So Leighton James has penned an interesting commentary on last Friday's Post ... http://www.thisissouthwales.co.uk/Leighton-James-Time-axe-wingers/story-14090616-detail/story.html ... Can't say that I disagree with him. He is not advocating a difference in playing style but a difference in shape and utilization of player resources. Old timers will recognize this formation as something from the Toshack era. Not sure I would go with Ash sweeping Caulker and Monk; I prefer the idea of Moras sweeping Ash and Caulker. If Rangel was fit, he and Taylor as wing backs in this formation would work very well with Lita and Taylor spear-heading an attack with Allen, Agustien, Briton in midfield. Away from home we should not be permitting the Blackburn's of this world, or any team for that matter, to score 4 goals on 30% possession and lose a game 4-2; that's insane. His comments on Sinclair and Dyer are also fairly valid I think. Routledge in for Dyer last Saturday indicates that this line of thinking is going on with BR and his staff also.
did you watch the match yankee, Scott came into the middle more and he scored from there. he usually stays on the wing and is quiet. we should play him in the middle every game and i bet he will score more goals from there. we have other wingers so there should not be a problem.....
Sinclair & Dyer will play the majority of games & will play them on the outside where there wicked pace and moves will create space for everyone else on the inside . Great set up by Sinclair to almost get Agustien a goal last time out . I think Sinclair might not score as many goals but will instrumental on others scoring in the near future as Rodgers works on his complete game .
One swallow doesn't make a Spring .... but I get your drift, to a point. He was center of the box on the corner that lead to Routledge's scuff volley on which he turned to put the ball on net .... but then he's been in that position on corners most of the season - the only other successful example has been the head-on from a corner (same position in the box) for Lita's first goal of the season.
Yep, good ol' 5-3-2, coupled with our posession mania would frustrate the crap out of our opposition in their park and give us good confidence of a point with the opportunity for more. We could still play our pretty, easy on the eye passing style, but it would at the very least be a very solid plan B.
Cant stand Leighton James,he really gets on my wick!! the guy is such a tactical genious and awesome manager that he has been sacked from such football institutions as Llanelli (twice,got them relegated once) Morecambe (sacked after 5 months) Aberaman (sacked ) Gainsborough Trinity (lasted 1 season) And the best of the lot, St Josephs 6th Form Football Acadamy which was scrapped after terrible performances, including defeat to the schools own 6th form pupils team who were not in the Acadamy He did however do quite well at Garden Village I just cant take the guy serious after that lot, his track record as a coach and manager proves he is absolutly clueless, if Brenden Rodgers thinks its worth doing then fine but listening to the ramblings of an Alcoholic Lolly pop man in his weekly rant of "Leighton knows best" holds nothing of note for me. Im guessing that Leighton fails to mention that the opposition are doubling up on our wingers alot and this in turn is creating space for us in the midfield, therefore giving us a good share of the ball. He makes 1 or 2 points about the physical side of the game which in all honesty wasnt the main reason we lost against Blackburn, the reason we lost was because our Defending from set pieces was **** !! Of course it would be great to match these teams in a physical battle but its just not going to happen with what we have is it, the best way to stop teams hurting us is to keep the ball,its not a perfect plan but its as close to perfect as we are going to get with a team full of Santas little Helpers The team needs tweaking and Kemy showed up well on the week end,he should get a start next game,i wouldnt drop Sinclair because even if not playing well he still keeps the opposition honest,Dyer i would keep on the bench as Routeledge is putting in more end product and Nathen could probably do with being rested, i would also keep Luke moore in the team and either one of DG and Lita is fine by me the defence is a no brainer with Caulker,Williams,Jazz and Taylor
Scott sinclair only comes into the middle to pick up any clearences that drop there from our corners IMO, he also cuts in from the wing but as for coming into the middle more id say maybe 27 seconds more than he normally does !!
Was wondering who was going to be first Let me see if I can stir the pot some more. Not withstanding Norway's points ... all perfectly valid ... LJ does suggest an interesting formation, which however "blast from the past" it is could be an interesting plan B. Anyway agree with it or disagree with it - we've always talked over and over, for seasons now it seems, that we've lacked a Plan B - sometimes we've even lacked an effective Plan A. We've tried putting subs on the field at various points with sometimes disastrous outcomes (e.g. Wolves). We've seen Serran and Tate come on as a third central defender. We've seen Ash played as a midfield player. We've thrown various weird combinations of forwards on to the field in the last few minutes, which seemed to do more to confuse us than the opposition. But these were always late in the game shifts. Last season we had a sort of starting Plan A/B alternative depending on whether Pratley or Dobbie were starting in midfield. But we don't have an definitive starting Plan B, something that we can look at that distinctly says this is something different, that accomplishes a controlled shift tactically but leverages all of the things that we're really good at. You can argue if it's not broke don't fix it. But although not broke, our Plan A is not always so efficient and effective. We're in the process of tweaking our Plan A - who are the most productive wingers, who plays best in the hole behind the forward, what's the right blend of Allen, Agustien, Britton, Gower, and so on, but these tweaks are meant to optimize not necessarily look at an oppositional situation that demands something different and execute to get the best result. As the saying goes you can't teach an old dog new tricks, perhaps our dogs are stretched to the limits by the tricks they've already learned and tweaking the one master plan is all we can dare do; but it doesn't really give us much versatility or flexibility and we're not so Barca that we can just play our game and let the opposition do all the worrying about us - thing is they are doing the worrying, they are trying adjustments and they're starting to get it right. All of our opposition look at what's gone before, learn, tweak and improve. It's going to get tougher!
It's like the boy who cried wolf, I think. For years his articles have had an "I know better" air to them, so on the occasions he does make a valid point it's likely to be rejected by many purely on track record! Personally, I don't think a sweeper system would work in modern football. Modern forwards would just use the opportunity get forward more and they'd never be offside. I like the idea of a 5-3-2 as a backup, but I don't see how a sweeper could work any more, sadly.
I just look at his track record as a coach/manager, it tells me everything i need to know about the mans abilities, and what he knows about football, he has an unbeliveble arrogance if you listen to him on the radio phone ins, the amount of times he says to people with valid points "you know nothing" "ive played the game,you havent" is quite staggering considering he has been sacked from most jobs he has had and the standard of football he was managing at was well within the realms of an average jo park player with a flair for coaching/tactics. He has slagged almost every manager we ve had(exept of course tosh) "leighton knows best" well, im sure he does...when it comes to helping children cross the road Good player in his day, is a dinosaur that should never be allowed to air his views in public, unless its a public house and he is getting the round in
Sinclair & Dyer will play the majority of games & will play them on the outside where there wicked pace and moves will create space for everyone else on the inside So you know for sure Brendan's game plan for the future.. it has been mentioned many times by better people in football than me or you that sinclair should be moved to a more central roll and i can see the reason why and i agree totally. routledge has been better on the wing than sinclair this season..... and for those slagging LJ off he was one of the top wingers of his day and knows more about that position than anyone and he gives a valid point, just because he is not managerial material does not mean he dont know what he is talking about , There are plenty of failed managers who were great footballers who when they talked you would listen to them....our own J.Charles, B. Charlton just to name two.......
Well Dai, plenty of footballers that talked sense and plenty that didnt, LJ is in the latter catagory!! A Clown who is trying too hard to pretend he knows about formation and tactics, which he doesnt as his managerial record proves, not even his pearls of wisdom could inspire 6th form students (the acadamy ones) to beat their fellow 6th form students(the ones he deemed not good enough for the acadamy!!) in a match between the two!! Thats how amazing he is,im not taking anything away from him as a player at all,he was good. Just because he could cross a ball and beat a player it doesnt mean that he is the ext Jose Mourinho !! Some great players when they talked you listened but that was mostly because they were earning a living on the after dinner speaking circuit, and the stories were about the highs and lows of their careers not always their tactical insight into formations and tactics!!
you obviously dont know him so you cant really comment. if you did know him than you would not disrespect him the way you do. National and local papers dont give jobs to people who dont know what they are talking about.....
Another tactically astute article by Leighton James....although an age old saying springs to mind....you throw enough **** and some of it will stick!!! The one week where we played poorly against Blackburn and he is advocating dropping our wingers and people are agreeing with him...its mad!!! No one would have been agreeing with this after the Liverpool game where our pace and wingers were giving them hell or when they basically walked through Wolves backwards!! No way in god's black and white earth with Rodgers drop both Sinclair AND Dyer if fit. Maybe one or the other but he will only change them for Routledge ANOTHER WINGER I'll give it to him he was a brilliant player in his time but as a pundit...i don't think so! Lets have a look at some of his pearls of wisdom!!! 1. "a football match is not a beauty contest" - Maybe in his day but try telling that to Barca, Real, Man C, Chelsea, Bayern, Juve etc etc...teams that any club should be looking to mimic to be successful!! 2. "Blackburn had done their research, they knew they had to stop Swansea playing last Saturday and that's exactly what they did" - Only to a degree. They were dirty and the ref gave us no protection but when we went 3-1 down and we switched the midfielder from in front of the defence and put Moore on behind Lita they couldn't cope. We scored and then we seemed to go in our shell again, thats our mental issues...**** all to do with Blackburn!! if we hadnt i think IMO we would have got a point at least. It was nothing to do with Blackburn doing their homework. Even with getting the ball to Samba and Yakubu....was nothing to do with doing their homework against us...they do that against EVERYONE it's just we couldnt cope and Yakubu was on fire...it happens, if he had been playing like he did yesterday against Sunderland we would have had three points and this article would have been even more laughable! 3. "Agustien not as skilful as other options" - Really!! Skill and class oozed from him against Fulham and he was clearly superior to Gower and he was only on the pitch for 20 mins. If he hadn't got injured Gower wouldn't be anywhere near the squad!! 4. "Apart from scoring a very rare goal, what real contribution has Dyer made this season?" - Ummmm im pretty sure in the games I have watched Dyer always gets 2 sometimes 3 players gathering around him because of his pace and trickery....I'm no pro but I am pretty sure that would create a LOAD more space in other areas of the pitch. He also draws fouls brilliantly which leads to free kicks in dangerous positions which we need to take advantage of (which we ain't going to do with Gower taking them!) or leads to yellow cards which means defenders step off him or as we all saw against Bolton, gets people sent off! Granted his crosses need work but they can be worked on!! Then he goes on to say that Swansea shouldn't abandon their style...im sure having pacey wingers to hit on the counter and terrorise defenders with forging good partnerships with our fullbacks was part of our style!! :s **** article in a **** paper!! Apologies...i hadnt realised i had ranted so much...tough day at the office lol
what the **** has knowing the guy got to do with it Dai ??you sound exactly like LJ now!! i show him the same respect he shows to players,managers and football supporters who beg to have a different opinion to his, ie non what so ever !! As for the "local and National newspapers dont give jobs to people who dont know what they are talking about" your completly wrong,they very often do the opposite because it sells papers!! hence why the likes of Jeremy Clarkson and Robbie Savage newspaper columns are so popular The main reason LJ has a column in the local rag is not because he knows what he is talking about its because he doesnt !! i cant beleive you think otherwise!! his views are regarded as comedy more than insight. He is from the same old school as Toshack, look where his experience got him with the National team Dai ?? and i am/was a massive supporter of what Tosh was trying to do,thing is his methods were regarded as out of date with the modern game and he had problems gaining respect(right or wrong) because of it. I see the same thing with LJ ,just because you were good 30yrs ago doesnt mean you operate on the cutting edge 30yrs later. I see his views as insulting to what a great coach like Brenden Rodgers is trying to do at the club,he did the same with Martinez and Sousa "we should do this" or"he should have done that"really? how the **** do you know LJ ? when things arnt going well it undermines what the coach/manager of the swans is trying to do,this filters onto the terraces and doesnt help the team. Im not going to try and convince you otherwise ,we will just agree to disagree on this. Leighton James IMO has proven himself to know nothing about formation and tactics, his managerial record is evidence of this.Everyone can talk the talk but leighton never walked the walk, which makes his "insightful comments" even more hilarious He should stick to being a lollypop man
Daiswan-"you obviously dont know him so you cant really comment" Leighton james "i ve played the game you havent so you dont know what your talking about and cant comment on it" Dai are you LJ in disguise by any chance ??
Yankee- I think rodgers got his subs bang on at the week end, he is also learning in this league.I thought our bench looks better with Dyer and Kemy coming on and Luke and Routeledge starting (if that makes sense) The plan B thing is difficult IMO, we have a certain type of player at the club and its difficult to change what they do,also the way we play protects the defence from being exposed. To give us a different plan completely i think we need different players(as you pointed out actually) our first team plays a certain way,it has got us promotions even when we all thought we needed a plan B ,it has got us competing in the Prem league even though we still think we needa plan B . I think if we did have the ability to formulate plan B then the club would be pushing for europe !! Plan A has taken us from the 3rd div to the Prem , i agree with some of your points but i also think sometimes plan A,B,C, etc will never be enough to win a game at this level sometimes we need to credit the oppositon when they win, we arnt Man utd we are Swansea we cant expect to win every game at this level with the playing budget we have....although next season!!
