Here you go again.looking for trouble. a)Southampton are a "football"Club,therefore to mention them was "football related". b)The Swans' recently played Southampton away,therefore that is also "football related". c) For most of the game v Southampton,many regular posters began to turn on Monk,criticising him,wondering what he was doing,where the team were heading,etc. Doom and gloom pervaded the match day thread. Until Shelvey's goal,and then all the angst was forgotten,and the garden was rosy again. Now,if that wasn't "football related",pray tell me,what was it? You will have to get up a little earlier,Valley.
A historic double over former European Champions Manchester United is a huge feather in the cap for Monk personally and a magnificent achievement for the Club as a whole. After the "investment" nonsense this week it was nice to get back to football and I'm sure this win was for the fans. I'm not sure how we won it mind! I though we dominated the first twenty minutes with Man U scoring against the run of play. It was nice to get the equaliser so quickly and the first half finished even-stevens. We didn't come out for the second half. For the first 25 minutes it was a case of sitting there waiting for Man U to score as they totally dominated possession. However Fab rarely had a shot to save and we took our opportunity to win it with another Shelvey sucker punch and nearly nicked a third. Having lost 4-1 at home on the opening day of last season, it is a bonus three points for us today so we are now 10 points better off than the corresponding fixtures last season. Current Points Total = 37pts Last Seasons Points Total = 42pts We are currently on schedule for = 52pts Man Utd 1-2 Swansea (+3) Swansea 1-0 Burnley (Same) * Swansea 3-0 West Brom (+3) Chelsea 4-2 Swansea (Same) Swansea 0-1 Southampton (Same) Sunderland 0-0 Swansea (-2) Swansea 2-2 Newcastle (-2) Stoke 2-1 Swansea (-1) Swansea 2-0 Leicester (Same)** Everton 0-0 Swansea (+1) Swansea 2 Arsenal 1 (+3) Man City 2 Swansea 1 (Same) Swansea 1 Crystal Palace 1 (Same) Swansea 2 QPR 0 (Same)*** West Ham 3 Swansea 1 (Same) Swansea 1 Spurs 2 (Same) Hull City 0 Swansea 1 (+3) Swansea 1 Aston Villa 0 (Same) Liverpool 4 Swansea 1 (Same) QPR 1 Swansea 1 (+1) Swansea 1 West Ham 1 (Same) Swansea 0 Chelsea 5 (Same) Southampton 0 Swansea 1 (+3) Swansea 1 Sunderland 1 (-2) West Brom 2 Swansea 0 (-3) Swansea 2 Man U 1 (+3) *Replaced Fulham ** Replaced Norwich *** Replaced Cardiff
Give Garry credit for the win - played a blinder today - new formation that worked; first manager in a while that has an effective plan B! He would have been crucified if it hadn't worked; but it did so can the Garry doubters please start to show him a little respect!?
he did good today it came off well for him, overdue a bit of luck with jj`s goal deflecting too, hope it lasts to end of season .
I did - it says ... 'Monk got it right' An excellent win - and exciting game to watch, a spectacle but not great quality. Much better than anything we've produced since the West Ham home game. Some on here have been having a go at those of us who don't believe Monk is the best thing since sliced bread because we are 'Monk haters' or 'Laudrup lovers'. The fact is we call it as we see it, so when Monk gets it right we say so, when he gets it wrong we say so. I see some on here are going on about Monk's tactical genius and how he employed plan B. That would be B for bollocks (not Monk but the comment). Without undermining the result, the players or the manager, we played much the same as in every game we've played - try to get forward early, if we don't score drop back until they score then wake up again, put bodies behind the ball and try and hit the opposition on the break, don't bother keeping possession. Yesterday, it worked on other days it won't; but it was the same tactic. Cork and Ki deep is always going to be better than Ki and Shelvey. Monk picked his best 11 and as he said in the week they were up for it because it was United. Hopefully that result will give the players confidence to take maximum points from Burnley, Liverpool & Villa.
There was a statement on motd last night that went something along the lines of this "garry monk has done a tremendous job as swansea have never been outsitlde the top 10 all season" i have to sort of agree with this yes there have been the odd bad result / performance but doesn't that come with the prem in general every team will have an off day. When i seen the teamsheet i was apprehensive due to the lack of pace out wide. Another 23 points and i would call that a pretty good season
Just an observation and I'm not criticising Monk at all who got everything spot on yesterday but it can't be denied that Shelvey's get out of jail speculative shots have helped us as a team and him as a manager. Shelvey's lucky ricochets (one from Ki, the other from Gomis) and blockbusters (an undeserved win at Saints) that have had little to do with tactics have given us 12 points at least. We'd now be in 15th-sh without those. Not quite so great. For me Monk has been a reflection of the team. Very inconsistent, delivering terrible football and lacklustre performances one game then excellent in the next. One thing for sure, Monk is still learning his craft and has done more right than wrong but he's had some lucky breaks here and there, though I'm sure some would argue we've been unlucky at times as well. I still say that we can't really judge Monk until May because we could push for a European place or fall away dramatically but as the thread is about our assessment of him it's thumbs up for me so far but there is still room for huge improvement.
