Planet Swans ArchivesSometimes it is adifficult to sit down and write a match report. It is extremely difficult to write a match report on a game that saw it’s best chance in the first half – a Darren Pratley shot that hit the post – and a game that never troubled either keeper from that moment on.
Sure Swansea had the bulk of the possession but there was little done with it as they struggled to get anywhere against a Coventry side who had clearly done homework on the “how to stop Swansea” way and to be fair to them they did it well without ever looking like like they would take home anything more than the point they had clearly come for.
So where do you start? Well, the changes made by Paulo to the starting line up to start with. There is a school of thought that would suggest that you don’t change your side that often and that creates success but that is clearly not the Paulo way. And I guess that when you go into the game in 4th place there cannot be too many questions to ask of the manager but such is the nature of the football fan.
So with the changes the Swans lined up as follows
Dorus
Rangel Monk Williams Bessone
Dyer Pratley Lopez Orlandi Butler
Pintado
New signing Shefki Kuqi was on the bench and – maybe very tellingly – there was no place in the matchday squad for Leon Britton – is that the end of him in a Swansea shirt? Craig Beattie was another who failed to make the squad on the game – injury again keeping him out of the action.
Reference has already been made in this report to Pratley hitting the post from what was without doubt the best move of the match but that was as good as the game got. And that in itself is a pretty sad condemnation of the game as a spectacle.
So where did it go wrong for tonight? Well, bar Coventry seeing the easy way to stop us playing the midfield unit never functioned start to finish. Pratley tried his best in another MOTM performance but with Orlandi and Lopez first half and then Allen second half struggling to make any real impact we were nullified totally. Butler seemed never to get into the game at all and flashes from Dyer faded generally into nothing and with that not functioning there was nothing for Pintado to feed off and I don’t recall him having a shot at goal in all his time on the pitch.
Towards the end of the game we changed it around and for the last 15 minutes with Trundle and Juqi up front we looked more dangerous and maybe that is a glimpse of what we should consider for future games – a change in formation? We do appear to have a formation that works away from home but at home it looks not cutting enough and dropped points against sides as poor as Coventry is not what we want to achieve at this moment in time.
What is certain though is we don’t become a bad team overnight so no need for OTT reactions but there are lessons to be learned for sure in what was a poor performance and maybe we can start putting the results of those lessons into play at Watford on Saturday.
