Unflattering Stats...

It's all subjective but ...... 'we haven't half played some gorgeous football at the Liberty this season' can only be taken seriously if you're used to seriously bad stuff.

 

"Used to seriously bad stuff"??

 

I'm in the middle of the pair of you. We have played some good football at times, but we have been seriously bad at times too. That for me is the problem our consistency is all over the shop. We cannot play well for the whole game, we play well for periods and then crap for periods. Surely we can all agree to that?

 

Swanselona

Thanks for your reasoned contribution there. I'm solely referring to our home performances & at times, indeed, our football has been good, even very good I would say. I feel we've really suffered for not taking our chances enough early on & killing teams off, our football has deserved. Half-time comes, opposition get some 'boots' up the rear end, are different animals 2nd half & we struggle to cope with it!! The crowd gets nervous too & react accordingly, we end up not regaining our 1st half control. Of course it's up to us to counteract that, that bit has been disappointing. Hopefully Monk will learn & be able to adapt so we can regain the impetus in these matches.

 

Can't disagree, WSAF. We've played some excellent stuff leading up to some of the goals we've scored but we have also played some awful stuff too, allowing the opposition back into games. If we were able to maintain concentration levels and, perhaps more particularly, our levels of intensity we'd be even higher up the table.

 

Don't come on here with your sensible comments

 

Any plan ""B"" , stumpy , that consists of us being pinned in our end , not getting into the opposition end to take any shots while being bombarded by shots in our own end doesnt cut it for me , but ya never know. We need to move out of our end , and get shots off in their end ... call it what ya want .

 

Well look what happened to Arsenal the other night in the CL. 3-0 up and can't defend a paper bag, continue to play their brand of football and end up drawing 3-3.
At least Monk IS developing a plan B. It might not be pretty, but if it helps us get points, then so be it.

 

...but plan B seems to be edging it's way to becoming plan A doesn't it........

 

So weve criticised other managers in the past for no plan B, yet as soon as a manager develops a plan B he gets slaughtered.

 

I don't think he's getting slaughtered is he ?

I just think we're not seeing enough of plan A/Plan A is not the same plan A as in previous years.....

 

Is it plan B or is it what happens when plan A falls apart?
To me defending the penalty area for long periods of games, inviting the opposition to make wave after wave of attack and surrendering leads through lack of our own attacking intention or ability is not plan B ... it's desperation.
The very limited bursts of scintillating (or even good) attacking football have been as a result of patient build up and crisp passing - the style developed by Roberto, Sousa, Rogers & Laudrup but that have depreciated quickly this season despite having an almost fully fit squad.
For me, desperate defending is taking over from stylish play.
While the points and place are very pleasing we should not lose sight of the fact we've only played two teams in the top 8 and we've lost to both. I don't see us gaining points against Arsenal or Man City by parking the bus!
When Laudrup instigated a plan B (yes he did) he was briefly praised for being able to grind out a result, until some decided we were playing poorly then we became rubbish and the manager had to go.

That comment was not about Laudrup / Monk but the way some fans (really not having a go at anyone in particular) who praise Monk but turned on Laudrup for doing the same thing.

 

I think we need a shift in our views Stereo, away from being content with playing the prettiest football in the league. Reason I feel we need to do this is because, imo, teams have sussed us out.

Last year we were close to relegation, imo, because we were easily bullied. Opposition new all they had to do was close us down and pressure us and we folded. Many a a time we cried that teams knew how to play/beat us simply by bullying us and that we needed a plan B. This is our Plan B, its not pretty, but its effective.

We must be able to defend ourselves and implement this Plan B, otherwise we will nevet be able to play our A game. I'd sooner us be the dog that bites; what we're trying to be, than the one that simply rolls over; what we have been up until now.

 

When did this happen Roof, Everton had no shots on goal and Liverpool, were very lucky, but were restricted and stifled and got very few shots off. Compare this to a gung ho attitude of pass, attack, pass, attack. We do not have the personnel to do this and never really have.

Last year we wimped close to relegation because we didn't defend and because we didn't have an alternative. This year we are learning how to defend and this is what we need to do regardless of your sentiments.

Its a simple fact of life 'if you stand still you move backwards'. At this point in our progression we can't stand still any more and continue to play pretty football, so we need also to be able to grind ugly. Simply put we're the pretty girl next door dressed like a punk. Sexy

 

We all see things differently.
I think the only reason we have survived and sometimes thrived in the PL is because we played continental style football. Swansea City has very quickly developed as a recognisable 'name' world wide, unlike clubs like Stoke or Sunderland - because we were quite successful and we had an identity.
I don't think we will survive by out Newcastling Newcastle.
Someone mentioned Arsenal giving away a three goal advantage .. indeed they did ... in the Champions League against a very good team and got complacent, not because they tried playing pretty football. Hopefully we can learn something from that game to take into Sunday - if you want to score you must outplay the opposition with some attacking intent.

And, I'd say relegation was never on the card given the final 14 fixtures of the season offered 10 very winnable games. We were in 12 place coming out of a serious injury crisis and were no where near as poor as has been made out just well below what we had been earlier in the season and a hell of a lot better than we were last seek against Everton. I actually thought there were two shockingly poor performances last season - away to West Ham and home to WBA.

 

We were whimping close to relegation with 3 or 4 games remaining last season stump.Were the obese lady who cant get out of her chair at times .Like sterio says , we better work at getting plan A back before we dabble in a plan B .A lot was made by some , including Huw ,of the Swansea Way being revived after our last manager was sacked , to suddenly abandon it now .

 

Too true.
Huw needs to find out if our play is down to Monk or the players. Whatever, it needs sorting out.
We don't need a change of manager but the manager might need a change of approach.

Question.

Would we currently rather be 9th with 13 points and playing entertaining football or 6th with 15 points playing like .... us?

(Hypothetical, but I think if we played as we have in previous seasons we're be 3rd with 21 points.)

 

Swans - Please 'out-Arsenal' Arsenal again!! So we can shut these feckers up.....

 

Im afraid wishful thinking wont get us out of our end and taking more shots flyer , but hope your right.

 

http://news.ladbrokes.com/en-gb/foo...s-suggest-swansea-set-dive-table_217306.html?

This article doesn't break down the stats per game but conceding an average of 15 shots per game does back up Roofs comments.

We are certainly showing more steel and resolve this year but we have only played 2 of the 'top' teams. Against Everton last week the halftime possession stats were 70:30 to them...which was shocking to me given our supposed Swansea Way of possession football.

In shoring up our defense I think we are losing some key aspects of our game. While there have been moments of great soccer in some games, it has been few and far between, and for the most part I'd say our play has been sloppy and pedestrian. I've seen way too many missed and speculative passes already this season and we are only 10 games in. This does not reflect the Swansea Way which Monk was going to instill again.