Southampton v Swansea

you are only outplayed if they scored so as they could not break us down then we matched them with a superb defensive display. we went on and won in the end so pgf is spot on.

 

Especially without Ki, Leon and Gylfi in midfield

We contained them quite comfortably that first half then stepped it up a gear in the second.

 

Exactly. We played to our strengths and it paid off.

 

Mugged them, we did not...

 

Surely you don't believe that ?

So in that Chelsea match 2 weeks ago, if they had hit the bar 3 times and Fab pulled off a few more saves and it ended 0-0 you would say that we weren't outplayed just because they failed to score ?

 

That has hit the nail on the head. we knew fully well with the team we put out that we could never out play the saints and monk had the correct game plan and it worked like a dream...

 

Out thought them more like.

 

Can you explain why we played with four attackers, ahead of two rookies, in a game we intended parking the bus?

There was no intention to keep giving them the ball, we could rarely get it off them and when we did we couldn't keep it.
There is nothing wrong in being honest and saying Southampton didn't let us play but we scored from one of our two shots on target and they didn't. Yippeee! We mugged them for three points as they have done to us in the past.
Between Monk and sycophants it's like we're turning into North Korea.
I'm surprised no one has said we were better than Chelsea and were unlucky to lose as we scored more goals than them against Tranmere.

 

We were better at defending and scoring so in my book we were better than them .

 

Parking the bus would have been something like this;

------------------------- Fabianski ----------------
Naughton--- Fernandez --- Ash ------Taylor
----------------- Amat --------- Fulton -----------
Rangel -------------- Carroll ---------- Tiendalli
--------------------------------------------------------
------------------------ Gomis ---------------------

Maybe even Shelvey instead of Gomis as a false 9.

Some ludicrous claims being made about the tactics here. We worked hard, some individuals defended well and we got lucky!

 

I don't proclaim to be an expert, but if you can keep four attackers on the park and defend well enough, you'd have a counter attacking force to try and catch them on the break.
I'm not sure the label of sycophant helps, but if Monk says he had a tactic of frustration and counter and we frustrated them and caught them on the counter, I'm inclined to believe him.
Poor play comes in many forms. Ours was holding on to the ball. Southampton struggled to hit the target.
Good play comes in many forms. Ours was 'body on the line' defending. Theirs was maintaining possession.

33 points going into a coupla games we could get another 6 points from is decent. Surely Bob, you can see that we're doing ok, even if it's a rocky ride. We're Swans fans. Rocky is all we've ever known.

 

I think that makes my point very well, the starting 11 picked was not one intended to play the way we did - the team picked was the best available to play our more usual game, so claims of tactical genius are rubbish.
We weren't allowed the ball for much of the game, a lot of the time saw us having to use 10 pliers in defence and they did well, we broke away a few times (increasing as the game went on) we scored, we won. Be honest, for a change we got lucky.

 

Yes we were a little lucky but at the end of the day our defenders did what they had to and defended superbly. Even with all their possession Southampton rarely challenged our goal. Apart from one top save Fab had a comfortable game, so credit to our back four. When Ash is playing we look very solid at the back in the majority of our matches. Nine clean sheets says it all, second best in the premiership I believe.

 

So Bob, at this moment in time, with 33 points on the board and given the size of the club within the Premier League, do you think we are in a good position? Please answer 'yes' or 'no'.

 

You can park the bus in a number of ways, and it doesn't imply you have to have 11 defenders on the pitch.

 

You can give the ball away every time you get hold of it allow the opposition to waltz up the pitch, beat full-backs, pass it on the edge of our box and in our box, allow them to win headers on the edge of our 6 yard box etc.
but if the opposition fail to score you can then claim that you executed some kind of masterplan and heap praise on the players and manager that allowed all of those things to happen.....

....I don't even need to mention the ludicrous claims from our board (and some of our fans) on Monk's appointment that the previous manager was sacked for the steady erosion of our principles and Monk had to be installed to bring back the 'Swansea Way', but I will

 

- If we play **** and win, its great tactics, and deserved.
- If they play **** and win, we get mugged.

Pretty much two of the most important excuses of football fans. Oh wait there are two more main ones ain't there.

- We played ****, and deserved to lose.
- We played so good and made you look ****. Have some respect.

Take your pick depending on who gets the result.

IMO we were **** yesterday, and got lucky, 1 shot on target, yes its all it takes, but come on.....Monk is doing well getting points on the board, and did well considering the team he had to choose from. But lets face it, we have been playing pretty **** all season, but at least grinding out results which is something we have never been able to do before, so credit there, but lets not forget that the last manager was sacked because the clubs principles were being slowly eroded. Well **** me they have been dipped in acid this season to speed up the process.

Lol beat me too it Terror damn you

 

Of course we are in a good position
but
Are we in a good place?

 

THE TABLE NEVER LIES !!!!!!!!

 

I wonder if, with potential foreign buyers on the horizon, Huw and the Board have become more "pragmatic" in that staying in the PL is the number one priority as it is essential to secure the deal?

That said, I suspect that the vast majority of the fan base would want to stay in the PL - so winning "ugly" at times is acceptable so long as we remain in the top flight?

In terms of the Club's principles, was Huw referring exclusively to our playing style, or to the wider definition of how we do things in Swansea? I honestly cannot recall exactly what was said in this respect!