First thing i will say that of course this was Man utd not some pub team but i was quite sure he was going to keep Routledge wide and have Joe allen in the middle, why the Hell did he change it? It was fair to give routledge a starting place,but surely it should have been on the wing where he looks useful not the centre where he doesnt!! the favouritism for Scott sinclair has been somewhat unhealthy in the past and im afraid there was another case of it yesterday, routledge wide and sinclair on the bench should IMO have been the selection. Joe allen in the middle from the start would have made a big difference ,why Brenden thinks its ok to drop Joe after his recent performances i ve no idea , i think the player would have been well pissed off with being dropped, the only thing i can think of is that Joe allen has a slight injury that needs protecting . Overall we made Man utd look very average and gifting teams like them a goal doesnt help us !! scott sinclairs miss will go down as one of the worst ever seen at the Liberty ,it sshows how crucial it is to take your chasnces at this level. Brenden has been awesome for us this season and so have the players,we looked like a proper prem team, it wasnt perfect from us at all,but credit to our boys for competing agaisnt the best and making them look ordinary. what are your thoughts on rodgers selection yesterday? my own view was routledge should have started wide and Joe should have started in the middle with sinclair on the bench, i felt htat Brenden got it wrong . What do my fellow jacks think ??
The reason why Allen was on the bench was because he had a slight injury, so no option really as he could not play the full game. In regards to Sinclair I agree with you there, but can I just say that Routledge has never scored at this level, so perhaps it was that in mind that he kept sinclairs place. Did he get the tactics wrong on this game, I don't think so , he approaches each game to win it, I think we were good for at least a draw yesterday.
Spot on Jager, we pushed manure all the way and yes allen made a hell of a difference when he came on but as the commentator called last night in regards to the "midget gems" in leon, joey & Nath,I feel sometimes we need to wrap these in cotton wool if they have a slight knock then take them out of the fray. surprised how Kemy wasnt on the bench last night tho anyone know why?
Didnt know Joe had a slight injury , that explains it then really, i think routledge finds it harder to play the central role ,i would have liked to see him play wide like he did against Liverpool , for me thats where he has looked his best. Sinclair i sometimes get frustrated with but he is very often our only chance of goals from wide/midfield . A draw would have been fair yesterday, Rangel made a couple of bad passes that cost us dearly other than that there wasnt much on offer from man utd . I was listening/watching the game on Norweigen cable TV where Phil"big nose" Thompson was the guest , his view on the first half was quite scathing saying that the game was boring and neither side was playing that well ,when the Norweigen presenter told him that Swansea city are "and this is quite unbeleivable" the 8th best passing team in the whole of Europe ,better than Utd even , Phil said "yes but they only keep the ball in negative parts of the field" what a prick!! dont these people actually realise we are doing this with a team that cost peanuts??
I don't think you can say Brendan did anything wrong, the squad is small and Sinclair has been kept in the team because of his goal-scoring exploits and, for me, because if we get a penalty he's an expert. I think though the time may have come for Sinclair to miss a game purely on form and for us to go with the same team that started at Liverpool.
An accurate comment. We may not like it but it is too true. Yesterday our final product in the first half was lame and generally we do have a tendency amongst some players to take the easy route and pass back ... Ok when under pressure but it also happens when they have time and space to turn and look forward, Gower does this a lot (especially yesterday), which infuriates me. I am not sure whether this stems from a lack of awareness, poor communication between players or a lack of confidence, but damn it is frustrating to watch.
Yankee - they did do it alot yesterday i agree ,but generally speaking i disagree with his comments , there are plenty of teams that pass it square and back the difference is that when it does go back it gets hoofed to the front by the centre half where we will try and re work the ball to the right positions. 2 promotions and 2 top 8 finishes in the last 4 years tells me there is more positive aspects than negative aspects in our game. It would be impossible for SCFC to play all out attacking football with the type of players we have , when we keep the ball in the "negative "parts of the field other teams are trying to win it back off the opposition and working harder to defend their lines than we are, to soak up another teams energy by keeping the football is indeed a positive tactic it depends on your perspective i guess. Liverpool and phil thompson were regarded as great by playing the same way, dont forget. Man utd played a part in us not being very fluid yesterday , they are champions after all! the frustrating things you talk about i agree with also but are probably down to the fact that our players are from the lower leagues and are not £30m quid of fine talent, though overall they dont actually look out of place at this level. Mark Gower im no fan of and his passing is probably the worst out of the midfield but he is doing ok at this level, the difference IMO is that world class players will do everything our lot do and then burst the back of the net from 30 yards !! gower bursts the seats in row Z!! My own opinion is that Thompsons comments were flipent and disrespectful to a team that is maybe not blessed with world class players but plays with great intelligence,heart and skill, skill that alot of prem players who earn 5 times the money couldnt match, as his own Liverpool team found out 2 weeks ago.
Even if Joey Allen was fit, how could you say Brendan made the wrong choice? We lost by one goal to one of the best teams in the world. Dropping any of our players based on form, is very subjective, because no-one has ever played at this level before. Form can only be built up over a certain amount of games, and we have played a few games, and are doing very well. No need to think we need change when we just drew at Anfield at lost by the odd goal against the champions. And I would like to add that I think Mark Gower has been great for us. He does make the odd poor decision with a pass, but until Joey started to hit 60 yard passes this season, he was the only one who could play a killer ball. He is filling in where Bodde will play and doing very well imo. His defensive positioning is much better than Kemy and Routledge and he also took several very good corners yesterday.
Brendan had it spot on the players did exceptionally well and could do no more. when the transfer window opens im confident that brendan will bring in 4 players that we need to give us strength and depth......no worries in the managers ability from me.....10/10
There seems to be two schools of thought developing about the Swans amongst the media and pundits etc. People such as Collymore, Keegan, Thompson etc can't wait to write us off, whilst others like Hansen and a host of journos and a lot of people on Talk Sport appreciate and understand what we are trying to do. We know our game is not perfect. We have to be sharper, more incisive and more urgent in the last third. Graham needs the midfield in support when we get in the danger areas. Top level defenders find it easy against a lone striker - who wouldn't? One man to mark is meat and drink in the PL (unless that man is a top quality/international player) but it's a whole different ball game when attacking midfield options appear in support. Now the defenders have to work; they have doubt, which creates hesitancy and hesitancy is what allows attackers to get in goal scoring positions. Yes we need more experience and we would certainly benefit from some quality additions, players that have the nous to get up in support; but we are learning with every game and getting better. Despite what Thompson et al are saying I'm happy with how we are developing, the way we are playing. All we need to do is turn our possession into more meaningful action in the opposing penalty area. Do that and I see us not only surviving but cementing a place in the top ten. Right now, I'm very proud of our Swans.
Leon- Dont think i said Brenden made the wrong choice . "no need to change when we just drew at anfield"-leon. Exactly right ,which was why i thought he would have kept routledge out wide, but as Jager pointed out Joe Allen was carrying an injury apparently so it explains why Wayne was moved into the centre . RE Gower. as i earlier stated ,he is doing ok at this level but we all know there is an improvement to be made in the midfield area, mark is a favourite of every manager so he must know how to carry ouut the tactical side of the game very well , overall it was a very unlucky result, a poor pass gifting them a goal, but as mentioned by other people on the message boards i got the feeling Man utd could have gone through the gears if they needed to, no shame for us we did ok in what was always going to be a bonus game
I thought there were a couple of individuals that had season best performances yesterday. I thought Taylor's handling of Nani backed by Jones down that United right wing was terrific. Williams had a terrific game. And Dyer made a mockery of Evra on a couple of occasions but his final pass let him down.
For what it's worth I have just reviewed my DVR of the match and Hernandez was in an offside position from the moment Giggs intercepted the ball all the way through to Gigg's pass, which was not square but forward. Our last man throughout was Monk who went to close down Giggs. Williams was lagging the play all the way through. There is a camera positioned just forward of the penalty spot that shows it perfectly and should have been what the linesman saw at the very least - sorry but they're still linesmen to me. Should have been an easy call that the official missed. For me it was an easy call as the play happened with the regular camera angle. Williams even raised his arm in appeal after the goal was scored. Look for the first replay after the goal it was the only time this camera angle was shown.
best thing Huw has done in ages was tell the Toon go to hell. Taylor has been brilliant this year. No matter what happens I'm not going to complain - sitting here in Toronto hearing people talk about the Swans is fantastic -it's great to be in the show. Doesn't mean I don't have opinions though - anyone think that Dyer palyed a little bit too much for Dyer yesterday - did some great work but also did a little too much too often won't be surprised if Sinclair is on the bench for Villa. Still need a scoring midfielder - Dobbie's touch let's him down too much - let's get someone in January
Fair comments there nicey. Dyer did take the wrong option once or twice and my origional post regarding routledge for sinclair i thik is fair considering how well he played against Liverpool , thing is with sinclair though is that he does always look most likely to get a goal ! January i think we will bring people in ,im not sure who but im sure buck has his ideas , the second half of the season is going to be the real test but its nice to get the big 5 teams out of the way just before xmas hopefully we can get enough to be in with a fighting chance
