I though Koeman made a huge mistake by substituting Reed. When he went off, Shelvey had time and space to do what he wanted to, and of course we conceded a goal as a result. Oh well, **** it. Next week, new battle.
Oliver had an alright game. People are deflecting how badly we were, started of with prowse' bad bad miss. Tadic then missed an easy chance and we didn't come out in the second half. Our midfield was poor, Swansea had so much space to run with the ball, we let them come on to us. Tadic is the one of the worse crossers I have seen. Pelle needs to get on that 6 yard box like a striker and tuck in some easy chances. Swansea were organised from the 15th min and we played very complacently. They fully deserved the win in my opinion. Possession means little in modern football if you do sod all with it.
We have one centre forward in the squad, and over the past three months he has just 2 goals in 14 league matches...about 1250 minutes of play. Long's out for some measure longer, has registered only twice, and isn't really a lone striker. If we're serious about this chase, we need someone who can play up top.
Just not our day. Every team has games like these...we've picked up points under situations like this. I was right to worry about Arsenal's goals...one more let in and we'd be 5th. Move on to next game.
Tough loss. We looked a bit off, but were a bit unlucky. Just couldn't get a good final pass or final touch. Ashley Williams was a beast at the back, and Shelvey with a quality finish. Swansea was a little shaky in the first half, but they did exactly what they tried to do in the second. They are quality side that wisely came for a draw and give themselves a chance steal three if they could, and they pulled it off. It happens. We did it to Man U, now Swansea did it to us.
Tadic and Clyne gave up second half. Yes Swansea defended better, but they both did nothing. Their goal was awful, our defence backed off and midfield just stood there. Fair play to Swansea they got what they wanted. But we were crap. Williams was easy MOM. Glad I only live 5 mins away it's ****ing freezing!
you were mugged in the end and thats what happens when you dont put away your chances. Mind you we were rock solid at the back.
Koeman blundered today with the substitution. Mané replacing Reed was all wrong. Should've replaced Tadić, or Elia. Totally lost the midfield battle and allowed Shelvey space.
In retrospect, I agree that taking Reed off ended up being a mistake as Shelvey was looking dangerous. I'd quibble a bit with calling it "huge," though. It was a risk, it didn't work out. Keep in mind Mane almost scored. No manager gets them all right.
Reed needed to come off as we weren't creating enough with him and Davis sitting, yeah it left a hole for Shelvey but even with Clyne and Bert attacking, Gomis and Shelvey aren't world beaters, we should have been able to deal with them.
Well that was pretty bad. Pretty clear Red though, it doesn't matter if you get the ball, you cant go into someone like that. Tadic and JWP had absolute shockers today and until Mane came on all we did was play it wide to cross'n'hope. I really hope this Dujuric fella can get signed and we add another option to our forward movement and maybe be a little more directly threatening We need options beside Pelle up front because he can so easily just disappear for a while, get frustrated and then screw up when a good chance appears...Mane looked good again though. Oh well, we march on and hopefully by next game we have enough players back from injury that we can at least field a full bench
Very disappointing but it happens sometimes. We didn't have many options on the bench but I'm very slightly disappointed in Koeman today, maybe for the first time. I think taking Reed off was a mistake and I'd have liked to see us try something a little different going forward, like switching Tadic and Elia for a few minutes. On the other hand, if Mane had scored and JWP had put away a couple of the three (I think) chances he had we'd all be happy. Still, this result really highlights the need for more attacking options in the squad. Pelle and Tadic have both dropped off noticeably since about October and the rest can't keep making up the difference.
