Phil SumblerThe words of Steve Cooper were clear enough after the Swans surrendered with nothing much more than a whimper at Bournemouth and that was that we got what we deserved after yet another disappointing performance.
It is not the first time in recent weeks that Cooper has talked about a performance that simply has not been good enough but as Watford keep on pushing on with yet another win this evening this could prove to be the damaging defeat that dents our promotion hopes beyond repair.
That is not a case of giving up at the moment but a case that means the pressure is very much on the side now. We have the small matter of Cardiff City at the Liberty on Saturday and then an international break but the wrong result in the derby and we will go into the break starting to lose touch with the top of the table and facing the reality that it could be the play offs again for us this season.
The team has lost confidence, lost energy and seemingly has lost direction in recent weeks and defeat against Bournemouth is the third time in recent weeks that we have been heavily beaten whilst each of our five wins in the same period have been by a solitary goal.
Cooper was critical of his side for not doing the basics right both ends of the pitch and he was right as we left people unmarked and our tight defence of just a few weeks ago now looks weak. That won’t be helped by continuous personnel changes forced upon us in that area but at the same time it does say clearly that we have problems that need to be overcome and immediately as we simply don’t have the time to lose ground on those around us.
“The first two goals were everything I don’t want the team to be, and the players will know that,” said Cooper.
“The first goal is a free cross, no-one is marking in the box and it’s a soft finish.
“The second goal is a first contact off a corner which we do a lot of work on, so if you don’t do those basics well you run the risk of conceding soft goals, and that’s what we did.
“We also got into enough good positions with the ball and did not back ourselves to really be the threat we should be in terms of creating and scoring.
“In the end, we have turned over another ball and given away a soft third goal, which can happen when you have lots of attacking players on the pitch and you are trying to get back into the game.”
The problem I have is that we do keep repeating the same mistakes. We are struggling to make any impact on games, our creativity is minimal at best in most games and we are giving away soft goals. For Bournemouth read Bristol City a couple of weeks back. Teams are not pushing us hard, we are making life much easier for them.
Cooper needs to stop the issues that we have at the moment and turn things around. Not in a couple of games time, not after the international break but immediately. Saturday has not become just about bragging rights in this part of the world it is a must win game if we are to keep up a promotion challenge. Anything other than a win will simply not do now.
