Phil SumblerYesterday’s defeat at Blackpool was just another one of those games where we came up against a team who was happy to see us retain as much possession seemingly as we wanted but with them knowing that there was very little in our armory to harm them.
At the end of the game we had statistics of 76% possession, more than 650 successfully completed passes but only half the attempts at goal of our opponents, just 25% of the on target efforts and – most importantly – one less goal than they scored. End result of course being nil points.
The Blackpool Gazette summed it up with their assessment of the game within their match report when they wrote “Swansea, meanwhile, were far too ponderous and focused on keeping the ball, rather than creating serious problems for Blackpool’s backline.
“The game slowly but surely had the life sucked out of it by the visitors, who remained incessant on playing the ball amongst themselves with no attacking threat whatsoever. Not until they delivered some threatening crosses from wide positions, at least.
“The away fans, to their credit, remained incredibly patient with their side, who were keeping hold of the ball for the sake of keeping possession with no purpose to their play whatsoever.”
The words used in that report could easily apply to many of the Swans performances this season where an outcome similar to the one we saw at Bloomfield Road yesterday has been achieved. There was a glimmer of belief in October and November that ‘the process’ was going to work but in 16 games since the away win at Barnsley we have earned 17 points, scoring just 15 times in that process. That is a trend that should be more than concerning at this point in time.
When the opposition press pick up in the way that they did in the afore mentioned report it hurts but it does sum up Swansea City on many occasions “keeping possession with no purpose to their play whatsoever” was a particularly accurate summing up of the 90 minutes we watched.
Unfortunately for us the style that Russell Martin wants to play works well against sides who will allow the game to open up a little but ore and more sides are seeing us as that side that is just as we mentioned above – keeping possession with no purpose to our play.
When we look back at those 16 games referenced above we see a trait where we have shipped 3 or more goals on 5 occasions where defensively we have kept just 4 clean sheets in that time. On the opposite side we have failed to score on 7 occasions and scored 3 or more just twice. Statistics like these mean much more than any possession based stats which is vastly distorted when that possession is just not harming the opposition.
Everybody accepted early doors that this was to be a season of transition. The play off campaigns of the last two seasons have long since passed and we should never forget that the managerial situation where everyone knew that Steve Cooper was leaving played out through the summer instead of resolving itself early. Would that have made a difference we will never know but when we have lost many of the playing squad from last season having a summer of uncertainty most definitely did not help us.
But the key part to a season of transition is that we must see signs of progress. And the early steps forward appear to have been replaced by a series of steps backward. Don’t get me wrong there have been some good points with wins over Bristol City, West Brom and Coventry being some of these on top of an excellent second half at Huddersfield but for each of those there has been a Nottingham Forest, Stoke, Sheffield United or Fulham. And those worry me.
This is not an article designed to knock Russell Martin and it is clear that the club have bought into his vision for what he wants the team to do but he does need to start addressing the problems that are becoming increasingly apparent for everyone to see. Conceding early (and sloppy) goals, defensive mistakes, lack of penetration and a general all round lack of consistency is becoming increasingly more frequent and that is where trusting the process becomes more difficult.
Speaking after the defeat to Blackpool Martin said “Overall we were so dominant, even on a tough pitch, the guys showed the courage they have and the intensity was really good. The guys gave it everything.
“I am not dissatisfied with the performance. To come away from home and be so dominant, so controlled against a team who have had good results recently, was excellent. We were the team being positive, we were the aggressors and in control.”
They are becoming relatively repetitive words where there is discussions around bravery, control and intensity when the reality to an increasing number of fans is starting to be anything but. Our performance against Blackpool was certainly not brave, we were certainly never in control and intensity could not have been further away in our performance over the ninety minutes.
“We are showing signs of being the team we want to be, and the only thing we are lacking is a goal,” added Martin. “It’s about converting what we are doing into that end product, but we have carried a real threat in a number of games recently.”
There have certainly been games recently where Martin’s comment there rings true but at the same time it could not be applied to yesterday (one shot on target backs that up) and there have been occasions where the opposition defence could probably not ask for an easier afternoon.
On these pages earlier in he season we talked about the need for patience within the season but 35 games in we are not showing signs of consistent progress which is a worry and, possibly more concerning, is the number of times we have been comprehensively beaten within the period referred to earlier of 16 games. 17 points and a goal difference of minus 12 tells its own story over that period.
As stated earlier it is clear that the club have bought into what Russell Martin is trying to achieve and that is certainly not going to change at this point of the season. For the Swans boss though he has eleven games left in the season where he mist find that consistency, see his team progressing to a team that balances his desire for possession with an ability to worry opposition defences and create chances with much more frequency then we have been doing in the past few months. Add to that a clear need to cut out the basic mistakes we are making defensively with an all too alarming frequency.
I do desperately want to trust the process (as Martin puts it) but it is definitely becoming increasingly difficult to do so. I am struggling to see key signs of progress in many games and for every step forward it does feel as if we have taken two steps back recently and that is a feeling that needs to be shaken. But for now it remains very much at the forefront of my mind and I am seeing more and more that says the doubt is outweighing the belief.
We must pick ourselves up, go again at Peterborough but we also need to stop hiding behind the excuses and statements that we are continually being unlucky because, frankly, we are mainly getting what our performances deserve.
Excellent article.The saddest thing for all fans is that Martin’s comments are repetitive .Here is a man in denial .If the Blackpool Gazette ridicules his post -match comments then we really are in trouble .Put simply there is no progression .Does amybody actually feel confident going to Peterborough .But there again it will be two away games in quick succession.
Watching the game as a Blackpool fan, the amount of possession felt disconcerting but Swansea were that slow going forward, a real threat rarely came to pass as our back and middle lines kept their shape and in numbers sufficient to combat a probe when it came.