Then I'm amazed at Monk's interview too - but like you said he's handcuffed by the situation into being positive. Bob's reply echos my sentiments. If Leon were fit and everything else was rational, I wouldn't expect Shelvey to be starting for us.
I think you guys are being very harsh on Shelvey. He has been an ever present in our season so far, where we have had a great start to the season. Barring two red cards we have all stated at least once we could have a record of W5-D0-L1. Shelvey has contributed just as much as any other member of our squad this season, he deserves his call up as much as Dyer and Routledge deserve theirs.
We have three fit midfield players - Ki, Shelvey, Sig. Then comes Jazz, Fulton, Carroll. Leon is crocked for the time being. Playing the way he has, I don't think he find a spot in many other starting line-ups. It's not that he's a poor player - far from it, he is capable of much more than he has been putting out. He is not, IMO, a good fit to our style of play, but that doesn't make him a poor player but I think that makes it tougher for him to be as good as he could be ... like a reverse Leon. He is Hodgson's kind of player - get it, hit it long.
He's what we needed, a big lad who can boss the opposition. Leon needs protection to do his thing and whilst Ki is also a big fella he doesn't seem to be an enforcer in the thick of the action. I am happy with Jonjo's contribution and he will continue to learn here, I personally would like the guy to spend an extra hour a night in training to purely focus on those long balls because if he nails them it adds a terrifying variation to our play. I am always open to finding better players but as of now I feel some of the goals we have conceded which can be considered sloppy were not his errors but mistakes by our other players.
He doesn't boss players though, the nearest he gets to bossing players is losing his cool with them. And, while an occasional long ball is effective it's as much the ability of Dyer and Routledge in positioning themselves and bringing the ball under control. He also tends to balloon long passes which slows things down. Other than a half decent performance against Everton he's been a passenger this season. Playing defensive midfield is not his forte and as soon as Leon is fit Jonjo will be on bench warming duty. Along with Taylor Jonjo has been the least effective and most criticised Swansea player this season.
I can't agree sorry. The biggest disappointment for me this season has been Bony and Gomis whose job is to bang them into the net but that just hasn't happened, they have had the service this season as well.
Interesting article about Jonjo refusing to play for under 21s because he'd played in a full international! http://www.espnfc.co.uk/england/story/2068139/jonjo-shelvey-declined-to-join-england-under-21sroy-hodgson-says?
Great news for him, however, not so good for us, he'll be snapped up in the summer, if he plays well for his country, maybe even January. I too think some have been very harsh on him this year. It looks like he's been asked to play a more central defensive role than he's used to, but he has been improving game on game. He is aware of his inconsistency and is working hard to improve on this. Imo, he has the potential to be great and have a Gerrardesque influence on any team. A very different player to Gerrard though and lets hope he stays with us long enough to mature and fulfil his potential at the Liberty. Well done JJ
Stumpy I am not to worried about him leaving, I can't see him starting, maybe a sub appearance against San Marino. he will be here till the end of the season.
Im chuffed for shelvey and well deserved for the lad. I hope he gets to play at some point. I think he has been outstanding so far with us and he is very young that fans seem to forget sometimes, He is very talented and this could be the start of a long international career for him.....He is not the first swans player to play for England though that i read somewhere as Bob latchford played for England the last time we were in the top flight...
Latchford didn't play for England while at Swansea. And his only senior trophy was .... the Welsh Cup (twice with us and once with Merthyr). He was interviewed last year and he is such a gentleman.
Yes your right, i just phoned someone who would know and he said he never got the nod but he was on the short list at the time. I was in america for a year on exchange (RN)at the time so could not find out much in them days and i had it in my mind that he did get a cap for some reason...
Latch ford hadn't had a cap for while but we all reckoned he wasn't picked because he played for Swansea. The first of many.
I asked the question yesterday "Is Jonjo the first current Swansea player to be called up to the full England squad?" In my 48 years following the Swans, I couldn't recall any player being selected for England - be it Latchford, Dave Rushbury etc.
I may be remembering the Bob Latchford situation incorrectly but, I thought there was a big fuss about him being the first current Swans player to be picked for England. So I think Jonjo could be the first. Also Wikipedia has not listed anyone.
I think the importance of a player like Shelvey for managers lies substantially in what he does to the defensive tactical options of the opposing team. As a defender, if you are playing against a guy who can see a scoring pass through the your defence and past two players, either on the ground or chipped, you have a big problem. All the usual systems of tight organization are vulnerable to this kind of player, the very popular "two lines of four" to shut a game down doesn't work very well if they have a guy who can do this with accuracy. It also limits your attacking. The defence dare not push up too hard, or the bastard will put a neat ball into the space behind them for a man to run on to with only the goalkeeper to beat. So you tend to hang back a bit so there is no big space behind you and the goalkeeper can help as sweeper. It is harder to put full-on pressure on the opposition when your centre-backs dare not push up too tight and you are also having to worry about through balls to their wingers. In that way Shelvey makes space and opportunity for other players just by being there and looking like he might do something. He helps stop the opposition from compacting the midfield. There is another side to it. If you are defending against an on form Bony, at least you know where the threat is. Were is he, there's the threat. You can crowd him, hustle him, cut off supply, make life difficult. But Shelvey is in central mid-field, you can't stop him getting the ball, and when he has got it, the threat is anywhere in 100 degree arc in front of him. The opposing forwards know where he is likely to put the ball, because it will have been discussed and agreed in the tactical briefings, but you don't. All you can do is press him and hustle him. Shelvey is a big lad, hard to hustle and reaonably quick, so if you press him too close he will likely run past you ditching two of your players, he will only need the two seconds of clear space it takes them to recover. Not that Shelvey is the finished article as yet. Too many over long passes that never had a hope of working, not enough good short passing work keeping the ball moving and in possesion and other weaknesses. The through ball is most effective when it catches the defence completely by surprise, when the defence expected the guy to make yet another short pass, only to find he has stuck it accurately 30 metres past the lot of them. He has yet to aquire that Jekyll and Hyde quality to his passing that is so very difficult to defend against. Someone who tries to make scoring passes will of course have a lower pass completion rate than someone whose job is simply to keep the ball and distribute it.
