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Swansea City 1 Yeovil Town 1 |
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Sometimes you just want things to happen but you just know that they are not going to happen the way that you want them to. Does that make sense? Probably not but then again it doesn’t make much sense on how we have such a strong looking squad on paper but how we are consistently made to look so average against sides that really are nothing special. Take nothing away from Yeovil who had the better chances in the game but they are not going to be our toughest test this season – far from it – which makes me a little worried about the 40 games that loom large on the horizon at this moment in time. With two straight league wins behind us, optimism was potentially at one of it’s high points in the season to date as Friday night football returned to the Liberty for the first time this season. With Lee Trundle on a quick return from injury and Andy Robinson playing despite his personal loss this week, Jackett lined his side up as follows Big Willy Amankwaah Izzy Tate Austin Britton Pratley Robbo Williams LT10 Fallon Subs: Oakes, KOL, Bayo, Butler, Way I have to say the pattern for the first half was set with less than 20 seconds on the clock. A long ball to Fallon saw the former Swindon man jump too early and then be penalised for allowing the defender to fall over him. I have tried to defend Fallon in recent weeks but for him at the moment it just isn’t happening and he looks a player who has seen every ounce of confidence sucked from him. Dropping him will not help that but it really is surely inevitable as he struggles to cope with the gameplan that we have with him around. That aside though for fifteen minutes I thought we tried to play football the way that I like it to be played. On the floor with some good passing and good movement. However, it was all too often with little end product with neither striker prepared to gamble on a ball into the box and seemingly preferring to wait for the ball to come to them – a tactic that was comfortably dealt with by our visitors. Andy Robinson had a trademark free kick saved and Fallon steered a header wide when well placed as the highlights of the Swans first half. Yeovil for their credit were taking advantage of some gaping holes in the Swans lack of tracking back and with a better final ball or longer legs they could have been ahead by the half time whistle. An aside on the first half was the potential lucky red card avoided by Tom Williams. Having just been booked for a second foul in a short period of time he then proceeded to protest as Yeovil avoided a booking of their own. He had a point in that there should have been a card but there is also a time to call a halt to the protests and he can potentially count himself lucky that the referee was in a generous mode – possibly one of his better decisions of the evening. At this point, Williams game went downhill from what I felt was a promising start from him. The predictable change came at half time with Bayo replacing Fallon but this time around it really was to little effect. Any neat passing that we had in the first half seemed to be replaced in the main by a long ball and quite often to nowhere in particular. Frustration had kicked in before Marcus Stewart stooped to head unmarked past Williams and Willy to give the visitors the lead. Set piece, free header, goal against – anything sound familiar in that particular sequence? Did it spur us on? Not really. We got back on level terms shortly after Robinson had hit the cross bar. Bayo bought the ball down on the edge of the area and turned and fell to the floor. The referee had no hesitation in pointing to the spot and after persuading Izzy that he was the man for the job, up stepped LT10 to fire home for the equaliser. It was strange to see Trundle almost begging Izzy for the ball, clearly the defender felt that it was time to pass the responsibility but Trundle was having none of it. Thank he didn’t miss. See Trundle’s Penalty Here Could Swansea press home an advantage? The simple answer was no. Yeovil’s time wasting was almost legendary and mostly done behind the back of a referee who seemed oblivious to it all including the extremely slow walking at each substitution. FIFA/UEFA/FA are constantly changing things within the game but in my mind it is time to introduce a card for anyone who takes more than 10-15 seconds to leave the pitch on a tactical change. It’s frustrating and made all the more so by referees who gesture that they have stopped their watch but never add on the appropriate amount of time. But I digress, it’s just a moan to stop me saying how crap we had become at this point. Never did we look like scoring again despite our possession and at the end of the game frustration was there for all to see. I do have to say at the end of the report that Alan Tate was man of the match by, I estimate, around eight or nine country miles. He was a rock at the back, winning everything that came his way, and a goalline clearance to boot. Tatey has come a long way in the past couple of years and he deserves every accolade. The only thing we need to change is to let him attack the ball at corners and not use him on the front post. Play to his strengths. Well played Tatey. Six games in and two of everything (wins, draws and losses) sees us at a predicted mid table finish. And that I am afraid is not good enough this season. THe next three games are all of a sudden looking more and more crucial. CLICK HERE FOR PICTURES CLICK HERE TO RATE THE PLAYERS | SHARE YOUR VIEWS You May Like |
