Phil SumblerThe Swans made it back to back league wins yesterday when Coventry City were defeated 3-1 at the Swansea.com stadium yesterday thanks to an impressive display for the first half of the game although Russell Martin rightly pointed out the drop in intensity after the third goal went in early in the second half.
A goal from Jamie Paterson and a brace from Michael Obafemi was enough to secure the points for the Swans and put a dent in the play off hopes of a Coventry side who started the day just three points off the division’s top six.
The win was enough to allow the Swans to build on Monday night’s win at West Brom and set them up nicely for the visit of leaders Fulham on Tuesday night where we go in search of a third straight league win.
But what five things did we take from the win?
1.Michael Obafemi scoring some goals for Swansea – The striker is growing in confidence with each game he plays. His two finishes yesterday were those of a natural striker and he is showing that with the right service he could easily be one of the division’s leading marksmen. Downes and Grimes may have supplied the assists but the finishes were sublime. Oh, and of course, there was the assist for Paterson’s opener.
2. Don’t sit back even at 3-0 – I felt that after we went three goals to the good we sat back and invited pressure from a Coventry side who were well beaten at that point. Sloppy passes gave them additional hope and whilst they only scored one it was unnecessary pressure. I get (and understand) the substitutions to rest legs ahead of Tuesday but sitting deeper and deeper at 3-0 doesn’t make that much sense – something Martin effectively admitted after the game
3. Andy Fisher’s passing range – Everyone talks about us playing out from the back but our second goal was almost as direct as it could get. A long kick from Fisher, controlled by Downes who advanced with the ball before playing in Obafemi to score. Two passes, length of pitch, goal. The long passes of Fisher were more noticeable yesterday than any time before and the one that created the second goal was the latest in them. The boss always said it was Fisher’s passing that could be a vital addition and yesterday we started to see the benefits of that.
4. Kyle Naughton is key to almost everything – we wrote on here last week about how Kyle Naughton was seen as Mr Dependable and yesterday we saw just why. He is the one who makes the defence look so assured (most of the time!) and a classic example of this was relatively deep into the second half yesterday. The ball was given away by (I think) Manning, Naughton elected not to make a desperate tackle at that stage knowing he was on a yellow card but waited for the ball to come into the area and then made a desperate block to protect his goal. The sign of maturity and a calm collected approach to something that others could easily have found themselves taking an early bath for. Our player of the year for me.
5. Moving forwards – Yesterday we were definitely more of an attacking mindset then we have been in recent weeks/months. Noticeable particularly from Grimes and Downes who looked to move further forward at most opportunities without forgetting their defensive duties. An assist each tells that story, two perfect passes for an in form striker – we need more of that as yesterday showed exactly what they were both capable of.
So they are our five things to take from yesterday’s game – agree or disagree why not have your say using the comments function below.
