Planet Swans ArchivesI have to say that I settled down yesterday lunchtime expecting to see a rejuvenated Swans take the game to their hosts with a vigour that would see us edging further away from the relegation zone. What happened was a slide of just one place in the table but the teams towards the bottom closed the gap back up on us that leaves us continuing to look nervously over our shoulders.
What depressed me even more was listening to Michael Laudrup after the game when he admitted that he knew that West Ham’s threat would come from and that his side had worked to counter that. Commenting along those lines and then being undone by that very game plan twice suggests that the preparation was not sufficient or we really are so devoid of confidence that we just switch off too often during games,
Andy Carroll was virtually unchallenged with his header for both the West Ham goals and Kevin Nolan was afforded the freedom of Upton Park to finish them both with some ease to give the home side the win. For the second in particular he was pretty much watched by a static defence to find his place at the near post as Shelvey has left his spot for the corner to follow the ball across the area. Poor defending when you watch it live, even worse when you hear that we had been preparing for those threats all week.
The BBC statistics after the match showed that we had twenty attempts on goal during the game but none of them were on target giving Adrian a significantly easier time then he had received at Stamford Bridge in midweek but the end result was the same. For thirty minutes as well the Swans had a man advantage but never looked like breaking down West Ham with crosses from both flanks – of which Laudrup said there were plenty – telegraphed to a defender on any occasions where they actually beat the first man.
To me yesterday was one of our worst performances because we seemed to surrender without a real fight and too many players were found wanting at a time when we need them to stand up and be counted. I remember leaving the Cardiff City Stadium last November having watched two poor teams with the one who wanted it more winning it and at the moment it is easy to fear that the same could happen next week unless there is a significant step up in the level of performance.
Ashley Williams was critical of some team mates in midweek and just two weeks ago Wayne Routledge said ahead of the Spurs game รขโฌลHopefully we can keep performing and the results will turn for us. The whole squad has to do a little bit more, being more clinical and creating more chances.” That sentiment still rings true and needs to happen sooner rather than later as the next few games are crucial because of the league position of the opponents.
I am not sure that yesterday could have gone worse results wise with Sunderland, Cardiff and Stoke all getting crucial wins along with of course West Ham that tightened up the table with now just six points separating the bottom ten clubs in the division which makes interesting watching for a neutral but nervy times for any fan experiencing the ride directly.
Six point games are going to become the norm and of the other nine teams in that bottom half of the table we still have to play seven of them – seven fixtures that produced twelve points in the first half of the season – what would we give for that kind of return just at this point in time?
I remain firmly of the belief that in our squad we have the quality and I remain also of the belief that we will secure enough points to stay up for another season in the top flight but to do so we have to raise the performance level significantly from yesterday (and in fairness from midweek) because that simply wasn’t good enough. Nobody is expecting to just turn up and win games (at least I hope they are not) but it would be good to at least try and compete and not forcing a save from an opposition keeper is unforgivable.
Next week will see arguably the most important South Wales derby ever and a win for us will give us back daylight between us and the bottom of the table, a win for them and we have headed further into the fight that we have dragged ourselves into with some poor performances.
We virtually have a fully fit squad now with Vorm and Michu coming back and now is the time for that squad to stand up, be counted and do us proud. There really is no alternative.
