So after a cracking season last time out and a blitzkreig start this time it appears that the wheels have come off a little. Injuries have blighted us at the back and we appear to have been found out by heavy pressing and constant closing down (amongst the odd dodgy ref call of course!) What do you guys think the viking needs to do to turn this around? Do we try to promote youth from the academy (like we did with davies) to cover the injuries/suspensions? do we pick up a free agent? (again) I'm worried by the lack of unity and confidence some of the lads have at the moment, what would you do to patch up the swans and start getting results?
Sorry mate totally disagree, even though we lost 3 0on Saturday we still made chances . OK we were blitzed for the first 20 mins but thats the ay it goes. How many first choices were we missing? We could have, no should have, gone in equal at half time and the second half well, the referee did us no favours whatsover. Moyes is a good tacticion but if we had our settled side I firmly believe it would be a different result. Everton are good make no mistake and it's no disgrace to lose to them but in my view we were unfortunate to say the least! Honeymoon over ? Nah, we're still holding hands and kissing on lips!
the chances were there but i have to admit that the ref was a bit bias towards everton and he blew his whistle to many times when we had the ball. ML has to take some of the flack as well for leaving leon and dyer out of the starting line up. Cold or no cold leon was fit enough to be on the bench and should have played from the off, He is the main midfielder and without him we looked very ordinary. I hope ML has learned from this that we have to play our strongest side in every game.
We were beaten by a top side in Everton, shows how much we have progressed over the last 2 season to believe we should win against such sides home and away. Dyer and Leon were left out for 2 players we payed £11,000,000 for!!! Thats half what our stadium cost. Some of our movement and goal threat was awesome, if Howard hadnt of been on top of his game and a few decisions went our way, we could of changed he game. As ML said, we will experience Hi's and Lows, I still reckon we have the Quality to finish in the Top 10.
Everton were the better side, but were a team that Moyles has been buiding for ages! They are very experienced playing alongside each other - we had a team that had so many new faces that cohesion was always going to be an issue! I have to laugh at the ST holders around me; after three games they were predicting a top five finish - after Everton we are now relegation fodder!! Get some perspective FFS! Am still optimistic - so we were beaten by a side who I believe will be knocking on the door of a top 5 finish - but it is not the end of our season - we created a load of chances even when down to ten men - Ki looks like he could be a very useful deputy at centre back - we are 11th FFS! No need to panic Mr Mainwaring; the good ship Swansea is still in good shape!
Look on the bright side .... We're not Liverpool. We're not a Big club. We don't have their stars. We're not supposed to be challenging for anything except survival. Table must be upside down.
Don't read too much into it. Everton were good. From what I've seen there are loads of teams that are much worse than us.
Agree KJ I think we are currently suffering from natural fragmentation as a team caused through player injury, illness and suspension and a number of new players who are yet to gel. All of the above add to our players lack of confidence caused by indecision through the lack of togetherness. None of our current issues are insurmountable though and with time the players will assimilate and we will have a pretty decent team. Saturday was the first time we've played so poorly for a long time but if we give them patience, grudging or otherwise, I'm sure we'll see us develop as a squad and improve as a team.
Was just one of those games where it wasnt going to work. Nonsense talk in the paper about wheels coming off etc...7 points in the next 3 league games!! Draw with Stoke and wins @ home against Reading and Wigan!
As much as I agree that we were beaten by a good Everton side, Tate does make some valid points. I know there is a 'pot and kettle' scenario going on, but the communication was poor. We didn't have to make that good Everton side look so good. That said, I think we are fragmenting because of injuries, suspensions and squad changes like stumpy said. I think it's a speed-bump in our form we can get some decent points from the next three games.
Tate was awful that's a given... But, of course there were going to be teething problems with the 2 centre miss in front of the shaky defence being new as well! We really missed Leon. Not just for winning the ball but also for his movement and energy, creating easy 5 yard passes for the defenders. We could have played Gower to have more continuity, but I'm happier that Ki and De Guzman got a chance to play together in a game I never expected to win (with our injuries and suspensions against such a good team).
Only after 10 games do I feel it fair to judge the eam and manager. We were worked out at the tail end of the season so trying something different and fresh was to be expected IMO . LAudrup is learning what alot of us have known for a long time,the defense cannot defend one on one,we have never been able to actually(since Bobby m) Sousa solved the problem but created another,Rodgers first few games we were similar to how we are now,then he realized that our defense man for man is well ropey and adjusted his style and formation to give more protection to the back four. Laudrup has worked out how to score but not how to balance the defense, unfortunately for him losing Taylor is a massive massive blow and Chico compounded his problems, Kyle bartly was another unlucky stroke. If we had these defensive/injury problems last season then we probably would have been relegated, after 10 games we will see what defensive cover is needed in January and we will see how he problem solves these issues. Moving Ki to centre back saved us from an even bigger hammering so it shows ML can think on his feet and manage. Overall I'm happy with the start
I thought Ki was one of the bright lights in Saturdays game. Also done well when he came on against Sunderland. Could also have scored a super goal as that curler went just past the post. Looked reasonably comfortable in central defence - certainly more composed than Tate.
I'd go back to playing as close to last season's starting 11! That said, obviously we no longer have Caulker, Sinclair or Allen, but with Chico due back, we have Routledge and Hernandez, on the wing, I'd drop De Guzman for Ki, and play them till they gel, though it was inevitable that we'd lose some of our passing game with Allen going, that's why we will be so dependent on Britton this season, though I'm not sure if Laudrup understands the significance of these two players in our midfield were last season, sure hope he learns quick, though he must surely see, by now, why De Guzman couldn't get much game time last season with Villarreal, Molina obviously didn't rate him, gives the ball away far too much for my liking, and I would like to see him dropped for Ki!.................
Honeymoon over?????? this is our second season in the premiership not the first Its a hell of an honeymoon otherwise we have had...
Personally guys this has warmed my cockles a bit! The positivity and belief the Jack Army has for the boys is bloody brilliant. Proud to be Jack. Iawn as f@@k! all the recent in-fighting on other threads (I have kept my head down on those threads) has detracted from the most important thing: namely the football but chiefly the mighty Swans. The best team in Wales, the best fans and the best football.
Have to agree there dragon to be honest. would use De Guzman as an impact sub to make something happen later on in the game. I had a crazy thought earlier; why not try Hernandez up front with Michu playing off him? Hernandez has the pace, trickery and natural arrogance to run at the CB's and take on the keeper. If Graham isn't working out it could be an unorthodox solution to our recent lack of league goals.
