Four of the starting XI were 21 or younger and a further one (Sainz) was 23; over the course of the game, seven players 21 or under contributed (including two 18 yr olds) and a further two were 23. For all the shortcomings, we could, arguably should, have won the match. The Swans' goal was down to a lapse by two senior players, McLean and Stacey, and our failure to convert our xG (1.4; Swansea 0.4) into at least 1 goal lies largely at the feet of Sargent and Sainz. Luke Williams described his players as "destroyed" after the match, so much effort and concentration had they had to expend to keep us at bay. Wait for the return match at Carrow Road in late January; it will be a different story.
No, I'm not ignoring it. Forson was just the fallguy paying for the mistakes of others. What would you have done in his position? Jump out of the way of the cut-back and just hope someone else dealt with it? The situation arose from the misunderstanding between McLean and Stacey, with McLean playing a short pass to where he thought Stacey was going to be, when Stacey had already started moving forward expecting a longer, chipped pass down the line.
There may have been a mistake between McLean / Stacey, that resulted in Swansea gaining the ball in a good area of the field, but that was not the cause of the goal. The ball was going nowhere near the goal, until Forson touch it. What was Forson's role when he touched the ball ? He wasn't marking anybody ! Possibly to prevent the cross, in which case he was successful, but in doing so he put the ball in the net. Fall Guy = a person who is falsely blamed for something that has gone wrong, or for a crime that they have not committed. How is Forson by any stretch of the imagination a fall guy.
No, I would have kicked it anywhere except into my own net. Own goals happen, but I'm pretty sure Forson would not be saying it was all McLean and Stacey's fault.
Does it matter? They all on the spur of the moment, f*cked up but that is being a human being playing football. Sh*t happens!!
Not sure if the YouTube highlights were realistic, but it looked fairly entertaining and I don't think Forston could do anything about the goal really, giant cockup between McLean and Stacey though giving the ball away. I know the modern way is to play out from the back, but we so often get ourselves into trouble fannying about. I think it was Swansea's counter after Sainz went through 1:1 and sorta fluffed it, saw Gibbs tearing back to try and slow down Swansea's attack and create a nuance of himself, I thought that was good determination there.
McLean had the option of letting the ball run out for a goal kick; he was between the ball and the nearest Swansea player, and well positioned to block him off. We could then have reset, and played out from the restart, rather than penned into the corner. What on earth was he thinking of?
Totally agree Robbie. I couldn't believe McLean played the ball instead of letting it run out. Did he, for some reason, think a City player was the last to touch it and it was going out for a corner? But the result was an own goal by Forson that he was in no way responsible for. The ball struck him and deflected into the net. Totally unlucky.
