Refreshingly Honest?

All too often after a football match we are faced with managers making excuses for a defeat and pushing the blame anywhere other than the tactics used by the manager or even team selection. To hear Kenny Jackett talk so openly after the last couple of games makes a refreshing change and although it doesn’t take away the fact of the two defeats at least we know that he is seeing what the fans are generally saying.

After the defeat at Shrewsbury Jackett was open enough to say what the people there were saying that moments of indiscipline had cost us the game and in tonight’s Evening Post he is openly admitting that he got it wrong with his tactics on Saturday.

The Swans were made to look second best by Bury as they slipped to their first home defeat in three months and that is something that Jackett admits. Speaking to the paper he commented

”We got outnumbered in midfield and I should have played three in there rather than going with my two wide players,” the Swansea boss said. ”We changed it in the second half and that thickened us up a bit, but it cost us in the first half. ”Even when you play 4-4-2, you sometimes need someone whose instincts are to tuck inside a little bit, particularly when you’re playing against three in midfield. ”When you look at the games we’ve lost this season, a lot of them, like Northampton, Macclesfield and now Bury, have been when we were up against a 3-5-2 formation. ”It’s a big thing to make sure you’re not outnumbered in midfield, and they’re the games where we’ve had particular tactical problems. ”On Saturday I do feel I got it wrong.”

Of course it could be a concern that we are coming unstuck against opponents that play in that way but at the same time at least this is being recognised and on that basis we have to have to be comforted that we may be able to deal with it next time. That aside though to hear a manager openly admit where the weaknesses lie surely have to bode well for the future.

There are not many managers I can remember from my time at Swansea who have made such open comments in the past and this coupled with some he made after the poor start to the season do make me more convinced that we have the right man for the job providing we can hold onto him.

Jackett does not seem to hide behind failure and pass the blame off to others he just states where it went wrong. There are no “If we scored 3 more we’d have won the game” comments of John Hollins or even the endless “We can’t afford to lose the next game” comments that so many managers come out with.

I remain confident that success will come our way this season and comments like this just reaffirm that belief. The fans are not mugs, we know what the problems are and facing up to them so publicly can only strengthen the togetherness of the club?

Another plus point to Kenny?