Phil SumblerThere have been low points this season but we surely hit a new one yesterday when humiliation prevailed at Bramall Lane with a four goal victory for our hosts on an afternoon when it could easily have been much more.
From being two goals down within the first seventeen minutes through to several attempts to commit defensive suicide at various stages of this game this was an afternoon where there simply were not positives to be taken and – at this stage of the season – that becomes more and more of a worry.
So as we look back the day after the game, what key five things do we take (learn?) from the defeat and take into the difficult challenges ahead.
1. Andy Fisher, time to swap back? – I don’t for one minute believe that Andy Fisher is a bad goalkeeper but he is certainly doing his best to make himself look like one. Poor passing around his area, potentially poor positioning and exposed by a defence that simply cannot protect him. For his own good it feels like he needs taking out of the firing line but we have to ask questions why we spent the money on him we did, the pain doubled when we hear of the strong performances Steven Benda is putting in elsewhere.
2. Playing it out from the back is continuing to be our downfall – If it wasn’t for the fact that Sheffield United were wasteful with the golden chances we presented them yesterday would have been much worse. I get that Russell Martin wants his sides to play out from the back but he keeps talking about it being “brave” but it is starting to feel more like stupid. The opposition see it, they press us high and we make mistakes – every fan can see that so the manager surely has to change it?
3. We have a Plan A and that is about it – We have suggested before that we have a Plan B but the longer the season goes on the more we seem to stick rigidly to Plan A. It can work sometimes but away from home it feels like it is being exposed more often. The ease at which the home side cut through the defence yesterday was embarrassing to see and that is back to the fault of the manager’s inability to change things to adapt certain situations.
4. We keep making the same mistakes – It gets a bit galling to hear the same reasons being given for defeat. Sloppy mistakes, lack of intensity, starting slowly, making mistakes, be better next game are all reasons that we hear but we hear them after every defeat and they are becoming more frequent. Every team makes mistakes, every team loses games but we need to learn from both experiences and right now it doesn’t feel that we are.
5. A season of transition or a season of regression? We all accepted this season was one of transition but right now it feels like one of regression. In October the signs felt more positive that we were moving in the right direction but right now it doesn’t feel we are anywhere near that. We have picked up 11 points from the last 12 games, losing 7 of them in the process. 9 goals for, 20 against in that same period. That is not a team in transition that is a team regressing too quickly for any of our liking. We need to halt that run but with Bournemouth, Coventry and Fulham at home and West Brom away as our next four games does anyone fancy our chances?
This article hits on the truth of the moment. It is hard to disagree with the points made above. Don’t get me wrong, I still believe that Russell Martin’s project will bear fruit in the longer term – like Huddersfield and Blackburn, we will see our club in a much stronger position next season.
However, back to this season, and we are currently in some degree of crisis on the pitch, and that needs to be addressed but without sacrificing the long-term plan.
We constantly read about opposition managers/head coaches talking about how they will expose Swansea’s obvious weaknesses – they talk about this before our games. In other words, they have studied the opposition – Swansea – and have formed a specific game plan accordingly.
It seems we need to do the same. We can’t keep saying, ‘We just concentrate on ourselves.’ It is, at this stage of the season, expedient to study the opposition and set up on the pitch in accordance with a variety of game plans. It might help put some points on the board, boost confidence and get the fans on board without abandoning the long-term project. I know that it is easy to say but not so easy to put into action.
In the Blackburn game, we were forced to change our approach. It was not nice to watch, but we picked up three valuable points. The Blackburn manager admitted that they weren’t prepared for our approach; we took them by surprise. Advantage Swansea.
Perhaps we need to approach at least away games in this way. Look at the strengths of the opposition and set up accordingly, frustrate them and certainly stop conceding early goals. We need to force the opposition to re-think during games. At present, we are making it easy for other teams, we need to make them work for their advantage, not hand it to them on a plate. We need to mix things up so that the only thing the opposition should expect from us is the unexpected.
But again, I will stress, we should not abandon the long-term project but simply stop allowing the opposition’s coaches golden opportunities to plan their certain victories.
At the moment it is embarrassing to hear Championship coaches say, ‘we know exactly how Swansea will play, and we will be ready for them.’
We should, over the next month or so, throw a few spanner’s into the oppositions’ works. Confuse them, use psychology, kidology , keep them guessing, and then, when teams least expect it, play out from the back and pass them off the park – do things on our own terms according to our time-scales.
Personally, with the exit of Luke Williams, I’d like to see Chris O’Leary join the first-team coaches. He’d certainly bring some expediency to the party.
So, I believe in Russell Martin’s project and pedagogy but we need to stop handing the advantage to other teams, especially in the coming month.
Come on you Swans. STID
Playing it out from the back is continuing to be our downfall – Which goals came from playing out from the back?
Cabango is our only quality CB.
Tinkering with back line has been costly. Fisher isn’t up to under 23 standard. Burn is in for a rough loan.
Swallow his pride Of playing the Swansea way for now Let’s Go back to winning games Need to pick up points I Have Been A Swansea Supporter For 50 years The Team is A shambles We need a plan B And C the way we Play now Players are not ready Everyone Needs to step up We need To change something
I honestly can’t see Swansea coming away with anything from that game playing with the same squad in a different way. They were simply outclassed in every department, losing 1v1s all over the park, misreading each other on a constant basis, not putting in the effort with or without the ball. When Grimes can’t even hold his own it’s going to be a very, very long afternoon. My point is: Swansea were second-best at everything in this game. And didn’t do what Cooper would call “the non-negotiables”. (Competing in situations were there are “no gray areas”, as Martin puts it.) This is about showing up or not and when you don’t, at this level, you’ll get a hiding. For that reason I would suggest that there is nothing to be learnt from this game in terms of playing style. Swansea didn’t lose because they play out from the back. In fact, none of the goals came from that. They lost because they didn’t do any part of the game well enough.
Taking inspiration from the Blackburn and Bristol games makes sense in terms of looking at the effort and belief being put in on those occasions, but not in terms of style. Examining those games more closely Swansea shouldn’t have won any of them. Both teams had huge chances to put the games to bed as early as Sheffield did (Bristol at home) or turn things around at the end of the game (Blackburn at home). Swansea have performed much better in some of the games they shouldn’t have lost (Luton at home) or drawn (Huddersfield away, Derby, Millwall).
What I learnt from the Sheffield game was that Latibeaudiere doesn’t track back or defend the box near well enough to make up for his weaknesses with the ball. He doesn’t seem like an option at this level. And Burns needs to make quicker reads on situations and dribble the ball less. Time will tell if he’s able to pick that up soon enough. More importantly, Ntcham doesn’t add anywhere near the same cut and thrust that Paterson does on the other side of the pitch. Playing both with only a single striker in front of them won’t amount to enough penetration when playing strong sides away from home.
Also, remember that Martin didn’t plan for this lineup. And yeah, yeah, that happens in football, but still. He was planning on Wolf instead of Latibeaudiere and Obafemi instead of Ntcham. That’s not insignificant as both changes underperformed. The original lineup would, I suspect, have been a stronger and more balanced side.
Just watch the highlights from these 45 minutes against Coventry (and the goals again West Brom last time out). This is what soaking up pressure and putting the ball past opponents looks like when it’s done with speed and purpose. So once again: Stick to the plan, don’t tear up the script. Still thinking we should swap back to Hamer?