Honestly would have put huge money on us not conceding. Swansea had a few decent chances and despite fox gifting too much space I was very confident in our defence structurally + didn't really think much of swansea going forward. Good solid performance we weren't really on song but I think we played the percentages today. Our defence/goalie are going to win us a stack of points that we otherwise wouldn't and I think most of the decent attacking teams are going to be very frustrated playing us home or away especially when we play to our ability which is far higher than todays performance imo. Thought Lambert was on form but things didn't quite work for him. Lallana and schneiderlin were class as well.
Boruc = MOM Lallana = Almost MOM Clyne = Almost as good as Lallana Wanyama = Almost as good as Clyne Fox = Was he actually playing, as he was never where he was supposed to be? Everyone else = Solid
Another clean sheet. Mauricio building our team on a strong defence. View on Sky was that we deserved it because we are hard to break down. A good result against a good side like Swansea...there are a few fans who will have to accept that it is not pure chance that we are doing well. MP knows what he is doing...am looking forward to an exciting season.
Don't think Davis offered the same protection as Lallana did on the opposite flank, but I would say Dyer is a much better player than Routledge. Great performance against a top 8 team. 2 points on average per game, isn't that what was needed for promotion to the prem, onwards and upwards.
By the way, has anyone noticed how we've not conceded a goal when Guly's been on the pitch this season?
Thought Wanyama did better today, but as some are saying, his passing wasn't great again. This chart shows pretty clearly that while he was generally neat and tidy in our half (thankfully), he should probably never attempt to play the ball to a forward! please log in to view this image
Thought Boruc did well but really more due to the weight of his work than anything special particular, for example the save from Bony's header was acrobatic and he was stretching but it was fairly weak and at the perfect height. He made good saves nonetheless, but all in the category or 'would have been disappointed if he let them in'. Not one to pick out Wanyama's passing thus far but really was lacklustre today, but thankfully once again he made up for it by being a wrecking ball defensively, as per usual. Not sure it's been mentioned but thought Morgan was back to his best today as well, didn't misplace a pass in the first half and then particularly early in the second he killed off a lot of Swansea's more dangerous-looking attacks. Disappointed that we seemed to fold a bit under pressure (By this season's standards, anyway), we were at our free-flowing best for the first 25/30 minutes but then once they isolated our weak left flank and kept piercing through it we lost our composure going in both directions. Second half I actually don't remember Swansea pressuring the goal at all really, only scary moment came from Jose's dodgy backpass to Bony that was inches away from resulting in a penalty. So whilst they really should have done better with their finishing in the first half at the end of the day really we had the ball in the back of the net three times, and when it mattered most they could muster no real threat. Not the tidiest of wins but think we were comfortably the better team in the end. P.S. Thank God Dyer can't cross for toffee!
Well, we won so.... Bit of an ugly game. More due to the teams being well-matched and the game being hard-fought than poor play, though. Wanyama was immense in defense, but his passing was a bit sloppy. Boruc was great. Defense overall was very good. We took our chances. Swansea seemed a little fatigued from their midweek match. We took our chances this time, that was the difference. Lallana's early goal changed the complexion of the game, had Swansea scored first they might have won. It's not like we stole it or anything, but it was much closer than the scoreline. Viewed as a single game, it wasn't one for the ages. But you look at the larger picture it was yet another clean sheet and this time the defense was tested. And we won a bit ugly against a good team at home which is what good teams do. So it cements our status as a legit team, and no one should have any complaints though doubtless someone will manage to find some anyway.
His defensive play is the important thing, so it's very annoying when people judge him purely on his attacking ability. It might benefit him to play a simpler passing game, but perhaps Pochettino is trying to develop his forward passing and he'll improve at it with time.
Credit to MP here big time as well - recognised the fact that Swansea were almost exclusively trying to attack us down their right and that Fox wasn't being afforded cover on that side. Brought JWP on pretty much solely to do that, and he did. Hence that attacking threat was nullified.
Exactly - many of those forward passes were ambitious passes made in an attempt to start attacks, if not 'key passes'. What were Osvaldo's passing stats like? Or even Adam's?
Tweet from Osvaldo: Positive despite being forced off, and maybe having his least impressive game so far. Good to see he seems happy here and excited with how the team is doing. Having said that, it's easy to be pleased at the moment!
