There was somebody sitting by Monk talking to him for most of the game, the trouble is whatever was being said, Monk wasn't out of his seat relaying it to the players. He looked like he couldn't care less.
Very few positives today, both on the field, and disappointingly off it as well - thousands waiting outside the ground because the new ticket system was bollocks - 5 minutes after kick off someone finally made the decision to open more turnstiles; 20 minutes into the game and people still coming in! I missed the first goal but was one of the lucky ones that started queuing half an hour before kick off! Why wasn't the kick off delayed until the poor sods who had paid £15 for a ticket could get in? Why were there only a handful of turnstiles open given that they were testing a new system? Why, when it was obvious that people were not going to get in in time for kick off, was the decision to open more turnstiles delayed until 5 minutes after the match started? Unfortunately today we were just as embarrassingly clueless on the pitch as off it! We may be Premier League (for the time being) but those in charge are still decidedly non league!
Its pre season with a whole new team really . Things were probably tried today that may never be tried again . Hopefully we get a good start when it counts and be rollin by ten games .. Monk might be in the deep end but maybe hell swim out of it .. its early ..
Are we going to have the moaning mini's on here every time we lose. Complaining about things that are suppose to happen in friendlies and that is trial and error to see what works and what dont...do you think we should of abandoned our pre season and should have beaten Villarreal 3-0 because if you do then you have no concept of what pre season is all about....we experimented playing two up front that some fans were calling for so monk tried it in the only game left and it did not work.....So what! chelsea lost 3-0 experimenting so expect them to be relegated with us this season..
If we're experimenting which I don't mind, then it should have been against Reading. Today should have been about getting the team in some form of shape for next week.
Looking at the season as a whole the game against Man U is not that important as it is a game we would normally expect to lose and it would be a bonus if we got anything out of it. The game against Burnley is far more important as it is a game we would expect and need to win.
The players will be expecting little from the United game so should be very relaxed . Any points will be free points , its the next two games after that that matter most at home against " equalish" teams . Squeakiest of bum time
goal diff, confidence, ridicule, professionalism, self respect. I've tried to avoid the L word but if a virtually full first Laudrup team had performed as we did today this forum (and others) would have gone nuts.
We used a 442 against Reading... SWANS: Fabianski, Tiendalli, Williams (c), Bartley, Taylor, Ki, Shelvey, Gomis, Sigurdsson, Routledge, Bony. #Swans
Monk has put himself up on that pedastal with his big talk and criticism of managers who achieved so much for this club. It is totally disrespectful and cringeworthy, most especially when his lack of qualification and massive inexperience is taken into account. Yet he refused help citing needing help as failure (I think he was thinking of himself there and not the club he would supposedly die for). His moaning and its objectives and repercussions has decimated our team, he as good as admits it himself when he says of Villarreal. "The way they play and the way they are set up is probably two or three years ahead of us," "They're a very settled and a very fluid side and I said to the players afterwards that's what we have to aspire to.â "That's what we're trying to do with the work that we're doing and putting in place and we're trying to reach something close to what we saw [from Villareal] today." What planet is he on? Surely we are the team who were highly praised for playing such beautiful football ourselves and suddenly it will take us 2-3 years to achieve something close to that. And why have we lost the body of our most skilful and stylish players? Can you imagine, the likes of Pablo, Chico, JDG and a fit Michu would have been in their absolute element yesterday. It seems the Swansea way we were so fearful of losing is now lump it up the field and the positivity which we so craved! is making statements like the above and making excuse after excuse. I went to the match yesterday and saw Villarreal slice through us time and time again with their crisp and intuitive passing and could only mourn for what we have destroyed. Unlike many (and who can blame them) I stayed to the end. I will be at OT and pray we can do better. Monk has made our bed and we must lie on it. But we will only be emulating Monk himself if we complain loudly and repeatedly when we donât think it is good enough (although we hopefully will be more objective, as massive personal financial gain will not be a factor).
Most teams lose away to Man U. So what if we lose? It's one game out of 38. Get some perspective guys. We might even get a point or three.
Villareal played with the fervor of a full bore league game, conversely we were still on the training pitch and backed off from the inevitable contact necessary to compete in this game. My observation was that with the right personnel 4-4-2 could work but not with the yesterdays make up. I know injuries forced our hand but Siggy, was totally wasted on the flank and Montero looked clipped. Ki and Shelvey didn't compliment each other at all imo. Both looked confused as to what the other was doing neither asserting themselves in front of our defense. They played between CM and DM neither taking responsibility for either role. This gave Villareal enough room and time for a picnic in midfield. Between them I'd expected a flow to their play with some forward motion, some positivity to their play but this didn't happen. Both looked out of sorts walking in each others foot stepts and neither going anywhere, back or forward. Just goes to show how good a player Leon is. This is an issue that can be fixed with Ki and Shelvey playing together more and with Leons imminent return but yesterday, as a pairing they offered nothing at all. What can't be fixed though is our fragile defense. While Bony and Gomis look to be an exciting pairing, any advantage they afford us this season will be thrown away unless we sign a bona-fide, defense only CB, and RIGHT NOW! Bartley and Amat remain good prospects but its unfair on them to think they are the answer to our defensive frailties. We desperately need a ready-to-go CB as our combined incumbents are not tight enough as a unit to be able to absorb, cover and teach a young defender effectively. There were few positives yesterday, other than it was a friendly so in reality cost us nothing more than a slap to our pride, a wake up call at best. Britton, Dyer and Routledge are a week closer to full fitness, Bony and Bafe look capable of creating chances, and Fabianki looked good, phew! But, a major negative was the Ki- Shelvey pairing which imo, was the catalyst to our poor performance.
