Match Day Thread Swansea City v Sheffield United

Swansea City v Sheffield United

Competition - Sky Bet Championship
Venue - Swansea.com Stadium
Date - 13 September 2022
Kick off - 7:45pm

Following the postponement of last weekend’s entire EFL fixture list - the decision made as a mark of respect following the death of Her Majesty The Queen - matches resume from Tuesday 13th September, with the Swans scheduled to host Championship leaders Sheffield United that same evening.

In their last game - a week last Saturday - Joel Piroe scored for the third time in as many games as the Swans beat QPR 1-0 in the Sky Bet Championship.

However, arguably the pivotal moment came as early as the first minute when Ben Cabango tugged back Chris Willock on the edge of the penalty area but nothing was given.

The match had burst into life when Jimmy Dunne was adjudged to have handled Ryan Manning's cross after 16 minutes.

Piroe's penalty was saved by Seny Dieng, diving to his left, but the Swans almost instantly had claim for a penalty but their appeals were waved away despite Oli Cooper being sent tumbling in the box.

However, Piroe quickly atoned for his penalty failure when Cooper capitalised on Sam Field's mistake and the Dutchman slid home his shot from 12 yards inside Dieng's near post.

Chances continued to arrive in an entertaining first half with Benda forced to make saves from Ilias Chair and Lyndon Dykes.

The Swans should have doubled their lead but Cabango failed to profit from a free header, and Matt Grimes' follow-up attempt was blocked by the legs of Dieng.

Cabango, a constant threat at set-pieces, was just wide with another header at the start of the second half before Swansea lost substitute Liam Cullen to what appeared to be a nasty injury - Cullen had only been on the pitch a matter of moments before he departed clutching his left shoulder in obvious pain.

The Swans held out until the end to secure the 3 points, helped over the line by a vociferous Jack Army.

The day after the Swans beat QPR, Sheffield United reclaimed top spot in the Championship with an efficient victory at the MKM Stadium to end Hull City's perfect home record.

Former Swans favourite, Oli McBurnie put the energetic Blades ahead when his 20th-minute drive squirmed through the hands of Tigers goalkeeper Matt Ingram at the near post for his third goal in as many games.

In-form Oscar Estupinan was denied twice by Wes Foderingham after he was sent clean through before Ozan Tufan lobbed on to the roof of the net as Hull failed to make the most of their chances to level.

The Blades made sure of the points in a largely scrappy second half when Sander Berge's deflected shot 16 minutes from time beat a helpless Ingram.

This rare away win - only the visitors' second in their past 11 league matches on the road - took them back above Norwich at the top of table.

The Swans have played the Blades on 43 previous occasions, winning 13, losing 20 and drawing 11.

In the corresponding fixture last season - which was Russell Martin’s first home Championship match as Swansea boss - the teams played out an entertaining 0-0: a rather surprising score line given that the Blades had 2 former Swans playing against them (Brewster and McBurnie), and ex players always tend to score against us!

Turning to Tuesday evening, if Martin continues with the style and system used against QPR, then I think that the Swans will get at least a point.

However, if there is a return to ‘Martinball’ against the Blades, then I fear that we will end up losing by a couple.

Hopefully, we will kick on from the QPR match, raise our game still further and run out 2-1 winners.

 

Shame we didn't get to play Saturday, after the momentum of the previous win. Still, it's only a few days more so it'll be interesting to see how we perform.

I fancy a draw, 2 - 2.

 

Thanks Taff.
As Dai says it's a shame we couldn't play on Saturday to get some momentum. Sheff Utd will be a tough nut to crack and the odds on McBurnie scoring must be short. The big question is what shape will RM set up with? Hopefully the missed game will affect the Blades more than us so it's a 2-1 win for the Swans.

 

0-3. Can't see us winning this no matter how much fantasy I conjure up.

 

Thanks Taff enjoyed reading that.
I'm with Mono,still no confidence from me 1-3 Blades.

 

EFL has confirmed that the Tuesday night matches are on!

 

Not another prima donna? If so, unacceptable.

 

A reminder that players don’t necessarily play for the shirt but for themselves ….

At times we are merely (viewed as) a stepping stone.

Nothing necessarily wrong with that - it’s just an observation.

 

Well I would argue there is something wrong with that, when it gets in the way of them doing what they're paid handsomely to do. Circumstances like bereavement would be understandable, of course.

 

The EFL fixture programme will return as scheduled from Tuesday 13 September, with tributes to be paid to Her late Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II at grounds around the country.

A minute’s silence will be held before matches, with black armbands to be worn by participants, flags to be flown at half-mast and the National Anthem to be played in stadiums.

With a national policing plan now in operation, the League and Clubs will continue to work with forces in respect of any challenges that may emerge regarding policing of specific fixtures.

Consideration to individual circumstances will be made on a case-by-case basis, in line with standard match Safety Advisory Group (SAG) protocols.

 

Dai - I wasn’t commenting on the fact that Obafemi can’t/won’t play. My comment was more to do with ‘loyalty’ and where it often lies.

Obafemi is / must be well paid - he should earn it

 

Get shot of him and Paterson.

 

We're in the position where we need everyone fighting for the team. Not sure they'd be too missed really.

 

Yeah, Paterson hasn't done much of note for a while now and the same can be said for Obafemi this season. Have the club learned anything from the Paterson nonsense last season ?

 

Hopefully, they realise that giving Paterson an improved contract hasn’t delivered an improvement in his performances on the pitch?

 

Darren Bond will be the referee when Swansea City host Sheffield United in SA1 on Tuesday evening (7.45pm kick-off).

The official from Lancashire has been refereeing in the Football League since the 2012-13 season, and took charge of his first Championship fixture in February 2013. He was formally included in Select Group 2 in 2016.

He first had the whistle for a Swans game in November 2018, a home defeat to Norwich City, and has taken charge of a further seven Swans fixtures. The most recent of those being the 3-3 draw with Bournemouth at the Swansea.com Stadium in April.

So far this season, he has handed out 23 yellow cards and no reds across six Championship games.

On Tuesday, Bond will be assisted by Philip Dermott and Samuel Ogles. Tim Robinson will be the fourth official.

 

The National League has confirmed that Wrexham will not be forced to play the National Anthem. The minute's silence is mandatory but the playing of GSTK is not.

Hopefully, the EFL will follow suit for us as well - whilst the minute’s silence should pass off smoothly, I fear that GSTK may not be ‘properly’ observed.

 

https://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport...ussell-martins-blunt-message-michael-24993089

 

https://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport...s/swansea-city-press-conference-live-24992288