What did most of us say? some of the bollocks spouted by our own fans has really annoyed me lately, if some are too stupid to see what has been going on with our team tactically then there is no hope for them ! It was clear to those of us that understand football that Laudrups recent tactical shift was there for a specific reason, yet we had fans flapping saying stuff like they feared we have lost our way or hit a wall, for shame on you guys i say! we are the Swans and will always be up against it so a little faith now and again wouldnt go a miss! its not like we have been losing or the team has been woeful for long periods..it hasnt it has been functunal and has got results playing a certain system, the same system that won Chelsa an european cup and the same system that has put us 90mins away from our first major cup final !! keep the faith guys ! today we reverted to our A game because tactically that was required, horses for courses guys !! Anyway onto the game!! First thing i have to say MIKE DEAN YOU ARE A TOTAL CNUT OF A REFEREE AND REALLY DO SEEM TO HATE THE SWANS !! what is it with this guy ? he must loath us !! Stoke were average but our football was good enough to take advantage at times i thught we might end up with another Villa game where we didnt take our chances but once we scored that made Stoke have to come out a bit more. Man of the match for me was without doubt Wayne Routledge he run the show today and was our most creative player here is my scores out of ten for the team. Vorm- 7 . very little to do today,went ballastic with his defence when owen,the second smallest guy on the field scored a free header Davies- 8 . His first goal in the prem league and took it like a seasoned pro, had a smashing game and gets better as the season goes on, still got a roasting off the stoke winger at times but came out on top overall. Monk- 7. Did nothing wrong but looks ropey at times, he has done a great job stepping into games this season and has earned his corn the sands of time are against him but i cant fault him really. Williams- 8. Did great with his passing and bringing the ball forward,helped davis out a few times and is clearly back to his best Pablo 7. Started off a bit iffy but thankfully got into the grove, seems to be the kind of guy that needs to play his way into form and it does show the more he plays some great passing and some decent work,building up to his pre-injury unplayable form. JDG 9 . Many people didnt think much of this guy,im not quite sure why really,he has it all . took his goals fantastic but iwas more impressed with his work off the ball which he did alot of, was close to man of the match for me. Ki 7 did well but went off the boil after 70mins! fitness or mental focus ?? played one his better games today and put his foot in,i think we can see he is another one that needs to play his way into form,some of his wayward passing needs sorting out though, as i said maybe he loses his mental focas but that will come with time. Routledge 9. As i said,my man of the match. looks absolutly world class sometimes and is probably the most girfted player at the club,im so happy that this boy is showing the world that all the hype when he was young was justified, Laudrup has put faith in him and can obviously see what Brenden couldnt, routledge is becoming the new Dyer and there is no higher praise than that. Michu 6. Yeah i said it ..6 !! lets be honest he was crap today and if another forward spunked away the chances he has we would be slagging them off big time! did his work for the team but had a day to forget up front,im hoping his mind is on Chelsea !! Itay -8 some may say thats a bit high but i feel he did alot of unselfish work today and was a constant thorn in the side of Stoke, i wish he was more selfish in front of goal sometimes but you cant blame him for that when short on game time and confidence, i consigned him to the dust bin but he has proven he can still offer something if not a goal threat. As i said the other day, the days of the enforcer are not as relevent as they once were,we had the better of midfield today without it becoming a major trench war fare episode in the centre of the park. What is relevent is that when we are on our game we are very good, we are not world class so we must understand that sometimes 3/4 players may have a mare and be below form,truth is we get it right more often than we get it wrong. There wasnt really any other player that would have made much of a difference in our midfield today and i think we need to recongnise that fact1 Thoughts on the drubbing of Stoke today ??
I think it's unfair to pick out comments made about our team tactics because those posters have the right to be concerned if they feel we have lost our edge or changed style. I myself believe that we only play that way against the big teams because its the only way we are going to get results away from home against them, but others are well in their right to have a different opinion on the matter, they shouldn't be slated for it. Regarding mike dean, couldn't agree more. I have a serious hatred for this man as he always seems to be out to try and screw us over whenever possible. Should genuinely be banned from officiating our matches from here on in.
Very fair assessment there. I'll go in order, Mike Dean actually hates us, gives us jack 5hit. Every time I see him down to ref us I cringe. Stoke were very poor, did they actually threaten us? Vorm had one save of any real substance. Defence was well marshalled by Monk, Rangel as Capello said is the best right back in the PL. His work rate is phenomenal, he constantly covers more ground then any other Swans player, or at least in the top three. Saying that to let a sloppy goal in late on was poor, just lacked the concentration and Vorm was right to chastise them. Our passing game was on the button today, yes some passes went astray, but not like in recent weeks. Our midfield really played well as a unit, Ki for a first time got his foot in and made some good tackles. JDG excellent game two class finishes, Routledge took Whitehead apart and loved it. Pablo as you said Norway got off to a slow start but he can pass a decent ball. Michu was off form today but he's allowed to. Itay run his balls of for the team and fair play to him, needs to get some goals though. Great to see Ben get a goal that was hell of a turn and finish, really happy for the lad. I'd be picking hairs with what score each player had, might have given Ki an 8 but other than that very fair. Roll on Chelsea.
If you feel its unfair thats fine, i dont feel its unfair . What i feel is that there was a real lack of understanding as to what has been going on the last month and some fans were too dull to see that and would not accept any form of debate over it. Beleive me when i say this, if we had lost today there would have been ructions on here with those same people saying "i told you so" so what is different ?? I feel an out pouring of emotion with todays result and it warms my heart to see us get 3pts, we are all Jacks and want the same things but some times it does no harm to remind people that have been overly negative and ignorant to the amount of work,effort and games the club has had to manage in the last month !!
Wigan conceded a penalty today for a similar situation for which we were denied two. Consistency in applying the rules would be nice. Good game today when we were not pressured that much by a lack luster Stoke team. I think agee with the ratings. JDG is getting better and better, would mot like to lose him at the end of the season. Ki had one of his better games - if he can just avoid his little lapses in focus from time to time. Chelsea will be an exciting game to watch ... What will ML do with this one? Lamah looks interesting. Is he qualified to play against Chelsea. Frankly Dyer's days on the field are going to be few unless he figures himself out and starts to apply himself. Congrats to Ben on his first senior goal. I think Neil is going to find it very difficult to reclaim the first choice left back position. Other than right back, where Rangel is huge, where else could he play. Tiendalli is great cover on both sides.
With the amount of games we've had this last month, PL, LC & FAC. We have had to have a different game plan for each specific opponent where we had to dig in forget the nice stuff and battle for the points, it's all hand to the trenches and lets be honest it's worked. We've managed to nick a win at Fulham not playing our best football, got a battling point at Everton plus a resilient display in beating the EUROPEAN CHAMPIONS. Were on the verge of a cup final and some see the way we've been playing as if we've run out of ideas. I'd say on the contrary, I think were getting very savvy to the demands of PL football, we can't play the beautiful game the beautiful way every week, I actually like it when we can win ugly as it does show how good a team we are.
To be honest I haven't been on here much lately so haven't seen what was said but I still don't think they can be called stupid for having a differing opinion. And yess was very very refreshing to see a performance capped off with a great result aswell. I don't feel like we have got what we've deserved so far this season with our home games. Villa, reading and Sunderland stick out to me.
I find that even a miserable twat like me can't disagree with anything you say there Norway. Way too much negativity and bollocks on this board lately. The only point I would question is your assessment of Mike Dean. Why hold back ? I think you've been lenient with him, I cannot properly put into words how much content I feel for him. Top thread !
I don't think it was much an issue of tactics as it was an apparent drop in certain individuals' performance and lack of physical / mental toughness when the pressure was on. Today Stoke were a shadow of Arsenal, Everton et al and we duly commanded control and normal service resumed. Chelsea will be a game where, whatever the lineup and shape ML chooses, every player on the field will have to show up and put it all on the line, no time or place to hide. I have commented that playing our style is physically demanding and with the busy schedule that we have had something had to give and more appropriate tactics were called for to deal with fatigue etc. In this series of games, some players grew in stature and covered themselves with glory (e.g. Chico) and others not so much (e.g. Dyer) and were found wanting on an individual level. Lessons learned by all. We came out of the period pretty well results wise, could have been better, but could have been a lot worse, and we avoided injury (i think?) with the exception of Kemy. We are well positioned for the final third or so of the season. A top 8 or better finish is within reach.
I didnt call anybody stupid Swans M so you must correct that please. What i said was IF some are too stupid to see what has been going on with the team tactically.. there is a difference . Anyway, i take your points they are well made,this is not about about thinking one opinon doesnt matter they all matter of course,it is more about not being willing to debate the reasons why the team has been playing a certain way. Neveroff, i agree 100% as i said the other day its better to win ugly rather than have 65% posession and lose 0-2 at home... We must remember that players will never be bang on form for the whole of the season there are alot of things to consider i think, even if we plan to be defensive it os never the intention to keep giving the ball away !! that just comes down to players just not have a great game.
This is 100% correct, i feel it has been put better by you than by me, most of us can see what the plan has been and it has worked almost perfect, other forums might well be rejoicing in the fact they have such an astute manager but some on our own forum saw this tactical shift as the begining of the end ! I dont want to dwell on this too much but as i said in my origional post,if the result had been different todat there would have been loads of people saying "i told you so" sometimes it doesnt hurt to eat a bit of humble pie . If Brenden had been running that series of games i feel we would have been potless as his tactical awarness was often found wanting, sometimes to beat somebody you need a blunt instrument like a hammer and not a razor sharp cutting tool like a knife, as said above ,this is a coming of age of our prem learning curve,learning how to win ugly is vital in this league..and it gives the oppositon plenty to think about in terms of which Swansea city they are going to play
Dilligaf - i like to Think i respect referee's but yet again Nike dean sets them back to the dark ages! He is a cnut of the highest order and yet again gives us fook all! Stoke were sneaky with a few late tackles particular the one from Adam on pablo, i hate like dean!
Me too!....... ...........Clearly I've missed some going's on, on here again, but I have full confidence in Norway to sort it all out!....................................
You've missed nothing im just happy to see the team nip the negative feeling in the bud and now its all on Chelsea on wednesday! This game was critical today and the good football played showed we can now mix our tactics with the best..plan A today plan B,C,D. Tomorrow ..happy times
To a degree, I agree Norway. Laudrup has been working hard with us recently, and the defensive displays have showed that. We have always been a team that ships easy goals, but, slowly, that seems to be going. You just have to look at the Everton, Chelsea, Fulham games to see that. All well being this lovely passing side, but if it doesn't get results then what use is it? Looking at todays performace, it seems we have found an attacking formation/tactic, that does't see us shipping goals. I ****ing loves it!
I might have stated something negative about the Arsenal game which I still think is true to some degree. While I think it's cool that Laudrup is working on the defense I felt that the Arsenal game would be a good opportunity to reward the players by allowing them to play football, since the game wasn't all that important and a 0-0 result would just lead to a longer game which neither side wanted. I still think that the tactics for the Chelsea game was spot on and today it just shows that Laudrup knows what he's doing (he isn't my childhood idol for nothing )
