The occasion Three point on offer in the first meeting between two of the heavily tipped clubs to get relegated this season. Also to spice things up was the first time Martinez has brought his side to visit the Liberty since his departure to Wigan two years ago. Pre-match entertainment from a local male voice choir, then Max Boyce with a 2011 Swans-version of Hymns and Arias meant the crowd was in full flow before the players even took the field. Match Report An impressive start by the home side saw Graham get off the first shot, but it never really looked like going it. Wigan soon got into a rhythm of fouling any time Swansea broke past their deep defensive layers, and they seemed more than content to keep that position for the first half. I was a bit upset by the cynicism of one particular foul when Routledge was tugged back in full flow by the back of the neck of his shirt during a very promising counter attack. Swansea on the other hand were full of verve and tempo, playing perhaps some of the best stuff seen at the Liberty, although a few players still seemed to show rough edges when the action slowed a little and they took a bit long on the ball. It was always difficult to get clear chances when the box was packed with the opposition, but the Swans could feel a mite unlucky not to go in ahead after countless pressure and close calls. Things once again changed in the second half though - with the Swans tiring and Wigan trying to capitalise on this fact. It was a far more even contest and as time went on Wigan looked the most likely to score for a good 25-30min period. Ben Watson was lucky not to pick up a second booking for throwing away the ball (even though most places didn't note his first booking I'm sure the referee would have done so for that incident if he hadn't earned one before), and Jordi Gomez was the pantomime villian of the day with his early booking and ceaseless dives - I'm not sure about the penalty but I'll not be surprised if he made the most out of whatever happened. With the penalty awarded up stepped Ben Watson (lucky to be on the pitch), and he hit the ball low to the left post, only to see Vorm pounce and palm it away. The cheer of relief and sense of justice around the ground (tinged with away disappointment) was palpable at this point, and both teams seemed to step up the tempo a little in response. Sadly there was no goal to complete the game, Wigan coming close with two off the woodwork as the tiredness really began to shown (especially when Dyer couldn't track back and left the defence with an unmarked man to deal with). The Swans still had enough in the tank for a late salvo but some good chances went begging as the game finished 0-0. The first Premier League point for Swansea was probably a fair outcome of the two halves as both sides counted the missed chances. Match Stats Swansea////////////////////Wigan 13(4)////Shots (on Goal)////10(3) 9///////////Fouls//////////19 7///////Corner Kicks///////7 2/////////Offsides//////////1 64%//Time of Possession//36% 0///////Yellow Cards///////4 0/////////Red Cards/////////0 3///////////Saves////////////4 Swansea Ratings GK) Vorm - 9. Another great performance as he saved the penalty that threatened to steal all three points. Distribution was again top notch, and he must have been thankful for a less busy evening this time around! DR) Rangel - 7. Good anticipation and defensive work, only caught out when Dyer stopped tracking back. DL) Taylor - 7. Some great runs from the young fullback and was tough to mark. In the late stages seemed to think more about defending than attack and was right to do so imo. DC) Caulker - 7. Quickly gelling within the backline, his second game was impressive again though he seemed a little nervous with the ball at times. DC) Williams - 7. Without Dzeko to worry him, Ash was back to business and made an excellent block. DM) Britton - 7. Comfortable in possession, worked hard without the ball and was only rarely out-muscled to lose the ball. DM) Agustien - 7. Another impressive showing, covering the right flank as well as the middle of the park. Showed good range of passing too - though should have gotten on target but dragged his shot wide. AM) Routledge - 7. Unlucky not to open his Premiership account after some good work but his shot crept wide of the far post. WR) Dyer - 7. Really impressed in the first half and late on in the second, but wasn't anywhere as involved after the break. His performance rose and fell with the team's own. WL) Sinclair - 7. Made himself a few chances, should have made the keeper work a lot harder today. Looks a better player at this level so far than he was in the Championship last season. ST) Graham - 7. Could have done better with his chances but worked hard and made a difference up top. He'll net before too long with performances like this. Subs DM) Allen - 7 (on for Britton at 75 mins). Did well again defensively and blunted some promising attacks. Doesn't seem phased by the step up. AM) Dobbie - 7 (on for Routledge at 75 mins). Some nice runs out wide and got a decent effort on target in one of the better second half moment for Swansea. ST) Lita - 6 (on for Graham at 83 mins). Looked really fired up for the free-kick when he came on, shame he has had so little time to prove himself so far - he's VERY hungry atm. Wigan Ratings GK) Al-Habsi - 6. Made a couple of decent saves but looked vulnerable at times. DR) Boyce - 7. Defended well, moved to the centre after the injury. DL) Figueroa - 7. Advanced well, couple of long strikes but nothing to worry Vorm. DC) Caldwell (c) - 7. Kept everyone organised and worked hard all game. DC) Alcaraz - 6. Seemed to injure himself early when jumping for a header, went off a few minutes later. DM) Diame - 7. Strong and tough to get past - kept space to a minimum outside the box. MR) Gomez - 7. Fouled early, and looked subdued but was still the most creative player for Wigan. I'll watch the penalty incident before stating he dived on EVERY third touch. (We remember that side of him well too ) ML) Moses - 7. Seemed to cover Dyer well and put pressure on Rangel but didn't offer much of a goal threat. Used his pace well, but picked up a silly yellow. MC) Watson - 6. Very little offensively, very little (legally) defensively and topped off a bad performance by seeing his penalty saved. MC) McCarthy - 5. Didn't see him until the ref booked him, didn't see him again until his substitution. ST) Di Santo - 6. Great power and speed, but didn't see much of either. He can thank his teammates and a dogged defence for that. Subs DR) Stam - 7 (on for Alcaraz at 37 mins). Kept Sinclair fairly quiet and looked lively. MC) McArthur - 6 (on for McCarthy at 64 mins). Few decent passes but didn't make an impact. ST) Rodellega - 6 (on for Di Santo at 70 mins). Fairly lively but not enough time or fitness to make a difference. Season's predictions Swansea - 16th place. It's too early to start re-evaluating our finish but if we can sustain our play through both halves then I'd be looking towards mid-table (something I never thought I'd see). Still need a couple of signings and Buck keeps working to get the right players in to give us every shot of staying up. We were unplayable at times and it was only the fitness that saw us unable to sit back and soak Wigan's pressure better. Wigan - 20th place. It's a tough one to call this early on but losing N'Zogbia is a huge blow and they didn't take advantage of us when we were on our knees. Martinez knew we'd fade in the second half and his tactics showed a shrewd mind - but there isn't enough on offer from his players to make me back them to beat the drop this season. Their biggest chance of survival is Rodellega and Di Santo getting 35+ goals between them. Chris
Nice one Chris thought you were bang on with most of the ratings, I would put vorm at 10 though, a clean sheet and a saved penalty and didn't put a foot wrong IMO
Good report Chris - although I think Dyer and Caulker deserved an 8 each. And agree with Jager re Vorm; couple of stray passes but otherwise didn't put a foot wrong. Will take a while for the new boys to bed in properly but was very encouraged by the performance today; the team does not look out of place in the Prem (also thought that on Monday - Man City will do that to a few teams this season, they are a different class). Wigan came for a point and were hard to break down but, with a little luck, we could have got a couple of goals. Rode our luck a bit in the second half and I think a draw was a fair result. Was also pleased with the reception given to Martinez, with the handful of boo boys being drowned out by warm applause from the majority - also enjoyed the pre match (after the PA problems threatened to ruin the Morriston Orpheus' first song) and Max Boyce was entertaining, with a nice match day take on his 'Hymns and Arias' - 'Wigan have a super team, who play without fatigue - their name is Wigan Warriors, and they play rugby league!' - class!
I was tempted to put the ratings up higher but felt the tiredness we displayed in the second half meant a lot of players (Dyer most notably) faded badly for a good half hour as they tried to recover for a late push. Seeing as that lull gave Wigan two shots only stopped via woodwork and a penalty, I thought I'd be more conservative. Also think that Vorm did just about as well as in the first game so a 9 in both - he's yet to score so not had the perfect game! to Cartoonhead for the name of the choir as I didn't get a clear hear of it thanks to the PA system.
Good thread Chris. Your ratings/analysis is about right I reckon. Good result really, considering Graham, Routledge, Augustien, Caulker and Vorm are all new to the team, and Wigan are a settled side minus N'Zogbia. I was impressed with the way we played today, even though we couldn't find that final touch, and like you said, tired in the second half. The full backs played a big role in allowing us to play more in the final third today than even last season. Rangel and Taylor seemed to play right on the touchlines and overlap the wingers regularly, so it meant that both wingers could tuck in and join in with Danny Graham a bit more. Leon and Kemy sat back more than usual when the full backs bombed on, so even if we lost the ball and they counter attacked, we still had four defenders back. Routledge looked good on the ball today and even though he looked a little static at times, I think once he has bedded in, will work well with Dyer and Graham. Dyers' tendency to run with the ball through the middle from the right leaves space on the right wing, which suits Routledge more than Dobbie, and Graham benefits from Routleges pace to run in behind him. Our main problem was the much debated lack of a physical presence in the centre of midfield. I thought Leon and Kemy put in a few good tackles, but overall we just weren't aggressive enough in the tackle. We kept our shape well for the whole game, but sometimes you have to just stick your foot in knowing you might not get the ball, especially high up the pitch when we are vulnerable to counter attacks. Wigan kicked us all game and only got four bookings and maybe that's something we have to learn about premiership refs tolerance for hard tackles. So, as long as we get stuck in, I'm quietly confident about the Sunderland game.
Nice read Chris. Although I'd have to disagree with a 7 for Ash yesterday. Let's not forget that he did give a penalty away where he didn't really have to go in like that. He also hit numerous crossfield passes out towards Dyer/Graham which were completely wasted and off target. This has been part of his game in recent years and when they come off they are fantastic, but it just looked like giving cheap possession away, which we can't really afford to do in this league. A problem clearly highlighted yesterday was set pieces. We are clearly lacking and don't offer much threat from direct FK's. When we had a freekick on the egde of the box I did look around the team and wondered who would step up. Sinclair stepped up and hit a fairly tame effort. I don't think that's in his repertoire but was probably our best option. Maybe Dobbie would have taken it if he was on, but I believe that it is essential that if we pick up a midfielder before the deadline, it must be someone who offers set piece options from FK's and corners. Adam was massive part of Blackpool team not just because of general play, but his FK threat and set piece delivery. We need that. We have it in Bodde, but we've lacked that since his absence, apart from a little cameo from Fabio. Agree with Leeeeon re Routledge but did drift in and out of the game. Looks comfortable on the ball, but clearly out of position in the hole. He should be interchanged with Sinclair/Dyer to get the best out of him. I think Dobbie is our best and only option in that position as offers something a little different. I'm glad Vorm did his homework on Watson, I was praying he'd go to the right after his pen against the Canaries last week and he got it spot on. Dorus de Who? Inspired signing, after looking like we had a big problem position to fill. We're building and will get better. I'm quite disappointed that Martinez brought a awful Wigan team down that parked the bus, got everyone behind the ball and hoped for something on the break. Where's his footballing philosophy gone? They will be on the end of some big defeats this seasons, as we may too, but we'll be going about it the right way. Keep it up!
Fact is that this 'awful' team almost snatched it. Would have been undeserved, but it's a fact. You can have all the possesson in the world but we have to be more clinical in front of goal or it'll be a re-run of the Sousa season ie: dominating possession but no cutting edge. That gave us a great final position in the table in the Championship but we'll get buried in the Prem. Good review, Chris and I agree that the Wigan players had clearly been given instructions to do whatever was necessary to stop us breaking early. More cards should have been shown early on to stop it imo. Very frustrating. Although Routledge had a good game I'm not convinced he'll score goals for us. 101 appearances and counting has delivered zero goals. Dobbie delivers those goals and isn't afraid to have a pop - as you all saw when he and Allen came on. He's also proven time and again that he has an eye for the killer pass. Our inability to get a decent FK on target is also noticeable when he's on the bench. So yes I'm highly critical of that decision. I'd rather the Routledge/ Britton combo away from home if Dobbie isn't on the pitch but at home it should be Dobbie & Allen every time. But I'm not the manager.
Fully agree with the review, very honest and accurate. I would also like to say in this day and age when it's commonplace to criticise the ref Phil Dowd had a good game too, hardly noticed him, allowed the game to flow and got the decisions right (including the penalty). Why couldnt we get this standard in championship too ?
as much as it pains me to say it, i think we're going to struggle all season, apart from 1 or 2 occasions we created nothing up front, yet could have conceded 3, if you think we're going to finish 4 places above wigan, your obviously blinkered, they soaked up everythingh we threw at them relatively easy, and looked the more likely to score the longer the game went on, and they are 1 of the poorer teams, if we can't create much against them what chance have we got against the better teams. i've seen nothing yet that makes me think we're good enough to stay up.
I can see why you have that view but I disagree. More clinical up front and we'd have been 2-0 up at half time. We created a few chances in each half. More than the opposition in fact. You get less chances in the Prem, that's a statistical fact. The MOTD analysts were spot on. If we start scoring goals we'll do alright beause we're playing good possession football.
one comment that was made bu the commentators was that Lita had been on the field for 10 minutes and had (not through his doing) only touched the ball once. agree with the majority of the comments, thought that dobbie and allen should have been brought on at least 10 minutes earlier and i must ask why didn't dobbie start? from what i saw of graham, he sems to want the ball played directly to him and if he doesn't get it he doesn't chase and was easily knocked off the ball a couple of times. regarding hi-jacks comment re vorm doing his homework on watson, i was thinking exactly the same thing and was hoping go right go right, damn shame i just bought a dorus signed glove on ebay, now i need a vorm one. a combination of all the comments presents a very true comment of how the match went, the main i point i would make though is i believe swans had 59% possession, looked gr8 until it was time to find a forward and with only playing one striker made it difficult, sad to watch the ball going backwards fron halfway inside the oppostions half back to vorm.
