I agree, when he's does get advanced, he can deliver a decent ball sometimes, he certainly did last season. But there were instances again last night, when it was so obvious to assist Dyer on the overlap & he offered nothing. I can understand if he's edging on the defensive side, but when you can see by doing it, we've got them (opposition) totally exposed, I just don't get it...
I had a similar gripe with rangel a few weeks back ,Even on tv he was moro able by his absence when they attacked back. I was thinking that any second now dwight Will be bursting into Camara shot but Alas he was nowhere near ! Wedo know that defending is his weak point though! As sswanselona correctly mentioned i Think this was in laudrups mind with his selection against Arsenal, protecting the back 4 a little bit more than perhaps be normally would ? Dwight is un doing alot of good things he did last season, but i Think we all know he is at his best when both him and rangel work that side together,like against Arsenal at emerites and Wigan away ,this is what excited me about him RE signing more than anything Else . as a defender he has always been a bit iffy
They complimented each other immensely at times last season, absolutely... It's not strictly his defending that's bugging me, it's his whole application. If he's not a great defender, there's not much we can do about it. Rangel's not exactly the best at dealing with a tad bit of pace!! But not tracking back & then also, when it's blindingly obvious offensively to offer yourself, he doesn't again, that's my main issue!! I would try Taylor there, as he played there for Team GB. Or go for one of the kids, ala Ben. If nothing else, I'm sure the Jack faithful will tolerate brute endeavor with raw talent, over Tiendalli's offerings. Another thing, I don't go with lack of fitness, he should be as fit as anybody else in that squad....
I felt we were very fortunate last night. We played poorly, we were reffed even more so but thankfully St Gallen were as bad in front of goal as we were defending. Poz cinfuses the crap out of me. The first couple of games for us I thought wow we may have found another gem but recently every time he is played on the wing he keeps drifting into the middle of the park. I know that is his preferred position but if your a winger play like a winger. Too often we had no width down the right. The Davies/Routledge cross overs down the left were our only outlet at times and that should be happening on the left too. We definintley miss Rangel/Dyer combo. As for Tiendalli think it has all been said ****e against the Gunners and no better tonight. As has been said last season he had a great cross in him. So far this season he is worse than Dyer (at crossing) as for being a right back well give me Jazz any day of the week at least he has pace and can track back and tackle. JDG went missing for far too long and as we know his ability to regain the ball once lost is non existent, really didnt look like a Dutch international last night at all. Tremmell for me was awesome, never lets us down and would have no qualms with him starting. I like that he comes off his line for crosses and he closes down as well as Vorm definitley shaping up fo rteh Number 1 spot for me. Ben Davies well that kid just hasn't failed to impress since being in the satrting 11, be surprised if we manage to kep hold of him in the next couple of seasons. Leon thought he did well considering he had to shoulder most of the work in the midfield. Dyer I though certainly caused problems when he came on just think ML should have taken Poz off and not Routledge. I think we would have been a lot more potent with Dyer, Routledge and Vasquez for the last 15 mins. Vasquez was ok just wasnt getting the type of balls he needs to run onto. The ref well what can we say except for "the referee's a w****r" has never been so apt!! St Gallen, all credit to them they had a gameplan and they stuck to it. I thought their fans were immense for the full 90mins. As for our home atmosphere, its always going to be different and thats just down to a different dynamic who purchased tickets along with the BOGOF offer. . All in all **** game to watch but 3pts in the bag as ML has said how often do we play bad and still get a result!! Onwards and upwards roll on Sunday STID
I thought the style of the game was similar to playing Norwich when Lambert was in charge - always niggling away up our backsides giving us no time on the ball. The result was similar to the Newcastle game last season when we won 1-0. The opposition had the best chances and could have been out of sight, but we stuck in there, weathered the storm and rode our luck for a 1-0 win.
I was thinking similar last night, but couldn't pinpoint if it was them (Norwich) or someone else!! At least it looks like we're learning to deal with them type of teams....
If anyone is looking for somewhere to stay in St Gallen for the away leg then this place looks nice. Only accessible by cablecar. http://www.altersaentis.ch/ http://www.altersaentis.ch/index.php?id=1107
Come on guys, not our greatest game but under the circumstances....... We scored one, were hugely unlucky with the header off the post, were denied two clear cut penalties (possible red card) and Dyer was denied by a superb save. In my opinion, had we been awarded the penalties, the entire complexion of the game would have changed. As it was, we had to play a good, very fit, hugely physical team who were aided and abetted every step of the way by just about the worst refereeing display I have ever seen. Sometimes I wish that Michael Laudrup was more outspoken, less of a gentleman. That referee's flaws needed highlighting in no uncertain way and it can be done without "bringing the game into disrepute". Tolerating that sort of performance by a dignified silence leads the authorities to believe that that sort of standard is acceptable. Quite clearly it is not.
As an outsider I think you're being a bit negative calling it a shambles. A tough game made tougher by being 11 v 12 and while not pretty like the Valencia game it was a hard earned and deserved 3 points.
you are entitled to your view just like everyone else, so you have no need to consider yourself as an outsider at all ,we are all family here fella ! Im not sure about Negative though ,especially when Laudrup and the players being interviews afterwards also said that they were below the usual standard and must improve, I think we were poor, Laudrup and the players agree. Nothing negative about saying we were crap, if we played well we would have murdered them ! As our manager said "its nice to play badly and win " like always,laudrup sums things up spot on
Really happy with Dyer's attitude when he came on last night. Was hungry to get involved & take them on. Cracking strike too, was unlucky not to get one there, same as his good attempt Saturday. Two games, two good strikes & both times he really worked the keeper, something he struggles to do reguarly. Keep it up Nathan...
The name printing and numbers on the back of the shirts for the Euro league are different to the prem plus the Euro badges on the sleeves of course. You don't generally expect a player to go through more than two per game but Michu had six in total. The guy was like Braveheart last night, all he needed was a spear and sword.
First half action from last night [video]http://www.matchhighlight.com/full-match-game/europa-full-match-game/swansea-city-v-st-gallen/[/video]
You can watch the whole thing again on the ITVplayer online... I did, and thought on second viewing we didn't actually play bad. St. Gallen did get in our faces more than we're used too and that did break up our normal game a bit, but over all, it was a good performance. A few of our attacks were unnecessarily brought to a halt by the ref in both half's of the game, and some of his decisions on free kicks and penalty's were questionable to say the least. The team possibly felt like they were fighting a losing battle with the man with the whistle, so to come from that game with 3 points is a massive plus. Our team played 13 men (St. Gallen fans were loud and proud) for over and hour and a half with one man down for eight and a half minutes of that time and still came through with 3 points to put us at the top of Group A. How could you be anything but proud?
Well said Pagan. When I came home from the match I felt that I had seen a great game and we had done well to get three points
I thought Tremmel showed good command of his box. Vorm would not have commited to that 50/50 that knocked their striker out, he is a different type of keeper. Anyone got the stats for Tremmel v Vorm over the last 2 seasons. I wouldnt mind betting Tremmel has a far superior win percentage and save ratio. Should GT be giving a start in the league? For me, Vorm has never reached his high standards since coming back from injury last year. I cant remember GT letting us down for a long time now and perhaps we should be picking him for all teams that "play direct".
