By Chris Wathan With every criticism of Swansea City comes a reason to be positive in 2014 30 Dec 2013 06:00 "Opinions on Swansea City are much like their performances of late: inconsistent. It is difficult not to be guilty of it. Because with almost every criticism there is a caveat. The draw at Aston Villa meant they turnaround at the halfway stage of the season a couple of points worse than they should be; but their Europa League involvement always suggested they would be slightly off the pace set last term. The frustrating result at Villa Park meant that they are only five points off the bottom three; but they remain in 11th, the mid-table position that was Laudrupâs and the more realistic punditsâ targets at the start of the campaign. They are not playing at the same standard as they did last term and have done at infrequent times this term; and yet they arenât playing poorly, not when you see what Villa served up on Saturday. And there is a concern at the fact that Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham are the next three teams on the Premier League fixture list; but you would not be surprised if they pull a win or more out of the bag during the run. So it leaves you wondering what to really make of it all â but thatâs Swanseaâs season to date. Yet the biggest inconsistency of opinion of all is that it seems churlish to criticise a club that have no real right to be taking on the heavyweights in this division and yet continue to do so in their wonderfully unique way, wrapping up a calendar year that saw them deliver silverware and European success in Spain. And yet they are deserving of criticism. You will hope that, for all Laudrupâs determination to defend players and his side as a whole, he sees it too because it is better to act on the smaller warning signs than wait before they become insurmountable issues. He didnât really have an answer to the Villa Park press conference question of how to correct the lack of creativity and cutting edge after domination with the ball didnât come with an avalanche of shots for Brad Guzan to save. He claims front players need the confidence that comes with goals, which is a kind of chicken and egg scenario. Certainly there cannot be a waiting around for much-missed injury pair of Michu and Nathan Dyer, or even for a potential January addition to hit the ground running. * One possible solution â especially with the break from Europe â is for consistency in selection. Rotation has been a necessary evil for Swansea this season and it has served well at times. But it is clear there is a need for players to be comfortable in a familiar 11 for a few games, to get back into the swing of things, to rediscover an attacking rhythm. It is surely the only way midfielders can start to pick out the runs of Wilfried Bony that caught the eye of observers but seemingly not those who could play the pass. Whoever Laudrup opts as his preferred midfield three â and this writer will always argue there needs to be a place for the composed control of Leon Britton â they need to play together for a run of games with an understanding of roles right now of greater importance of the horses-for-courses mentality the Dane likes to adopt. And, whether it is on the training field or during games, Laudrup needs to be hard on his players both in demanding a greater tempo and attacking urgency that has lacked as well as the undermining lack of accuracy. The passes are not quite crisp enough right now, the first touch not quite good enough. Every player is guilty of it, every player must eke out more from their game and cut out the errors. Mistakes are part and parcel of possession football, but keeping them to a minimum is how wins come. Time for a bit of consistency, in every sense."
Good and sensible read , pretty much as the majority of us see it. A few issues with team selection and injuries have probably cost us a few points this season but I'm still very positive for the future .Perhaps we'll see a more settled team in terms of selection before the next round of Euro cup games, the FA cup is not something we should be targeting this season imo ,as nice as it would be to beat Utd and progress how much more strain would an extended run in the cup cost us ?
Great article. Pretty much sums things up for me. We won't be relegated but as things stand we won't be many points off either. Unless something changes, but what? New player(s)? Change of style? Change of attitude? As you can tell, I've no idea! It's never dull however Turning into a very interesting season, bottom and top (for a change).
Exactly! from what I can see it's the demands of the Europa league and injuries! We have had a lot of important players missing for chunks of the season so far. Leon, dyer, michu, Hernandez, bony, vorm and Rangel. That is more or less all our top players!! Now the most demanding part of the season is over we now can get some consistency and injured players back! And for those reasons alone I am very confident that we will be fine this season!
Bang on that. Exactly what I've been saying, about our midfield not picking out Bony's runs until it's too late, as happened at Villa Park.
