Once Leon is fully fit and firing on all cylinders we'll be back to the Swansea Way along with winning football as he will be able to dictate the rhythm and tempo better, especially when we're holding onto a lead. What we have to remember is that Leon is the very heartbeat of the Swansea Way. Regardless of who has been manager, when he's been out, our passing game always suffers. A midfield of Ki, Leon, Gylfi and Routs/Dyer/Montero will see us back to our old style of play. Let's not forget, we've seen some great halfs of passing football this season. Hell the way Bob describes it, you'd swear we've been playing like Stoke every single game.
I would say Leon was the heartbeat of our engine room valley, I would not go as far as that today as Ki is the heartbeat now, That is no slur on leon but a realisation that he has past his best now and he knows it but he is still an asset to us for a while longer but as the automatic choice now then that has gone. A true legend for swansea who has given us his best years but still can do a job when and if called upon.
I will always stick up for Sousa - he didn't a forward of any quality all season, he taught us to defend and improved our standing on a late entry to the club with it's 'heart ripped out' and no money for transfers. Other than Leicester his subsequent teams have been very high scoring. Basel current status. # Team >>>>>MP>>>>>W>>>>>D>>>>> L>>>>>F>>>>> A>>>>> GD>>>>> Pts 1 Basel>>>>>14>>>>> 9>>>>> 2>>>>> 3>>>>> 28>>>>>17>>>>>+11>>>>> 29
Can someone actually remind me we're 6th from top, not 6th from bottom!! Admittedly there's not much point difference at this stage of the season. The way some 'fans', keep slagging our Manager & team/style of play, baffles me ...
The way we have 'sliced' teams open to score some of the goals this season, especially the one's assisted by Gylfie, is as good a level of football from the Swans', as I've ever seen off them' & I've been watching since 1977!!! If it's good enough for a footballing legend like Ruud Gullitt to 'gush' about on MOTD for Bony's first agianst Leicester, I think it's good enough for me...
I've been waiting for this. I think most posters have acknowledged that Monk has done a good job. But if you think that our "manager & team/ style of play" is beyond criticism then you're in the wrong place. That isn't "slagging off" by the way. Even top teams have room for improvement and a forum is a good place for fans to discuss them. No need to be baffled mate, but I tell you what what baffles me are the ones who seem to think absolutely everything is great and we can't improve in any way. There's a few here with rose tinted glasses that need to be surgically removed. No offence. For what it's worth I totally agree with your comment about the goals - class.
Well the point is, we're still creating them. Therefore the 'football' is still there for many of us still to see!! Our passing is as good, at times, as ever. In fact, I really have not seen any change in style under Monk. Long ball football, is again, another crticism. Again, I must've missed that too. God help some team, when we really 'go to town', because we're going to tear someone to shreds!! Then again, some people will still 'not see it', cos they just 'don't want too'!!!!!!
There is always room for improvement in every premiership side but as far as i am aware we were not suppose to be 6th at this stage of the season according to a lot of posters before the start of the season and are suppose to be struggling for points, so on that basis Monk has worked wonders. who would have thought he would win manager of the month, I didn,t even though i had full confidence in him being able to give the premiership a good go and was the best man for the job at the time. .credit where credit is due he has surpassed all expectations and he is still learning. there will always be room for improvement...
I'll take 'offence' at the 'rose tints' mate, because those same 'rose tints' seemed to have shown me some sh1te in my time watching the Swans!! Most of the 1980's/90s come to mind far too easily!!!! So as a comparison, if even against recent seasons, I feel the way we're playing is still of a pretty 'high Swans standard', well that's a reasonable opinion !!! Most of the 80s/90s could've been a time when I could've been accused of 'halucinating' at the prospect of giving someone a good beating, not now though. Of course, like a lot of reasoned Swans' fans, I can still see a lot of room for improvement. Absolutely,after all, we're not putting 3s & 4s past teams every week!!! But as a compromise, I'll take 15 points, 6th in the league, with a team that's possibly still not at full strength, is only learning, a young manager who is too & a January window to strengthen to follow. I certainly don't feel our team/Manager deserve the level of criticism they've been getting, in my opinion. Looks more promising than not....
Tiki taki , team football took us from League 1 through the first few seasons of the Premier at a low ball budget . Just dont see why we should change now ...financially and system wise .I feel""The Ghost of Paulo Sousa"" creeping into our game , not that theres anything wrong with that.It just that Paulo never had a good striker up front , Garry does.Happy with the points , but still very nervous .
I wonder if it's a case of (and god knows I've been guilty of it) trying to compare what you see on the highlights on MotD from other teams and what you get when you sit and watch a whole game. Highlights will point out what people do well and when you compare what you see for 90 minutes at the Liberty to a 90minute programme of the good stuff, you think to yourself, "omg, we don't/can't do that stuff for hardly any of the time". Well actually, neither can most of those. The difference is, we don't go and watch their 90 minutes. Can we improve? Yes. Is Monk inexperienced and making a few mistakes along the way? Yes. Has he got it right so far (from a overall assessment perspective)? I'd say so. We've said for a very long time, the table doesn't lie. I'll take this points total after this many games.
