I was more pleased with the last 20mins today, Aston villa were tough and kicked lumps out of us,in fact they should of had a player sent off for a terrible tackle on Dyer on the edge of the area but somehow the ref bottled it and ducked the decision. I guess im happy with the point because Villa had alot more shots on target than us,posession was one sided but they had the chances! Poor Danny graham is getting zero service and again worked his bollocks off for little reward but i have to say Lita looks to have the guile in the final 3rd that danny doesnt have, he was unlucky not to score and was responsible for our only 2 clear cut chances, i notice with Moore and Lita that they have something at close quarters that DG doesnt posess, our wingers are not good enough to deliver the ball to DG from wide areas, it has to be a perfect ball to get inbetween 2 centre halfs but around the oppositon area with ball at feet Lita looks very good. Jazz richards i must mention, had a tough start but grew into the game,i wish this boy had been given more opportunuity in the past because its asking an awful lot just to drop him into a game marking an engkand international!! having said that as the game went on he became more confident and should take a massive boost after today. Villa, well i have to say that are big strong and like to kick..our players! but the defence pairing of Dunn and Collins was always going to be too much for graham to handle,maybe we learnt a lesson today? There are alot more teams like Villa in this league,we need to be faster in the final 3rd if we are to get goals drawing games and keeping clean sheets will count for nothing if we cant get the odd victory along the way,teams will know if they keep it tight at the back then we will struggle to score,more teams will be happy for us to have it knowing that we cant hurt them, a problem that Buck will need to solve and solve soon. Overall a decent performance and we must not forget the sad news of Speeds suicide that would of had an effect on alot of players today. What are your thoughts on todays game? Lita to start next game? Will Jazz be safe enough to start next match if rangel is not fit? Intresting stuff
Norway, a very fair summary of the game today. Thought that the sad news of Gary Speed made the game very flat, think the players found it very hard to motivate themselves. Lta was very good when he came on turned his man a coupe of times and was un-lucky not to score. Would have liked Jazz to attack his man, didn't think he was as goodas Rangel going forward. Saying that he was against Gabby (Can't spell his surname) We will win against Blackburn.
I agree about the last 20 minutes, Norway, and about Graham being starved of service. Also I agree Jazz started a little weakly but grew into the game... I think Brendan may have had an encouraging "You can do this!" talk with him at half time. I think the reason we grew into the game, though, was Heskey going off. He'd been man-marking Leon up until that point, and it effectively stopped us going through the middle in a forward direction! We had to go back, then out to the wings every time. Edit: Blackburn away is the perfect game for Jazz to have 90 minutes, I think. I think he'll have drawn a lot of confidence out of his second half performance today.
We have a problem in the final third, and unless we address it, we will collect a lot of draws, I'm not so sure Lita is the answer, don't think any of our strikers can hit a barn door with a banjo at this level, not securing Borini is looking like an issue that is going to haunt us. Garry Monk worries me too, not a bad game, but on times he looks decidedly pedestrian, I thought at one point that Villa were going to get all 3 points, Rodgers needs to shake things up, that there is no doubt!.......................... please log in to view this image
A fair assessment of the game, we were very quiet today and I think some of our players had their minds elsewhere which is understandable. In regards to Borini phil we were never in the running as he was always going to Parma , so impossible to secure anything.
I thought Jazz looked a bit nervous at first(and who could blame him) but he got more assured as the game went on, the most important thing for a defender to do is defend and that was his priority when he came onto the field, it was nice to see him grow into the game and start to push forward. Blackburn will be a tough test for him but one i think he will be eager to take part in after he had his first taste of prem football, dont know what the situation is with rangel or if it was just a precaution but i would be happier him starting after getting 30mins against Villa.
How do you know, were you a fly on the wall when the discussions were taking place, your quick in telling this to everyone else so have some yourself!.............. please log in to view this image
Final 3rd is a problem and we all know this anyway, if you could combine Lita and DG then we would have a good option!! i tend to think buck would have stuck with graham no matter what today and thats not always the answer, Lita showed that where he may not be a 90min starter he can offer something different,we somehow looked sharper when we played off him around the area. I dont know what the answer is,last year it was dobbie but its not looking like he is bucks prefered choice ,i see a signing for this position in January ...hopefully !!
Borini i dont see happening at all, maybe in the summer if we stay up but i dont think we are going to sign 2 "star" strikers .Are we going to leave DG on the bench ? not at the price we paid,same with Borini ,he isnt going to come unless he is first choice anyway, we only play 1 up front and i dont see eitther playing in the hole behind . Realisticly ,we need 3pts against Blackburn(who arnt playing that badly) anything less will mean relegation dogfight unless we pull a rabbit out of the hat in January
Phil no discussions took place, there was already an agreement for him to go to Parma , it was widely reported ! Go and check
Spot on jager he had signed a pre contract agreement before he joined us on loan to return to italy with parma
He had not signed for Parma, all they had was a pre contract agreement, and we all know money talks, the pre contract agreements aren't worth the paper they are written on, and we should have tested this deeper, as it's clear now that Parma pulled the wool over both Borini and our clubs eyes, so like I said originally, we should have secured his services, and it will haunt us this season, unless we resolve this in the January window!.................. please log in to view this image
Phil the agreement was signed for him to go, yes it was before the actual contract was signed , but there was no time for the swans to do anything at that time, he flew out the day after the final I believe to sign for Parma , and the club knew a few days before the said final. So tell me when should have the swans gone in for him ?
Would Borini be scoring in this team at this level though?? chances created by the midfield are at a minimum,not even rooney would be getting goals for us up front IMO.
Were doing great , lower the expectations . 2 points from 3 games in November against Liverpool , Manchester United & Villa . I can't believe were playing them little on taking points from them . A couple of away wins this month should make things a bit more positive . P.S. Thought Lita played well & Allen is one of the most exciting midfield players in the league . " The Little General " moves , passes & thinks quickly .
Good afternoon fellas and congratulations on another Premier League clean sheet. Who thought you'd be able to say that twelve months ago? Seems there is a pattern with the progress that the Swans make, and as you've done effectively in every new division you've joined, you've started by making sure you are tight at the back. As has been the case over the last couple of seasons, you'll soon start to be more consistent at the other end of the field. Certainly no need to worry - just keep faith with Jenkins and Rodgers. They haven't let you down so far. Keep enjoying.
Well before Wembley, we should have tested out Parma, and then we would have seen that they were not interested in the boy themselves, but only wanted to sell him on, then we could have been the beneficiary not Roma, we are not aggressive enough on transfers!.............................
Phil what other clubs do is up to them, but you still haven't said when we should have tried to do anything, we certainly couldn't agree anything before we won our play off final, so that leaves us a day to sort it, which is frankly impossible , he flew out on the 1st june , and from what I can understand he signed on on the 2nd or 3rd a 5 year deal. So that is you time frame to work with, no contract or agent in the world works so fast, so completely impossible to sort out anything. And to be honest I don't believe we will ever see Borini in a swans shirt again.
