Planet Swans ArchivesIn short this was a dull game. There is no other word to describe it. Very little pattern to play from either side, very few goalscoring opportunities and another match official who seems to have forgotten that football has a time wasting rule. Another opposition goalkeeper that starts time wasting in the first ten minutes and gets away with it for the other eighty because the referee is too busy not watching play.
Let’s not pretend here though that our inability to break down Brighton was anything to do with the referee or his officials, this result was our own doing for sure. We stuttered our way through the 90 minutes and probably could still be playing now with a big zero next to our name such was the level of performance. “Loud and Proud” was what the fans wanted but it is extremely difficult to reach that level when there is nothing happening on the pitch to generate any sign of atmosphere. 11,000 people in the Liberty looked significantly less today and on performances like this the crowd will only go down – could we fail to get a five figure crowd on Tuesday? I would say it’s very likely at this moment in time.
There were first Swans starts for the most recent additions to Robero’s squad in Andrea Orlandi and Warren Feeney who replaced Paul Anderson and Darryl Duffy in the starting line up. Darren Pratley was back alongside Bodde in the centre of midfield with O’Leary sliding back to the bench.
Doris
Rangel Monk Lawrence Painter
Butler Bodde Pratley Orlandi
Scotland Feeney
It’s hard to believe that this is almost the same side that totally outplayed Forest and Oldham in the opening games of the season such is the inability to create decent goalscoring chances. Back after those games we believed we were heading in only one direction, which at the moment could still be true, it is just that the direction based on today is nowhere. Don’t get me wrong there is plenty to play for this season but today we weren’t very good and it has not been the first time in recent weeks. It isn’t helped when there is no atmosphere inside the stadium but again we cannot place blame on that.
Early excitement was provided by the Brighton keeper who stepped outside the box to give the Swans an early free kick that they played about with and allowed the defensive wall to close the ten yards down to three before Bodde struck the shot. At that point it was probably evident that the game would end with no goals.
Feeney was full of early running but that didn’t last much past the early stages where he just faded into the sea of mediocrity that we were creating against a Brighton side who offered nothing at all early doors.
A couple of half hearted efforts from Butler and Feeney were the best that we could muster in the first forty five whilst Brighton should have had the lead first half bar a double point blank save from Doris when it looked easier for the strikers to score. And with those few sentences the first half was summed up in a nutshell and surely the second half would only be better.
It was but only marginally as there seemed a little more urgency from the Swans and the crowd tried a little to get behind them. Bodde hit the post with a low powerful shot whilst Brighton hit the bar twice in total – the second time in stoppage time at the end of the game by the guy with blue hair. Quite why he had blue hair is beyond me but I guess that probably isn’t important in the grand scheme of things.
Swansea’s attempts were still half hearted and a Brighton keeper who looked dodgy was never really tested during the game at all – a sad indictment on the performance of the Swans.
Anderson went down at one point clutching his face and clearly felt aggrieved that there had been some form of contact but, not surprisingly, neither referee or Assistant saw it. Anderson soon showed the petulance of youth as he tried to take his own retribution and he was rightly shown a yellow card. Quite what the referee and linesman are there for if not to watch incidents in front of them is beyond me as well.
The game ended with a section of jeering again from the Liberty crowd and a 6th and 7th home dropped point of the season – a poor record from just 4 league games at the Liberty.
Improvements are needed and soon otherwise touch with the leading pack could be lost.
