Planet Swans ArchivesREPORT – Western Mail
IT WAS at Nottingham Forest’s City Ground that Swansea City’s problems on the road reached their nadir last year.
Four games into their away fixtures, a lifeless 3-1 defeat was arguably one of the worst of boss Brendan Rodgers’ reign.
The Swans promptly won their next match away from the Liberty – a 3-2 win over Watford – took 16 points from their next six trips and the seeds were sown for promotion.
It can be Swansea’s only hope that history is about to repeat itself, for there was precious little else to cling to at Carrow Road. Four games into their top-flight away fixtures, Rodgers’ side were again lifeless; awful at the back and very ordinary elsewhere.
And so those awkward away-day questions will be asked again.
Rodgers, like at the City Ground, offered no excuses. There were none.
The previous three defeats had been at Manchester City, Arsenal and Chelsea; venues where little was expected and little given.
The same cannot be said of Norwich, a team that surely would have been targeted as beatable on their own patch.
Even so, Paul Lambert’s side played well enough to deserve the win; passing with pace, pressurising from first to last, a team clear on their roles and their manager’s instructions to unsettle. They would not have got to the Premier League alongside Swansea last year were they not a good side.
But, bluntly, they were made to look a darn sight better than they actually are.
In response there was at best a 15-minute period, just before the break, where Swansea looked like themselves.
Indeed, had the first half lasted 55 minutes instead of 45 there could have easily been talk of a first win on top-flight travels and an impressive comeback victory.
But the interval came and then offered no sympathy. A frankly shocking second half followed, and that was that.
Besides, the damage was done inside 10 first-half minutes when Anthony Pilkington and Russell Martin put the hosts 2-0 up.
And, although Danny Graham replied two minutes later – at least chalking up a first away-day goal at this level – Norwich’s deserved comfort-bringing third arrived when Pilkington stabbed home with 26 minutes remaining.
Defensively, the goals – and the players – were as bad as each other. Not enough done to stop crosses, headers lost, second balls not seized and panic on the ball rather than patience.
None of Rodgers’ side – defenders, midfielders, attackers, whoever – will have enjoyed watching the replays of the goals as men stood either out of position or simply watching the Canaries capitalise in front of them.
Twelve goals against away from home now, though the previous nine could all be put in perspective given they came against those aforementioned big-four clubs. There was no such comfort here. Steve Morison, as Wales fans will testify, is perhaps better than many give him credit for. But he is not world class, which is how it seemed as he had the Swans’ back-line clueless how to deal with him in the air or on the floor.
The first evidence of that came in the opening seconds, a deep Elliott Bennett cross perfectly headed back by the pumped-up Morison despite the attentions of two Swans and Pilkington smashing home unmarked in the centre of the box.
There were 49 seconds on the clock when the ball hit the net, Norwich needing to wait just nine minutes for the next as Rangel gave away a soft free-kick on the alert Pilkington, David Fox whipped in the free kick from the wide of the box and Russell Martin headed home untroubled.
With Swansea shellshocked, there was hardly time to catch breath when Sinclair weaved his way to the left byline, went down under Bennett’s challenge before stabbing the ball to Graham to instinctively smash home.
But the fact Swansea knew they had been already caught with a sucker punch was highlighted when Sinclair raced to fetch the ball from the goalkeeper while others celebrated. It’s not often you see that with 12 minutes gone.
It took at least 17 minutes of the contest before Swansea finally started to pass and be prepared to bide their time and slow the tempo which, in turn, allowed the visitors to worry their hosts.
Joe Allen was doing the majority of that, clearly buoyed by recent strides taken on the international stage and several times injecting a drive into Swansea’s midfield play that will be most welcome over the course of the campaign. Rangel went close with one rasping shot while Allen and a far-from-his-best Nathan Dyer both forced Norwich defenders into important tackles and there appeared to be hope for the second half.
But when it came, too many others were off their game and off the pace. Some simply didn’t like the fact Norwich were bringing the Championship trick of rushing Swansea possession to the Premier League. Perhaps Rodgers’ men thought they had left all that behind now? One can only assume given they’ve coped with it fine more often than not when teams have tried before. If that was the case it seemed a fatal mistake as Norwich allowed Swansea to have the ball in areas that didn’t hurt and broke with giant bursts of energy on the counter.
In the opening 45 it had seen man-of-the-match Morison force a save from Michel Vorm, Pilkington hit the side netting and, in general, leave Swansea searching for their rhythm.
After it, there was less danger as Lambert’s men tired – but the game was inexplicably thrown when Leon Barnett was able to meet a Fox header, Bradley Johnson was allowed to poke towards goal and Pilkington was free to finish from close range. Three chances to stop the goal, none taken.
It is that which Rodgers will need to address in training this week rather than any major surgery, a gentle reminder of the basics rather than any overhauling of the systems needed to play away in the Premier League.
There were plus points; Swansea didn’t jack it in when effectively beaten so early and sub Stephen Dobbie and Leroy Lita both spurned good chances to make a late game of things as Graham worked wonderfully when pushed wide. Indeed, Graham’s movement all day deserved better than this result.
And Allen grew another couple of inches in top-flight stature with this performance.
In fact, the fact Swansea were so unlike themselves almost brings some consolation. This was so removed from the types of displays associated with this side that, watching it, you came to the conclusion it was freak-like.
Time will tell on that, with Wolves away next Saturday the first chance to judge.
With history in mind, you would hope that Carrow Road proves to be the depths of Swansea’s away-day issues to ensure a future at this level.
