How Good Are We?

How good are we really?

Saturday’s game made me question this. For the majority of this season I have been of the opinion that ‘on our day’ we are, next to Hull, the best team in the league.

I know it’s an old saying, but its true- the table doesn’t lie. Promotion is awarded for consistency and we are far from consistent, just as we are far from one of the best teams in the league.

It wouldn’t have been unfair to have lost 6-0 on Saturday, that’s how bad our performance was. Only Robinson wanted it. Disappointed doesn’t begin to broach how let down I felt.

But I wasn’t just let down by the team, from my place on the North Bank I felt let down by the crowd. Everyone around me seemed to get on the players backs at every opportunity, especially Michael Howard. Yes he did have a nightmare, yes he often has a nightmare, BUT he is our player- he doesn’t deserve to be booed and jeered from the first whistle. To call yourself a ‘supporter’ you must ‘support’ the team- through good and bad. They say the crowd can be like a twelth man, well at times on Saturday it was like we were down to ten men.

However, this is not to excuse the players:

Izzy: makes LOTS of mistakes, everyone can see the potential he has but he gives the ball away too easily.

Howard: Inept. He displayed all of his worst traits- he looked scared and he didn’t want the ball. He didn’t even do the basics right. How hard can it be to kick the ball as hard as you can away from goal?

O’Leary: My Man of the match against Preston. Looks a more solid option than Izzy at the moment.

Byrne: Didn’t do much wrong and I know it was his first game, but he didn’t offer himself at all. There were a few occasions I can recall when we could have broke down the right but resorted to the long ball instead.

Robinson: The only one who turned up.

Martinez: Hasn’t been the same since his injury

Connolly: Who?

Maylett: Seems to have been figured out a bit. Not as potent as at the start of the season, but still at least offers some threat.

Nugent: I think the booes on Saturday were because the fans wanted Nugent off and NOT Thomas. Doesn’t offer much.

Thomas: Tried, but without the service and support what can you do?

The 4-3-3 formation. It’s a point that keeps raising itself and I must admit to being baffled by it myself. It has NEVER worked, so why persist with it? It’s lopsided and doesn’t offer anything down the left flank. We really are crying out for a left winger.

Connolly is not and never will be a left winger. It is unfair to judge him at the moment because he is being asked to do a job which he will NEVER be good at.

Finally, the Long ball. That’s all we offered on Saturday. We’d win it at the back and knock it as hard as we could towards Nugent. Why oh why didn’t we take it down and try to play it once in a while? Long-ball can be effective but it can also become predictable.

We need Martinez to become our Captain again. When he was playing at his best, everything went through him and the team brimmed with confidence. This is what we are missing more than anything else now. A mature head on the field to have a look and pick the right pass. Simple I know, but I think it would go a long way to improving us.

But I refuse to believe our season is over. We have a great chance of making the quarter Final of the FA Cup and if we can put a run together we can turn our season around and get back in the playoff places. To achieve these things we need to raise our game. The return of Trundle and Britton will go a long way, the return of Martinez would go even further and if Flynn could add some genuine width down the left we may just have a chance.

Overwhelming odds, a slim chance of success…… I like the sounds of it. It just wouldn’t be Swansea any other way.