Papering Over The Cracks

You may be right, SC. Hope so. I agree that confidence has been low and if we can kick on then great. But I'm not happy with the way we've been playing for quite a while, and that includes today.

 

Sad indictment of this place that you anticipate posters jumping down your throat for merely expressing an opinion.
However,recent history gives gravitas to your comment.
So,welcome to the club,Kiff.

I've stopped watching the rubbish on offer,relying on radio and the general media.
What I hear and read depresses me considerably.
But hey,what do I know?
The vast majority on here just want to win,regardless of how that is achieved.

I watched the MOD offering last night,and was totally underwhelmed.
Gomis has been taking a great deal of flak,yet he set up two great goalscoring opportunities.one each for Fernandez,and Ayew.

 

A few weeks ago Gomis could do no wrong. I think sometimes he tries to set them up when he should be selfish and go for goal.

 

Does anyone know why he will not even give Eder 30mins. He played for Portugal last week and unless given time how does GM know he cant do better than the totally inept Gomis. Gomis lack of effort to get back on side is stifling us as we have to slow the ball down instead of being able to get forward quickly, he is pathetic.

Mind you Kiff I have to disagree with Barrow, he is ok coming on but he is nowhere near a PL player yet, saying that he did do well when he come on and see him only as an impact player, But to judge him on the piss poor performance by all against stoke maybe a little harsh.

As for is this result papering over the cracks 100% it is. The football being played is slow and laborious, we create hardly any chances during games and have to say for the first time I can honestly say I don't look forward to going to games anymore. that is sad as I love The Swans, but not the way we are playing at the moment.

 

Agree Trunds, I fear what the scoreline v Arsenal will be if we keep this current form

 

I disagree on Barrow, TLF. He set up the second beautifully. Lots of effort, tracked back and showed great touches, more than can be said for most of the players who were on the pitch a lot longer. Even when things didn't come off he kept trying. We lack creativity more than anything else and he has it in spades.

I agree he's not the finished article though. But he'll get there.

 

Different opposition made the difference along with the better use of his abilities, using him with 20 minutes to go when both defences were tiring , there was a weakness on Villas left hand side which meant there was space to exploit and he did it well and with confidence .Imo I thought Monk got the changes right and with Ayew moving over to the left it still gave us an attacking threat and the side more likely to get the winner, I'm glad Naughton put that cross in for Ayew to nick the winner as prior to that he was getting stick from some of the not so enlightened supporters we seem to have attracted these days and his head and shoulders were dropping by the minute , you could see how much it meant when Ayew scored by the pure joy on his face .

 

To be fair, Matt, Naughton was terrible up until THAT pass. I lost count of the times he passed the ball to the opposition. But he wasn't alone.

EDIT: This from a Villa forum: "As a side note, shocking how poor Swansea have become - unrecognisable from last season."

Not sure what that makes them but they have a point. People are noticing!

 

I know and that's why I'm glad that ball created our winner , prior to that he had a poor spell in the game and it looked like he was playing with the dreaded black dog on his shoulder .I suppose he was used to the abuse from the opposition fans in the 1st half but then from his own in the second half , there's a not so subtle difference between a fan and a supporter , I seemed to be surrounded by the former .

 

We are certainly off our best, but we have had some distraction with these international breaks, I'm hoping that we will kick on from the Villa game, what I saw in the last 20 minutes was encouraging, and I think we will do well against Arsenal........

 

I am baffled why fans don't understand that the way the opposition plays will determine how we play, If they play really bad then we will look better and vice versa. We wont look good in the majority of games simply because of the opposition and most games will be hard to win. Yesterday Villa gave everything and even scored but did we give up? No we didn't we kept on pressing and it paid off with our best free kick of the season by Siggs and a super cross by Hauts for Ayew to get the winner. That game we played was as good as any game we have played to date because the opposition never laid down and never gave up.....

 

Regarding Naughton, when in possession it was noticeable that a few times he was gesturing to our own players to move into space. Perhaps that's why he was passing to the opposition, because our players were often like statues.

 

Don't understand why he's given flak tbh, he's a very good RB. What we need is a LB that goes forward as every time Taylor gets the ball he either stops or passes backwards and thus kills any attacking threat on the left flank.

 

What a weekend for the Super Swans.........Man U dropped 2 points, Man C dropped 2 points L Pool dropped 2 points , Soton dropped 2 points, Palace dropped 3 points, Stoke dropped 3 points, Chelski dropped 3 points, and Everton dropped 3 points and Lille old Swansea gained 3 points. We are doomed I tell you doomed Capt. Mainwaring!!!!!!!!

 

You're missing the point. By a long way.

Nobody has mentioned being doomed. Nobody has even suggested we'd be in the bottom three come May. There are legitimate concerns that should be discussed on a forum. We are not playing well and if you think we are then you're not watching the games.

 

You only look good if the opposition make you look good. The majority of the 38 games this season will be a tight affair where we will stop our opponents from playing at their best and they will stop us from performing our best, Nobody will play the same way twice whether your a top team or a bottom team......Last week the toon scored a shed full against Norwich and this week they played exactly the same way against Sunderland and had a man sent off and lost 3-0........Did they play bad ? no they didn't but the score line says different......There is just a *** paper between success and failure and its the same with our players where they play their same 100% commitment and everything works well one game but not the next.....People are on about Gomis who has the hardest job on the pitch and though he is not getting the goals he is playing his part and laying the ball off to Ayew and others. He is putting himself about to upset the defence, it's not only about scoring goals. Look at Rooney, he has been on a long run of games without scoring. Gomis gets picked every week because of what he does besides scoring and is our no1 choice striker who has the best chance of scoring as well as laying the ball off to a player when the chance of getting a goal is better.....

 

Expressing "legitimate concerns" is seen by some hereabouts as "Monk bashing".

As I have previously intimated,"playing well" is not a prerequisite for many,winning is the only thing that matters.

Pulis,when at Stoke, was a constant target for abuse and ridicule regarding the lack of style,etc.,that he engendered in his teams.

Are The Swans' the new Stoke?

Is it my imagination,or is the overall quality of the P.L. diminishing as the monies distributed to it's participant Club's increases?

 

Regardless of who we put in , Gomis needs to sit a game or two imo .

 

I agree that I think its papering over the cracks - there is definite potential in the team as the first four games showed - but we have lost our cutting edge. Confidence is a big part, and I think the players started to get ahead of themselves thinking top 4. Bit of a reality check - but there are some clear failings;

- Fabianski simply cannot kick to a Swans player when kicking long. 9/10 he gives it away to the opposition - so this keeps giving possession away, and inviting pressure on ourselves
- Throw in - why are we so bad at them - we don't give the thrower options; and again 9/10 give the ball away
- Fernandez - solid defensively - but like Fab - 9/10 a boot or pass up field goes straight to the opposition
- Corners and crosses need to be significantly improved to give Gomis and co service. The noughton cross was the first good one, which we buried - couldn't hit a barn door before that
- Gomis running off side - he has had enough press about it - a few times is understandable but its become his cliché
- Passing has become laborus and inaccurate - pace is slowed down too much, and we are predicable. With the pace in our team - we should be counter attacking at pace down the wings, and putting in good crosses / through balls for our talented forwards.

I am concerned at out lack of trying out Tabanou, and Amat not even making the bench - who imo is a class act and who we should be looking at taking over in the near future.

Hopeully we will starting picking up from here - but think in for a rough ride against Arsenal - even though we seem to have the hoodoo over them.

 

I think you've picked out players some of us have already suggested need a break, Pricy. Eder for Gomis, Tabanou for Taylor, Amat or Bartley for Fernandez. Those players definitely need benching imo. I agree on Fab's kicking and as for the throw ins 9 times out of ten we lose possession. Drives me mad.