Really proud of our team performance yesterday, and the suprise selection made by Brenden was bold and positive which made a massive difference. Our approach against a Spurs team full of world class players was to be positive and play,we did this and it will give the players a timely reminder that they belong at this level,they had the bottle to play their game and it made a big difference .A steirling effort by the team and subs,everyone played their part and they were brave from the first minute to the last,my stand out performers; Jazz- growing with every minute,kept one of the worlds best players quiet even after getting unfairly yellow carded, got turned inside out once by a spurs player which unfortunatly cost us a goal, spurs are world class and can do that to the best so chin up jazz your doing well ! Ash- one word for him AWESOME!! if cahill is going for £7m quid than ash is currently worth at least £14m tackled,headed, used his strength, passed it ,carried it forward looked like he belongs at a top 4 club. Luke moore- I always go on about him but he is inches away from fulfilling his full potential with us, his touch and ability to roll defenders and open up a gap to shoot is what we are missing,many times he was making the right run only for him not to be picked out with the right pass,put a proper attacking midfielder in there and luke moore will do very well, luke put in a shift and seeing him chase after the ball/player back into his own half showed his desire to be part of the team, a good shift yesterday. Kemy- Sorry but i think Kemy has earned the right to start games now, his go forward was instrumental in us coming into the game, he has the arrogance on the ball and beleives he should be sharing the stage with the worlds best! thats the attitude we need and have been lacking,kemy brought the positive vibes when he came on. Toughts on the performance? surely selection should be rangel and kemy the only changes for Villa ? Leon Britton, did not playing him mean we had a more fluid midfield as a result,did anyone think the ball moved quicker and with more purpose ?? Well done swans, i was very proud of the boys ,villa will be confident after winning at chelsea so this may mean they wont worry about our game just concentrate on their own game instead, we need to go there and attck them !! positive selection is the way to go boys !!
Absolutely Norway, good to see us get back to positive football, this negative Sousa stuff these last few games has been doing my head in, it has its place on occasions, IE, seeing out a winning games etc, but our boys can match the best, if their only allowed to express themselves and given the freedom to shine as they did yesterday, awesome display, and proud of our boys! Pleased Dobbie has finally had his chance too................... please log in to view this image
Moore played well but i would still put Graham in for the Villa game. Think Dobbie finally took his opportunity yesterday and played really well...was nice to see and brought an attacking balance to our midfield that was desperately missing. Can see Britton sitting out the next game too and i agree that Kemy has to start also! It was also nice to see Dyer look like he is getting back to the type of form he started the season with....looked like he may have been working on his shooting too
I hope that nobody truly believes that Rodgers is taking tips off armchair pundits on an internet forum. If our tactics are coming from football nobodies (me included) then we aren't in very good shape for the rest of the season. We had a great display yesterday, and we played in the right manner. Allen stepped it up a notch, Gower went with him, and Agustien carried on where he left off against QPR. We need the midfielders to fire if we're going to win games in this league, and they looked good value against Spurs! The ball was moving forwards, and wide, quicker than in the last few games and that's what we need. But can we please drop this theory that Rodgers takes advice off these forums. If he is allowing the fans to pick his team, he'll lose respect from the players fast. Let the manager do his job and stop trying to claim that you had a hand in anything that happened on the pitch yesterday (apart from adding to the 12th man atmosphere if you were there). All credit goes to the manager, coaches, and players for yesterdays result. Credit to Rodgers for picking the right style of game to use Dobbie. I'll be surprised if he starts against Villa as it will be a completely different style of game, but he played his part in a memorable performance yesterday. I don't think that Moore would have been on the field if he actually read these forums, as he got a bit of a bombardment after his cameo against QPR. We've got 2 games in 48 hours, and we had to use our squad as it's impossible for the first team to play both of the games due to recovery times needed in the professional game. I expect to see Routledge, Graham, Britton and Caulker to make substantial contributions against Villa.
Agree with you Norway. Rangel, Augustien, Caulker to start instead of Jazz, Gower and Monk. Graham will probably start for Moore but I would be happy with Moore. Dobbie stays. No Britton
I'm sure Brendan doesn't change his team selection because of anything written on here, Musty! Is there such a thing as a correct selection? As that implies there are incorrect selections. Surely, there are only selections and the manager makes his selection on the basis of availabilty, the opposition and the desired outcome for any particular match. And if we weren't playing 3 games in 7 days I don't think we would have seen yesterday's selection. It just worked out well.
It would seem so Musty, doubt it though! ......... The big issue for Rodgers is our away form, and I think he's been looking at those away game videos, under Sousa, the thing is though that Sousa was too negative and defensive, and Rodgers needs to find the magical balance and mixture of style away from home, I would like to see us play our first half games away, the way we played yesterday, and then closing up shop Sousa style for the last 20 minutes of the game, once ahead, know we can't do that with all opposition away from home, but it would be the right approach for most, I think! Just my view............................. please log in to view this image
bigkidderz, while I agree with pretty much what you have said, I think it's true that all performing artists, like to get feedback from the crowd, or audience, it would not be human nature to do otherwise, and goes for the football arena as well, both managers and players need objective feedback from the fans, as it can be more educating on times, than some of the yes men that some managers surround themselves with, and let's be honest here, football is not rocket science, so lets not bull up these managers into something they are not, and by the way, I know quite a few professionals that use these football type forums! Not saying Rodgers does, but who the hell cares if he does or not, but he wouldn't be the first........................... please log in to view this image
I don't think that anyone believes that Buck bases his team, or anything else, on what he may or may not read here. However, I would imagine that he does read different forums if only to gauge the feelings of the fans about various issues. If he doesn't do so personally then perhaps the job is delegated to someone who would present him with a summary of the fans' feelings on those issues. I would if I were him; come to that, Huw might well be interested in that kind of feedback. After all, the fans are the lifeblood of the club and it's as well to know the consensus of their opinions. So far as playing matters are concerned I'm sure that Buck only makes his decisions based on what he sees in training and via personal contact with the players - as it should be. But don't write off we posters as ignoramuses who know nothing about the game. There has been some good, pertinent stuff posted on this and other forums, some of which might just prove of interest to him. Have to finish with another reference to yesterday. It was so refreshing to see the passion and energy in our play right up to the final whistle. Much, much more of it please.
I don't mean to call or imply that anyone is an "ignoramus" as you so eloquently put it. I did include myself in that blanket judgement as well to ensure that you could see that I'm talking about everyone as a collective. I like to think that I've got some decent views on how we should play the game, what needs changing, and who should be/shouldn't be playing. But when it's being claimed that a player was picked due to our manager reading this forum, I don't like that. I'm sure that Brendan cares deeply how the fans feel, and that's why they have fan forums where he gets the opportunity to respond to fans directly. I just don't want it to feel like the fans have any sort of power over team selection in anyway. I love giving my two pence worth, but that's where it stops. I realise that I'm only a fan that apart from supporting the Swans and playing 5-a-side/7-a-side for 5 years or so, I've got absolutely no connection to football. Anyone in football that takes my advice is taking more than a few steps backwards on their own knowledge. It would be nice to know that Brendan or a few of the players read our messages. But I'd hazard a guess that any ideas we come up with on here have already been discussed and/or trialled on the training pitch. Brendan mentioned to Stan Collymore that we're after an attacking midfielder and a goal-scoring midfielder. That's been a topic of discussion on these boards for 4-6 weeks, do any of us think that he came up with that idea because he reads our forums? I wonder who he's got in mind though... Any guesses? Maybe Buck will read our suggestions and go and sign them eh?
Ivor, as I mentioned on the matchday thread yesterday, I too was pleased that we played with passion and heart, and more of that we need, of course that's easier to do, when your not shackled with Sousa type demands from your gaffer. As regards the rest of your post, agree, common sense at the end of the day!........................
IMO yesterdays result was much more to do with Spurs set-up and shape, rather than a massive improvement in our own performance. Unlike many, I haven't been totally dismayed by our recent displays. I've been to every game, home and away, since Man Utd and, from what I've seen, opposing teams that keep a truly rigid shape will always prove a challenge for us to break down, which is why we end up moving the ball sideways and backwards so much, but we haven't actually been playing badly. This was true in the championship and is still the case in the Prem. Yesterday, I was surprised that Harry Redknapp still gave Bale a licence to roam after they went 1 - 0 up. It was clear in the first half that Bale's new role of shifting infield left acres of space for our RB to run into, and link up with Dyer. I was wishing and praying that Rangel was fit as his attacking prowess would have exploited this space more effectively than Jazz. Second half, that's exactly what happened. Rangel was practically living in their half, and we scored as a result. It made for a far more enjoyable game as it was much more open than our recent matches, but we should take it as a compliment that established Prem teams, such as Everton, are setting out to try and quash our game rather than enforce their style upon us. Yesterday, Spurs tried to play their game against us, gave us too much room, and were lucky to leave the Liberty with a point. A freshening of our starting line up definitely helped brush off a few stale cobwebs, yes, but I believe we still would have got a result if we'd played with the same 11 who started against QPR. With regards to Dobbie, it's clear that he gives us another dimension in terms of our attacking play, but just as Gower gets criticised on here so much for relinquishing the ball far too easily and far too often, the same must be said of Dobbie. Yesterday we survived his carelessness, but in the course of the season such sloppiness will result in us losing points. I guess it's a gamble that BR has to weigh up; will Dobbie bring more to the table than he gives away? I imagine we'll find out BR's decision tomorrow.
bigkidderz don't lie, you were referring to me weren't you as the proverbial "ignoramus", so come on spit it out, don't be shy, I can take it!.............
one thing i may add is that in fairness to Spurs they didnt come here to stop us playing, they went out to play their game,we have suffered a bit lately with teams stopping us from playing,even doubling up on our wingers, what we did well against spurs was play in the right areas when needed,we worked it until we got the room for sinclair and dyer to push into the area/final 3rd, dobbie wasnt exceptional and was woefully slow and ponderous at times, never the less he did his best and was dead on his feet for the last 15mins. Leon britton should sit out the next game and we will see if this new line up is a flash in the pan or not. we created chances again and that is one of the biggest positives we can take out of the game
the marked improvement was down to playing more attacking type of players and dropping the more defensive type of players. If we dont keep this style and revert back to the boring lone striker with far to much backward football then we will lose more than we will win. Changing the players is a good thing and keeps everyone trying their hardest in training for a start in the next game.....
big apple- just read your post,sorry to type the same thing twice!! Villa winning at Chelsea may well ensure that they go about their own game,this could well work to our advantage when we go there, their fans will expect a repeat performance and maybe they will stop trying to kick our boys up in the air for 90mins and try and play a bit, i fancy us to play them off the park if it came down to pure football,depends if they employ the black arts or back their own ability to play football, mcleash will probably go for option 1 though!!
I have always been of the opinion that all squad players are first team players and every team we play should be treated individually and the right player whoever he is should be picked to play. The team get to watch recent opponents before every game and that should determine who gets picked or not instead of choosing the same players because of what they cost.....
