From http://www.theswanseaway.co.uk First thing's first; I'm officially retiring from predictions. All of the statistics ahead of the last few games indicated we'd see a glut of goals, and my 0-0/1-0 (admittedly "against the grain") predictions proved far from the mark. So, in true flippant form, and with all the stats again pointing to a deluge of goals, I decided to call this one 3-2. Once again, it proved far from the mark... The Swans struggled to penetrate Southampton throughout the match. The first 15 minutes from the Swans saw them retain possession at ease, however the final ball was consistently missing. Southampton deserve massive credit for lining up with three forwards, and for pressing the Swans high up the pitch for the majority of the match. Once it became apparent the Swans were going to struggle to find a way through the Saints' defence the visitors gained confidence, and for a good 25 minutes at the end of the first half they were the better side. The Swans even seemed to resort to playing long balls; although whether this was the result of tactical instruction or opposition pressure we can't say. Right at the death of the first half came the game's first real talking point. A pretty dodgy-looking free-kick was awarded on the edge of the Swans' box and Rickie Lambert was surely already celebrating when Vorm managed to claw the ball away from the top corner and out for a corner. From the resulting corner Lallana had the ball in the net, but it was disallowed for a foul on Vorm - in all honesty it looked pretty soft but the Swans keeper did seem to have two hands on the ball - whether that was me imagining things though I can't say, and MOTD will no doubt see me right or wrong later on. Luke Moore was replaced by Routledge at half time, and while the forward had hardly touched the ball in the first half I felt replacing Hernandez would have made more sense. Given the scarcity of ball the forward had received, he can hardly have been blamed for not creating more, however the switch almost led to a goal as Routledge broke free down the right before finding Michu with a great cross, only to see the Spaniard head over when well placed in the centre of the box. Hernandez was eventually withdrawn for Ki on the hour mark, and I felt the Korean had an instant impact in that the Swans actually started to retain possession through the centre of the field. I'd like to see him operate further forward, as by giving him a defensive role it seems to give him doubts about shooting, and he always seems to look for the pass. As any number of Youtube videos show, he loves a shot and I think his willingness to pass must be due to tactical instruction to "keep it ticking over" a lá Leon. Hopefully he'll break his duck soon and we'll see the best of him. Both Pablo and Dyer haven't been playing well for a while now and Routledge must wonder what he'd done wrong to find himself on the bench today. I thought the Spaniard in particular was atrocious, and I felt pretty relieved when he left the field. Time and time again he gave the ball away and he really needs to find some form if he's to justify his price tag. Dyer also looked bereft of ideas for the most part, and his day was summed up when he was fed in by Michu following a bit of a goalmouth scramble, and found himself beyond the keeper with only a defender on the line to beat. His shot across goal was straight at the one man it was possible to find and was cleared away, and while Michu could and possibly should have shot himself, Dyer's effort was tame and he should have done better. In truth that was probably the Swans best chance - the afternoon was summed up when Chico decided to shoot from about 45 yards - his shot was blocked and the rebound almost led to a Southampton breakaway. The Southampton defence held tight and they almost nicked it late on; Mayuka forcing a good save from Vorm from close range. The Swans lacked bite in the centre of the field, but more importantly they looked short of a spark in the final third. Routledge seemed to massively help the cause when he came on, and surely he must start the next game. The same can be said of Ki. De Guzman has been impressive this season but he doesn't have the discipline to maintain the shape of the Swansea midfield, and often finds himself dragging others out of position. If Laudrup is going to insist on playing Michu at attacking midfield (and I really hope that stops soon) then I'd much rather see Ki & Leon behind him, as I feel this gives a lot more structure to the side. On to next week then. The Swans have now only picked up four wins in their last fourteen games - this isn't how Laudrup would have wanted to enter the closing straight and with Man City and Chelsea on the horizon he'll be hoping we can spring a surprise result in one of those games. I know you can't always be on top of your game, but no doubt there's work to be done on the training ground ahead of the first of those fixtures - away at Chelsea next Sunday. Still, ninth in the Premier League isn't bad...
That pretty well sums it up. I was disappointed when I left the ground but this morning I am wondering "was it that bad a result Saiints are in form and we aren't . Are we too busy comparing ourselves with last season? Are we in a false position as we still have to play three "top sides". What ever happens it has still been a great season.
I had a similar feeling this morning. Saints are in form and are a good side, and it was still a decent result. I also now remember quite a few little breaks by Pablo in the first 20 minutes, so maybe I was a little harsh. Still, I haven't been impressed with him for a while now.
I think with Pablo, he is never in a position to run at the opposition int he way Dyer is, I dunno if that is due to his positioning, or the passes to him, but to me it seems he has to work harder to get past his oppo than the likes of Dyer does, he shows moments of magic, but then when it doesn't work, he looks a bit foolish. For me, De Guzman should have been replaced by Ki rather than Hernandez. When he lost the ball, he would just walk, when they had the ball he would just walk, there was no umph from him, at least with Hernandez he was trying, he done what he could defensivly, and tried going forward, but De Guzman for me was lethargic. Id also much ratehr see Ki further forward, i thought when he brought Ki on for Pablo, I thought we may get to see him marauding up the pitch, instead he allowed De Guzman to become the more advanced midfielder, and he brought nothing. I think Laudrup was right in taking Moore off, granted the balls to him where not available, but the times he got caught offside were just lazy play. Sometimes the defence would boot it up to him, and instead of being the man to hold the ball up, he was in an offside position all the time, allowing Southampton a bit of restbite and the chance to hoof it straight back up the field. Was really annoyed with him in the first half, and rightly taken off IMO. As for the performance on the whole, was pleased with the majority of it, but the final pass was woeful. Too many times we got in really good positions, and 1 thought out pass would have put us in on goal, but they never came.
Another thing to consider is that Soton had a game last week and we didn't. Two ways to look at this - we could perhaps have been fresher but they had the benefit of maintaining their competitive edge. I notice we never seem to perform well after a break, the international breaks being a case in point. I've been moaning about JdG and his lethargy for some time now and have definitely come to the conclusion that he is just not interested in the "dirty" work. For me, this means that he is a luxury that we have to carry when the other team is on the front foot. I'm beginning to feel that I wouldn't be too disappointed if we didn't sign him permanently. Not to say that he isn't a good player, because he obviously is, but perhaps he isn't what we need. So, if he's not defending or winning ball, what else does he offer? It's certainly not creating goals or making one defence splitting pass after another because Michael Laudrup was bemoaning the fact that, for all our good play, we weren't creating clear cut scoring chances - something that's become a repetitive tale. Perhaps he would be more at home in a team that DOES have other combative midfielders leaving him free to concentrate on doing his thing: and then you have to ask the question as to why he fell out of favour at his former club? Lack of effort/energy/commitment? He might be offered at £5 million but I'm not so sure that I would pay that now. If he consistently performed at his best then I'd say yes but he disappears in too many games for me, becoming Mr Anonymous in the process. I felt much the same about Ki but I get a sense that the lad is trying to up his game and get more involved. I don't get the same feeling with JdG, unless we're on top, so is he something of a flat track bully? Ki just needs to add some muscle to his lanky frame and make himself more competitive because he does have the skills and I think he has the right attitude. As for Pablo, he is so frustrating because he is a talented player. Things don't come off for him and then he looks bad but I'll give him credit for hanging in there and trying to play his way out of it. He's not hiding and keeps trying things, so full marks to him for that. With that sort of attitude he will play himself out of his bad spell, particularly when he really gets used to the more physical nature of our league. I'm betting that we'll see the best of him next season and I think he'll thrive in the Europa. Anyway, if we are having these thoughts, you can bet that so is Michael Laudrup. I'd love to know what they are but I'm sure that he has been reforming his opinions recently on some of our squad and this will probably be reflected in his choice of transfer targets.
I tend to agree with what you said Ivor. I don't think De Guzman offers us anything that we haven't got all ready. To be honest I'm not at all worried if Laudrup drops his interest in him, if as quoted it's going to cost us 8m, then I'd pass on it as you said Ivor even at 5m I don't think he's worth that at present.
what a load of rubbish we have become. michu was again useless and those who think he should have been included in the top 6 can see why he was not......laudrup beats the record of no wins in 5 games but will come out with his usual excuses and bullshit......2pts ot of 15pts is absolutely diabolical and 3 of them games were at home, I'm sorry but he has tweaked our playing style far to much and has spoiled the good work Brendan left him with and if it carries on playing his inept way and not the way we know works for us then its going to be a hard season for us whoever we bring in next season.....very poor tactics by laudrup yet AGAIN.
Whaaaaaaat...you played better than us throughout and we were delighted to take a point back. Safe with a month to go...and you got a trophy + Europe! What's not to like. Yes you're going to have a bit of bad form in the season, if you didn't you would be in the Champions League spots. Hardly time for outright panic yet.
He is not worth calling sir at the moment. He is just and ordinary manager that if he was with any of the better bigger clubs would have been sacked by now.....You can be Jesus christ as the manager but its results that count and its not as if he has not had his chances at home to get results as he has and his system does not work......He needs to take a step back to how we were getting results and scoring goals to the rubbish we are playing now.....there is no excuses for going 5 games on the trot without a win.....no excuse at all...
I agree with you that we are not in form Dai. Its going to be a tough end of season. Perhaps our league position has been skewed as we have a lot of tough fixtures left. But keep the faith - and hope Sir Michael is learning in what is his first year in the PL
Sorry, in my opinion this is yet another load of garbage. I won't even waste my time by replying to it.
Best thing to do ivor, maybe he'll stop wumming and looking for posters to bite then (pardon the pun)
Valley, can i ask why my article"the final pass" was merged with mr guilibles thread ?? it toally killed the article and i saw no real need to merge two different kinds of thread. If we are to merge stuff then why not merge the other match day threads and articles? why was my content singled out, any ideas ?
I guessed it wasnt you mate Im all for merging threads if they are all saying the same thing but to merge a serious thread with a comedy one is completly daft and totally out of touch with what people want to discuss after the game, i was quite pissed off to be honest, i mean whats the point of writing threads to debate and and people cant find them because they are merged with a brilliantly written comedy thread ? there are some really strange goings on here lately
