Which was basically how i saw the game against Spurs. Take out the first 20 mins and the sides were suprisingly even which is something that is worth consideration especially as Spurs are flying high in 3rd! There were alot of positives to take from the game yesterday and these should not be overlooked, we finally saw the proper Swans ! all be it after they were 0-2 down, but saw them we did . We have missed a bit of fiz lately and for us to compete at this level we have to have that mind set of being the underdog, when we match the effort and the will to win we are on the correct level, anything below that then we are easy prey. Going down to 2 superb goals put the fire in the belly and we got back to our best ..its been a few games but we finally started to play like it mattered, i dont want to go into Dyers game too much but you basically know how much he wants it by how many times he ends up being put on his arse with fouls and 50-50 challanges,he was up for it yesterday no doubt . his decision making and touch are still poor at times but he is getting better at coming inside . So, what about the Ref ?? well for me he was a complete joke, not the reason we lost though. Spurs have totally gone down in estimation and the way they kept getting at Michu in the second half ,trying to wind him up by constantly leaving the foot in was a disgrace, the ref should have seen this (oh yeah,he did ,he give Michu a talking to for reacting didnt he !!) and nipped it in the bud, he didnt. If Spurs had succeeded in getting michu sent off then it would have totally ****ed up our run in, thats what infuriated me so much, with all the millions Spurs got and all the talent (defoe on the bench ffs!!) they have they wanted to play dirty, and that included the spurs bench who should be charged by the FA for ungentlmanly conduct. Swansea were as follows for me. Vorm 8 - getting back to his best,couldnt do much about the goals. Tiendalli 9 - Cant understand why we are dragging our heels in offering him a contract, defensively getting better and going forward a major handful,great touch and some of the best crosses of the ball ive seen all season!! he put 3 in that were inch perfect but the chances were missed when all they had to do was connect correctly. He was our biggest attacking threst, hopw he stays here next season. Ash 7 - Maybe bit of a Wales hangover but not his usual self, ive never seen him give up before but i saw it yesterday, when Bale was through on goal Ash stopped running, thats not normally him , he got under a few headers too and watching the way he mis judged so many of them makes me wonder about why our set piece is like it is,can do better and no doubt will. Chico 8,5 - Superb overall, gives us that extra bit of class at the back and refuses to get beaten by his opponent, really had the "thou shall not pass" mentality while dealing with Adabayo, some surgical tackles from chico made me want to turn away but he was all action for 70 mins, one of the best footballers ive seen for a long time..and we;ve seen plenty down here recently! Ben 8,5 - Had a fantastic game for me,dealt with a very tricky customer and had him in his pocket for pretty much the whole game, did enough work going forward as well which kept the spurs defence honest, for me a future centre half (when he finishes growing) but as a full back has just improved with every game.Laudrup must take credit for picking him out early season and taking him to USA. Pablo 5 - words fail me sometimes! has the talent but seems to be totally off his game, there were rumours that he is not 100% settled in Swansea,im not sure if that true or not but i do know his game is not at the level it should be, i think Pablo is just as frustrated as this so it could be one of those where the fans need to give him support not crucify him,the supporters have ruined players in the past, i hope the same doesnt happen with pablo, on his day he is the different class and makes the passes that win the games,off his day.... Dyer 7 - Grew into the game and finally found his mojo!! nathen is at his best when getting stuck in and getting roughed up by the opposition, it seems to bring out the best in him, helped alot by Tiendalli he had a great second half, needs to work on his final ball and decision making which at times makes him more frustrating than pablo! JDG 5 - waste of space today, should have stayed in Holland. Will need to be back on form next week . Britton 8 - dont know if im biased but i thought he run the midfield from 30 mins onwards, was everywhere and made scott parker look well overated(which he is) sharp as a knife,bright ,incisive football and got stuck into the tackles when he needed to...Mr Swansea. Routs 7 - did well without really threatning spurs,sometimes i wish he would shoot instead of trying the cute pass, one of the most skillful players on the field yesterday and is playing like an england international, he certainlt made their england players look well average, gutted he couldnt get the win against his former club but would have earned alot of respect off the spurs fans for his game play. Michu 7 - Finally broke his mini drought, still missing chances and not firing 100% in front of goal but all action whe he needs to be, if you could bottle this boys passion for scoring and wanting to win !! this has been a hard season for him and he has carried the burden of being the main scorer really well,still the jewel in our crown . Onwards to Norwich where i will be ecstatic with a draw !! thoughts on yesterday ?? PS like others have said ,i think i shall start to support Arsenal in their quest for top 4,they are a team that doesnt resort to cheap shots and they are not as synical a team as the spurs lot. Spurs dissapointed me in that respect,great team that they are i felt they didnt need to do that and they are the first to complain when its mooted out to them.
Good round up. The first 30 minutes killed us and if Nathan could have only jumped an extra half inch higher on that header he banged against the bar. Chico showed how much we missed him and Tiendalli was everything down the right flank. Michu has to be one of the best headers of the ball as a center forward in the Prem.
People are starting to slate Hernandez even when he doesn't deserve it. His performances against WBA and Arsenal were deserving of heavy criticism. Barring one crazy ball across our back line yesterday he played a lot better than he did against those. As far as the rest of the game goes, I tend to concur. One gifted goal and one great one left us a hell of a lot of work to do, work we nearly managed to pull off. Had Michu put his finishing boots on we could quite easily have won it, although Laudrup's substitutions left a lot to be desired, along with the referee's "performance".
I thought we played well yesterday, both their goals were fantastic goals. For the first Chico seemed to be in two minds, close down bale or follow Vertongen's run, that split second judgement allowed Vertongen to get passed. For the second, I personally thought Britton should have done more to stick with Bale, when I first saw the goal, I thought, nothing you can do about that, but when watching the replay, I just thought Britton was strolling out when he should have been getting closer to Bale, as Bale had so much space, it was unforgivable. I still rate Hernandez, on his day he can be the best player we have, however confidence seems a little low for him, and it doesn't help when fans moan when he makes a mistake, I really do believe he is very much a confidence player, and if the fans get behind him, I believe he will come good again. Sometimes he tried the killer ball and it doesn't pay off, however when it does, we know about it. And sometimes I think fans take those missed passes into account a bit too much. Tiendalli was by far the best player on the pitch yesterday, his defensive work was great, his offensive even better, and those crosses, something we have been missing for a long time. It's all well and good crossing the ball, however it needs that accuracy, which he brought yesterday. And you could see that as come on, even lil Nathen got a head on the end of one. On another day we would have scored 3 or 4. If you take Dyer's miss, the chances that Michu didn't put away (header stands out the most). As for the ref, he was complete and utter ****e. With 5 minutes to go, we were awarded an advantage which we would have been the freekick for, and a second later we lost the ball as we lost our flow, the amount of lil digs that spurs got away with yesterday was shocking, I even think the first goal for spurs stemmed from what I thought was a foul in the midfield, which allowed Vertongen to make his run forward. All in all was proud of the guys for the effort they showed, just wasn't our day.
I think the fuc---- ref should have booked some one for the fouls on Michu 2 in a few min the game could have been a draw ,Should have got a point out of it, as we saw we wernt in it the 1st 20mins,must win on sat at Norwich or we will slide down the table, should beat them but a draw looks good.
Sorry Norway but I disagree, the gutsy performance only came in the last 20 minutes of the game, before that there was a Swans team lost for ideas going forward. I would however agree completely with your marks out of ten for individual performances! ................
Would agree with that Musty, cannot understand how Laudrup is dragging his feet on this one, unless of course he's after too much money!...........
Too much money has been mentioned, it's all a game of cat and mouse until its done or not done. Musty, that message you sent me, please explain mate
Let's not let what was an excellent performance cloud judgement when discussing Tiendalli. He's done a more than decent job, but unless we're planning on sending Jazz out on loan for the entirety of next season then there's no point in us having five fullbacks under contract.
Strange thing about Saturdays' performance was a reversal of the previous games , we're out of the blocks and looking comfortable and then the opposition get a grip on the game after 20 minutes ,this was the opposite but the telling difference was they scored and we didn't .
Didn't see any of the game on Saturday as I was best man at my mate's wedding. Just wanted to thank Norway for these match reports, very useful and more informative than the Evening Post etc.
I agree. We've only got space for 4 full-backs. Tiendalli or Jazz? If we could line up a season long loan for Jazz then by all means give Tiendalli an extra year or 2.
