that sometimes we differ in the way we think that we should go about doing that. Great fun, although can be stressful at times and good to see input from other fans such as Thai (thanks for the appreciation) and others who give us a view from outside the paddock.
Yes, we do. As the saying goes, depth is greated until you have to play it. We have vulnerabilities in depth. We had them last season and the season before. We have them even more now at this level. We are just a few injuries or suspensions from having to scramble and play even more young players than we are already - Jazz for Rangel is just one example (not that I am concerned about Jazz, I have confidence in him, but then who covers for Jazz). I bet we're one of the youngest teams in the league on any given Saturday - replace Caulker for Monk and it's a cert. Then there is the issue of drops in form, which at this level cannot be tolerated - everybody has to be going, every game, every minute of every game because there is no room to carry anyone. Sinclair has yet to score a non-penalty goal this season, he tends to disappear and his defensive concentration is suspect - don't mean to pick him out specifically but he is easy to identify. There has been serious discussion to starting Routlege - unthinkable last season but not this season. Players cannot be permitted to coast, whether they do so intentionally or not, and we need players in the squad, hungry to play, capable of delivering an impact that keeps everybody on their toes. Rogers' usual blue sky banter - "we were terrific" etc - notwithstanding, is getting even tough for him to swallow, which is why he came out and publicly stated his goal is to sign 4 to 6. There's no point in signing reserves or squad players. We need players capable of breaking apart Villa like opposition. Allen is the most talented and energetic midfielder we have, when he's on he is terrific, but he can't carry the load by himself, and against Villa he was a tad off understandable considering the day's circumstances. But we need to add quality in every position possible - it's a necessary part of the Club's growth and evolution. Do we need to add. Yes, every club needs to add, always, and we are no exception. There is only one direction, which is up, looking down is not pretty and falling down is tough - look at the clubs over the past 5 years or so that have been relegated from the Prem and where they are now. Every club we compete against, finances permitting, are looking to add, to improve. Actually, the health of our finances is the one area where we may have a slight edge on the clubs scrambling and fighting to stay up - who knows how solid their balance sheets are.
Ivor, and you too Yankee, solid posts there, the both of you, and I think the consensus is that we need to shake things up a bit, and get some bite up front, will be an interesting month in December, could be Joe Allen is given a more attacking mid field roll, Would Rodgers bring Dobbie back in to sit just behind Graham? Will Routledge start on the wing, giving Sinclair a rest to the bench, Caulker and Agustien due to come back into the mix too, not to mention Situ! Interesting times ahead, not to mention the new signings, I'd prefer one or two quality players that 6 average though, need better than what we have!.......... please log in to view this image
Agree on pretty much everything, as per usual Ivor. Something that's been bugging me, but I haven't been able to put my finger on, for ages is that when we break down the left, well, here's how it goes. Taylor surges forward with the ball. Sinclair is stood on the wing, and if anything has a habit of running towards his own goal on the touchline before standing, static, waiting for the pass to feet, so Taylor ends up going inside him more often than not. The amount of times I saw us breaking, with a huge gap between Hutton, the touchline, and Sinclair, begging for a lightning winger to run into, was amazing, and what stunned me even more was that Sinclair didn't once make this run. For me, that is either naivety or laziness, and I hope the former! Even if Taylor doesn't play the through ball down the line (which would be nice once in a while) the fact that Sinclair is running into space would drag the fullback (in this example Hutton) further out wide, giving Taylor, and the rest of the team, more space in the middle of the field. I can't say I've noticed quite the same thing with Dyer because he gets about so much, but I was pretty peed off with Sinclair by the end of the game to be honest. I can't remember seeing him commit to making a selfless run once, and the amount of times he could have "gone" into loads of space, creating loads of problems, beggared belief.
Graham & Lita are good enough up front , if we can find a quality striker for good money ... why not but not a huge concern . Dyer , Britton , Allen , Gower , Agustien , Sinclair , Dobbie , Routledge & possibly Bodde is plenty in the middle . Monk , Williams & Caulker should take care of the CB position . Taylor & Rangel need a bit of help . There all on wages already & all know the system well . Now I'm not against a few players coming in but when the January window opens , were a Premier League team & teams will want Premier League prices for those 4 to six players & those players will want high paying Premier League contract wages . Keep who we have , grab a defender , maybe two & let er rip . If we don;t stay up we still got money to rebuild along with money for the good players leaving , possibly . What we won't have if we go down , is those 4 to 6 big contracts to pay if things don't work out . We;re not doing bad , we don't need to change that much ... ask the home fans at Anfield . Sorry Buck , just an opinion
sorry we are not strong enough yet, britton was given a lesson on sunday he was too lightweight to cope, danny ran his socks off but got nowhere, Sinclair dont look premiership capable, and if it was not for monk and is defenders including vorm keeping us in the game we could have lost that match by 3 goals.......we need players better than what we have most definitely....
So who are you wanting to replace out of our starting XI on Sunday? Which players are not good enough to hold a regular place in the team? Genuine question.
sinclair, britton, danny for starters, they are good for emergency replacements but we need better in january than these three.....great championship players and an odd game in the premiership is about it, they are too weak, Lita looks more likely to score when he plays which is non existent this season......most of our players with the exception of the back four and vorm with young joe are not good enough in reality.....
