I think that the logic behind his original line up was to stay as compact as possible and play a similar system to Wales. We needed a change based on previous games this season but as soon as Chelsea scored we totally fell apart. Most managers would have waited until half time to make the change but in all fairness to Guidolin he made the change at 40 mins to stop the inevitable 2nd goal before half time.
RE all the free kicks at the match I said to my mate they are better in falling in tackles than us and conning the ref and he agreed.
Think by the time he changed, Chelsea could've been well out of sight, pure luck it wasn't the case. So no 'in all fairness' at all, he had to make the call because of his own selection, he shouldn't have sent them out that way & then should've fixed it far earlier than he did!! Came to the same 'Wales' conclusion myself as the match started... Well if that's his 'logic' it's a shockingly poor imitation of what Tosh/Speed/Coleman-Osian have created... Wales' back 3 is well-drilled & compact. You also have the fluidity of the wing-backs, the solidity of Joe/Joe, the vision, creativity & movement of Aaron/Gareth & the pure industry of Hal/Vokes. Every player knows his role... Our version was embarrassing, the players were all over the place & we had no out ball, or attacking threat!! Back to the drawing board Guido, or give Chris a call mate..
Spot on Nos Imo Costas' goal should not have stood, dangerous play simple as that. Naughton jumped a fot in the air for for the ball only to be met by the boot of Costa. They got away with that on, but we got away with Fers' assault, according to that prick Sutton, on Cahill. If he could play football as well as he can bleat he'd be world class, shame he's only average.
My take on yesterday for what it is worth. When I saw the set up and team, I was completely asking Why?, My fears almost came true, we were even more pathetic in terms of shape and leadership for those 40 mins than we had been in previous games, (yes I know we played Chelsea). What I don't get is why set up at home to try and get a 0-0. All we did is invite a top side to attack and luckily for us we were only 1 down when he made the change. Which had to come as Taylor was out of his depth and absolutely pathetic. I think the guy is and has for a long time been to big for his boots and is again struggling with the fact we have found a talented LB who will be in front of him all season, By playing the formation we did, we just invited them on and their full backs could do what they wanted and that is why with them pushing on why there was so much space and time for them. I admire Guidolin for making the change but in all fairness, what choice did he have because what he tried was simply not working and to try it for a first time against a top side was suicidal. The only thing that let him down was going over to Taylor whilst in view of the cameras. If he wanted to do that it should have been done at half time, away from prying eyes, to me he should have just told hi how ****e he was and if Taylor doesn't like it tough. The second half was much better, defensively we looked a bit better and much more secure. I think Fer did well going forward, but he simply doesn't make the effort to get back and I watch their midfield runaway from him numerous times. So all in all a better performance second half and a lot of that came from playing a wide man with pace who occupied both their full backs. Having seen how Montero had destroyed Ivanevic the last couple of times we have played them couldn't understand why we did go for him again. Fer's goal nailed on foul, Costa should have been watching from the stand and if he had been in a white shirt yesterday he would have been. Amat though just doesn't need to get involved, I liked the balls he showed to stand up to that dirty scumy twat costa, but could have easily been sent off. Like ours their second goal should have been disallowed for high feet and if that was done in any other situation other than scoring then a free kick would have been given. All in all a little better but a long way to go, they could have been out of sight by half time but they weren't and we actually found some fight. I still believe we look leaderless and am still not convinced by Guidolins tactics and negativity, yes I know he changed things but were a little forced on him. A nice bonus point for us, but we have to continue to improve and am just not sure this manager can do it.
I would agree with most, if not all you say there TLF. For me, Amat showed that he was not going to be intimidated - but needs to rein in his Latin temperament or he will be seeing red soon. When we saw the line up, apart from the obvious attempt of parking the bus, we said that the Swansea Way of playing was now "dead in the water": No wingers No width No pace ......... all gone. When was the last time we heard "You're only here to watch the Swans......" We felt a change in formation/players was needed after 20-25 mins. Thankfully, Guido showed some balls to recognise that his experiment was failing big time.
I agree Taff, it was as the starting line up a total move away from anything we have tried to play for the last 10 years I love tricky wingers getting at and giving oppositions defence something to think about. But unless their first priority is defending then Guidolin will not pick them regularly. Unfortunately there is still a bit of papering over the massive cracks that are still there. It is exactly the same as last year, 3 poor performances then one half tidy one and people tend to forget the poor ones. As for Amat I loved the way he got stuck into Costa, but having been booked and warned he then fouls Ivanovic, when he was going away from goal and there was no need, he could easily have been sent off and if it had been Dean he would have been. So yes loved the fight in him, but he needs to control that aggression a little.
We scraped a point through Chelsea's poor play even though they were much better than us. We needed the Ref to get a point but Chelsea played their worst game so far this season......We were crap from start to finish with no shape to the team whatever formation we play. Most of our team would be rejected as not championship standard with 3 or 4 pushing premiership standard. Fab and Gylfy are about the best we have and we were lucky that they played yesterday especially Fab who saved us from a hammering even though Chelsea had a poor game by their standards.....My MOM by a light year with the rest confronting the manager like Taylor who you could see is not happy with the manager and you can bet most of the team are fed up of his football style as well.......
When we murdered West Ham 4-1 on their own patch only a few league games ago.........................
At the Liberty? West Ham last season was largely a "nothing" match - we were safe, Ash, Taylor & Gylfi all rested.
You didn't say at The Liberty! Nothing Match?? There's no such thing in the Premiership. West Ham were going for a Champions League place.
As far as we were concerned, it was the nearest to a nothing match with safety guaranteed. It probably was the reason that Guido released the shackles........
And you have never made a mistake of having a name in your head and posting it....If you did not know what i meant then your pretty thick in my book valley and you a mod too
But even when I kept taking the piss you still kept saying that Kingsley was on the bench. Hell I even asked you if you'd bring him on. You said yes
I have Sunderland for a auto drop slot this season, and they will not beat it this time!..................
