The team selection and tactics were all wrong were they? Who are you to question Sir Michael Laudrup, one of the finest footballers in the world, a man wh has sat in the dressing rooms of the worlds greatest teams and listened to some of the worlds finest managers. Sir Michael has had to juggle his squad over the last month in what is probably the toughest sequence of games we have ever played. Not only did he have to juggle the sqaud he has also adapted his tactical strategy for each game. He rested half the team against Arsenal for obvious reasons and changed his tactics accordingly. The fact that we only lost the match 1-0 was a testimony to the strength of our squad. Laudrup wanted to win the game - but in his heart he probably knew that Arsenal had to be dire for us to win it. Sir Michael and most learned followers of the game, which includes many 606 Swans fans, know that our squad cannot play the same football week in week out and be successful. You are entitled to your opinion. But when you constantly complain about a team built on limited finances, who are currently 9th in the Premier League and facing a possible Capital One Cup Final then it is an opinion gaining less and less merit each day.
I'm not quite sure who Norway is thinking about with this "little faith"-thing, but I feel I have to comment on this. I can not speak for others, but I myself expressed a little concern about the team after the match against Arsenal. I don't mind us using different tactics vs different opponents and it's not the tactics i have been concerned about. I don't think it is Laudrups tactic to pass the ball to the opponents and while the tactics might have been correct the individual performances certainly has not. We played 80 minutes of fantastic football today and it's nice to see the team taking points against against a difficult opponent. Overall good performances to day and good tactics to by Sir Laudrup! Lamah got to show of his pace, but he was a bit to defensive. He could have taken on the opponents himself a couple of times in stead of sending the ball backwards, but he could be promising. Nice to see Ben take his goal so professionally. It's not an everyday thing to see defenders finishing with such composure. Routhledge as god as ever, de Guzman all over the pitch, Ki passing to the correct players (at least the first 80 mins), Ash back to normal and Rangel on his best. It's really glorydays when we're playing like that!!
I agree PGF , somebodies view is indeed valid most of us disagree with some things at the club and team ,dai IMO doesnt like to debate his opinions or offer a reason as to why he has them,nothing wrong with that but i do feel without any Logic to back up what is sometimes said its difficult not to be frustrated by his views. Sometimes,like us all,he is wrong,sometimes like us all ,he is right. He is not however always right ! Only he beleives that..
Surely the difference is that today we played a team that came to park the bus until they were 2-0 down and even then didn't offer much....as opposed to playing teams still in the Champion's League like Man U and Arsenal, the Champions of Europe - Chelsea, and teams with a real possibility of being in the top 4 like Tottenham & Everton. You play an open game against these quality sides at your peril.
I doubt if anyone is hanging their heads in shame Norway, most of what i read was valid criticism even if you disagree with it. IMO we defended too deep against Spurs, Everton, Man U (2nd half), Fulham (2nd half), Arsenal (after we scored + 2nd half in the replay) and Chelsea and if we play that way again against Chelsea we could well crash out. My main gripe though was the lack of ball retention which if it had been better would have taken a lot of pressure of the defence. Im happy to say we recovered that confidence on the ball today and I know it was only Stoke but it was great to see our passing game going again. Personally I dont mind rotating the squad and infact I am really pleased that competition has really opened up for places all down to Laudrups tactics - lets hope Danny stays though!
My theory on refereeing Stoke City games is that the referee uses a 'sliding scale' approach. Because Stoke give the opposition a good 'buffeting' (that's being polite) then if the referee did his 'normal' job he would be awarding free kicks about every 30 seconds. So to compensate and keep the foul count to an acceptable level he has to let a lot of things go. Simples!
]Surely the difference is that today we played a team that came to park the bus until they were 2-0 down and even then didn't offer much....as opposed to playing teams still in the Champion's League like Man U and Arsenal, the Champions of Europe - Chelsea, and teams with a real possibility of being in the top 4 like Tottenham & Everton. You play an open game against these quality sides at your peril.[/QUOTE] Not really Aswan - weve played an open game against good sides and got good results already this year - the most notable being the win against Arsenal. I think basically we should play to our strengths no matter who the team are and our strength is possession, passing football. getting 10 men behind the ball doesnt usually work for us ( except against Chelsea!) and lets face it who wants to see defensive minded football.
If we played our full team in every match and tried to play fast open attacking football in every game since mid December our squad would be totally spent now. Sir Michael knew that - so he adapted his tactics and rotated his squad - who will now be raring to go against Chelsea
Not really Aswan - weve played an open game against good sides and got good results already this year - the most notable being the win against Arsenal. I think basically we should play to our strengths no matter who the team are and our strength is possession, passing football. getting 10 men behind the ball doesnt usually work for us ( except against Chelsea!) and lets face it who wants to see defensive minded football.[/QUOTE] Id rather see us being defensive a la Everton away and get a point than play football at home and get thumped 3-0 by them when it could easily have been 6 or 7-0.
Never had a problem using the squad PGF, infact i think its one of the positives of Laudrups time so far, much healthier competition for places than before. Normal service was resumed today but if you look at the last 2 games with a more positive approach Arsenal and Everton were there for the taking.
I was chuffed with a point at Everton! To me thats our best point of the season. Arsenal in the Cup Replay. Even some of our Directors were cheesed off that we had to play that match - it was definitely a game too far for the Club. (in my opinion!)
....which is what the squad is for. I was pleased with the point at Everton but the performance was poor
Is it not the making of a good team to play poorly yet still pick up points, regardless of the tactics used? In the last 28 days (since 23rd December) We have played 9 games. So that is 1 every 3/4 days. For almost a whole month. Anyone who thinks we can play our passing game that often, am sorry, but your deluded. These games were not even against your average premiership team. In those 9 games we played Man Utd, Arsenal, Chelsea, Arsenal, Everton - you know the teams all up there, who are up there for a reason. Also in these 28 days, we lost 1 game........How can anyone in their right mind criticize what has been happening? It is a sure testament to our players and manager that we came through such a tough period in the way that we have done. Then when you include the Chelsea game, that's 10 games in 31 days. How can anyone in their right mind expect us to play our normal game for all of those games? You have to be off your rocker, and deluded. Am sorry, but you have to be. Laudrup has done the best he could. Not only in games where we did play our game (Villa, Stoke, Reading), but then games where we needed to shut up shop. You know against the big clubs, the same big clubs who have played less fixtures during that time. Who at the same time have bigger squads. And in some cases easier games in the cup than our tie to Arsenal. Where they could focus on resting players, where as we didn't really have that luxury, he had to pick and chose his squad the best he could, pick tactics to suit, and to get as many results that he could. And he has done a f***ing fantastic job. And Laudrup receives no criticism from me whatsoever. Man Utd - played 8 in the same 31 day period. - picked up 5 wins, 2 draws, and to play the last later today. Reading - played 6 - picked up 4 wins, 1 draw, 1 loss Fulham - played 8 - picked up 2 wins, 3 draws, 3 loss Villa - played 8 - picked up 1 win, 2 draws, 5 loss Arsenal - played 7 - picked up 3 wins, 2 draws, 1 loss - final game today. Chelsea - played 9 - picked up 5 wins, 1 draw, lost 2 - final game today Everton - played 7 - picked up 4 wins, 1 draw, 1 loss - final game tomorrow Stoke - played 8 - picked up 2 wins, 3 draws, 3 loss Swansea - played 9 - picked up 3 wins, 5 draws, 1 loss How the heck can anyone be unhappy with that. As mentioned we played Everton, Man Utd, Chelsea, and Arsenal twice. 5 of those games against tough opposition, and we lost just 1 of them. We played the best way we could against the opposition in front of us, taking into account the games we had coming up. And unlike some of these teams, our fixture pile up doesn't end until Wednesday. The same moaning that we are playing this way, would be the same ones moaning if we had gone all out and lost 5 of those 9 games. Oh and in those 10 games, only 3 are in the bottom half of the Premiership. So come on guys, a little bit of perspective and a little bit more realization that we are Swansea City. In fact wouldn't you say we did worse with our usual tactics (Reading, Aston Villa) 2 draws, than we did against teams we played defensive (Chelsea, Arsenal, Everton) ?
I don't think anyone here is dissatisfied with the amount of points over the last month (at least nobody should be) and those criticizing Laudrup should go f... themselves.. or a sheep... Regardless of points and tactics there is always room for improvement and I feel the players have had very various performances over the last few weeks. Was anybody actually happy with the players performances against Arsenal? All of it is not criticism towards the tactics, some of it is towards the players level of accomplishment. As I said earlier, I don't think it is Sir Laudrups intentions to pass the ball to the opponent and regardless of tactics, some players (like Dyer) have not performed at the level of expectation while some have varied to much..
My posts show I agreed with you Norway on the reasons why we've played the way we have over the last few games, and I think both of us expected (and got) a different approach against Stoke. We were fantastic, and as you say Michu was the only one who had an off day - but he's entitled. Not sure anyone should hang their heads in shame though - they just have a different opinion. Isn't that what forums are for?
please log in to view this image This for me is spot on! Clearly we could not have copped with two cup runs, and the premiership games too. Yes for the first time in our history, we are using our squad correctly, but not only that all the squad are clearly fit for purpose, and that has never been the case with any of our previous managers, so I'm very pleased with Laudrup's stewardship, absolutely fantastic. Now to the Arsenal game, what do we do here? Well clearly we play to win, but the team was obviously sent out to park the bus and soak up the pressure, and conserve energy, with an eye on the Stoke and Chelsea games so close, and maybe getting a goal on the break, to steal a win, but at the end of the day it was a long shot, which we didn't need with such a small squad. Was Laudrup happy at the end of this exit from the FA Cup? Just watch his big beaming smile as he goes to shake Wenger's hand at the final whistle! it says all you need to know, and I for one am glad we are out of this cup run, as realistically it could cost us in our final Premiership finishing place, and not to mention unnecessary injuries from tired legs. The convincing win against Stoke is also proof of the strategy, not to fully commit to the FA Cup game against Arsenal, and so now we are superbly set up for the Chelsea Semi-Final game on Wednesday! King Laudrup reigns supreme....................
