Planet Swans ArchivesIn truth you would probably now look back on the game and be relieved that it did end 0-0 as the best two chances of the game fell to the visitors capitalising on a sloppy Swans performance that never saw them reach their best level and woefully obviously missing certain names from their line up.
Rarely troubling the visiting goalkeeper it was Andrea Orlandi’s lack of a right foot that squandered the best chance the Swans created although Dobbie forced a good save from Bywater in the first half that earned the Swans a corner.
But in all this was now the flowing Swansea side that we have seen at home this season and Derby were more than good value for the point they take back to the East Midlands after more than matching us in most departments during the course of the ninety minutes.
The Swans were dealt a blow with the absence of both Scott Sinclair and Darren Pratley who were replaced by Cedric Van Der Gun and Andrea Orlandi respectively.
De Vries
Rangelย ย ย ย Monkย ย ย ย Williamsย ย ย ย Tate
Dyerย ย ย ย Allenย ย ย ย Gowerย ย ย ย Orlandiย ย ย ย Van der Gun
Dobbie
The enforced changes in midfield seemed to do nothing to help the Swans shape during the course of the game – Allen and Orlandi were without a doubt off colour in terms of their own performances which meant the attacking fluidity that we have seen this season was not so forthcoming.ย ย Van Der Gun was never going to provide the same danger and opportunity provided by Sinclair and Dyer seemed well shackled by his defender for the early part of the first half although he did break free from around the 25 minute mark which provided the Swans with some good attacking outlets.
Derby were a threat from the beginning of the game and provided some moments of worry for the Swans defence which looked shaky despite being potentially the strongest line up that we have at this moment with Garry Monk seemingly another that maybe was not at his best on the day.
Dorus though was rarely called on to make a save which says much about the game as both goalkeepers had a relatively easy afternoon in their respective goals with the previously mentioned Dobbie effort – almost self created – being the one that tested Bywater.
In fairness to the Swans they did much to try and change the game – introducing Nouble, Lopez and Beattie at varying points during the second half but it never yielded the goal that we wanted to see and the game was slowly fizzling out into a goalless draw.
Derby’s best chance was squandered when they blazed over from six yards when the Liberty was all thinking ‘goal’ and that probably summed up what was a particularly poor game when too many players did not reach the level needed to take the game by the scruff of the neck.
After breaking an away record on Tuesday the home record fell away from 100% just four days later but the Swans go into the international break in a strong position and with far more positives from their 10 games to date than the negatives that today’s game throw out.
