Sometimes we need to just change it up a pace going forward to keep the opposing team honest SIMPLES. It's easy to get 2 banks of 4 back when we take so long to break forward all the time. We have talented players who selflessly play for the team structure but sometimes I wish they would just try and take on the world themeselves once in a blue moon. Plan B is required but I sense it is a step too far for our bargain basement players under the rigid system. They seem to be lacking someone who can play heads up football. Still, far better than 10 years ago!!
Sometimes it seems to me that we are playing our football as though we were painting by numbers. I am still numbed by this result and will need to sleep on it before I post further. The problem is obvious - we need another two gears in the final third. Finding the answer is another matter. We should never have lost that game.
I disagree, I think it's the middle third that creates the problems. The ball gets slowed up so much in that area it is easy for some teams to get back (those who dont decide to close our back 4 down as they take their time getting forward). For a team that relies on passing, how many surgical passes disect a not yet assembled defense? We are guilty of trying to pass the ball into the net. If it wasn't for Gylfi taking it upon himself to shoot, we could be in amongst the relegation teams. We need either someone in the midfield, a general who can either beat a player or break through a tackle creating space and the balls to drive forward. We win a midfield tussle and it then goes back?!?!? There's lies, lies and damn statistics and I think the current set up believe their possesion stats are the be all and end all. Yes, they are similar to Barca's but if you actually look at the stats you will see Barca hold the ball a lot further up the field with a pass completion rate in the final third far superior to ours. So...a midfield general and Messi is all we need!
I was at the gamem yesterday and apart from Cisse being a world class player we Dominated Newcastle for very long periods. They caught us cold in the first 5mins and that set the tone for them to play us more on the break. I was happy with our performance and just thought Newcastle have a player who looks every bit a £25m asset, and that was the difference. I got no problems with the loss, we have just had our hardest run of the season IMO Everton,Spurs and Newcastle. We probably wont get anything at QPR but looking at the team yesterday we have enough drive,passion and skill to get us through.
sinclair has'nt had the impact this season most were hoping for, and i for one was calling for him to be given a rest, but yesterday we looked more threatening when him and danny came on, for most of the game newcastle contained us rather to easily, and in cisse, they have a striker of the highest order, they'll have a job to keep on to him.
I've said elsewhere that it's easy to over-analyse this game. To my mind (as NJ says) the difference was a £10M striker whose second finish ranks as one of the goals of the season. Defensively, Newcastle got everyone behind the ball (even Cisse and Ba) as soon as we ventured forward and smothered us. Simple really.
the commentator at swans match yesterday has it spot on and as a realist can see the same thing week in week out. we are now sussed and will rarely win a game playing like that. it was so easy for the toon just like it was against everton and those who think we are a good team the way we play are unbelievable, we were playing among ourselves and the toon just watched and waited for a mistake which always happens and score. its so basic and good on them. if spurs want brendan to take over then hurry up and take him if he is going to play the possession game all the time. he wont last 2 minutes at spurs playing like that.......make all the excuses you like jackash and numpty kangaroo but let me inform you.. WE LOST YET ANOTHER HOME GAME at laughable fortress liberty keep the ball have loads of possession......do me a favour...its boring....
....and the self-proclaimed 'Swans Number One Fan' turns on his team. Again. Oh...this is the same 'fan' that chose to go to Tenby instead of the game. Clearly not even a ST holder. Number one fan....pffft.
kangaroo when you have been to as many games as me and know more about football than me then you can talk. but its so obvious you dont so your comments are irrelevant to me ..got it son.... im not playing your childish slanging game with you as i dont play with muppets//
This isn't a pissing contest and you have no idea how old I am or how many games I've been to. It doesn't matter how many games you've seen it's the loyalty that counts - supporting your team through thick and thin. Criticise when warranted sure, but making unjustified comments like 'we are rubbish' and 'teams find it easy against us' are not only inaccurate but foolish. But then again you are just a fool.
God, higher up the table than we thought we would be at this stage of the season and a fan telling our manager to go, and telling us we play boring football when alot of the clubs around us are envious of the way we play. Clearly know alot about football.
We don't need anything , maybe a bit of perspective from our fans maybe . I love when Premier League teams , especially ones trying to qualify for European places , tell us they LET us have the ball as part of there plan , when in reality they have no choice cause they can't get it . Good luck to Newcastle though ....
QPR will be an extremely tough game and i dont expect us to get anything there on Wednesday, after that the games left are more than winnable (apart from Man utd) the question of if we have been found out or not is a tricky one, i posted an article on it the other week and the points made there remain the same now. Knowing how we play and stopping it are two different things, every prem team knows how we do things the burning question has been do they wish to stop us or play their own game ?? Newcastle got a lucky early goal and that meant they could just sit back and soak up pressure, we were really trying hard to break them down but we didnt get that bit of luck needed, if we had scored i felt we could actually have gone on to win such was our confidence on the ball but it wasnt to be, a smash and grab by Newcastle was what id call it. A big concern for me right now is the willingness to only play through Gylfi in the final 3rd, we are not exploring other options and just working space for gylfi to shoot from 20yrds out, nothing wrong with that but how did we manage before we signed him? we must try and vary our game a bit more and stop relying on siggidsson to bend it in from the edge of the area, it takes more work to create for our centre forward and i feel we are using gylfi a touch too much .
We seem to have gone from one extreme to the other in terms of goal-scoring. I can remember a time when Musty was fuming because no-one took a long-range shot; all our goals were from in the six-yard box. Now, all our goals come from long(er) distance (as a result of having Sigurdsson) and tap-ins are a thing of the past.
but there wasn't much direct pressure to absorb inside the box. When our roles were reversed up in Newcastle, they pounded our box with quality cross after quality cross. That was pressure. Our crossing was anaemic when it occurred and we never really got behind their defense out wide to make a cross happen. Our main threats came from Donets and once agin it was Caulker putting the best opportunities on target. For some reason our wingers were playing more inside and our backs were hugging the touch line up high. Moore was so starved of the ball he was often dropping off the front line 25 yards to get a touch. As Ivor and I have commented, we really lack that extra shift of gear around the oppsition's box to make something happen and create real pressure, pressure that produces chances or causes fouls.
