Rob Davies
It’s been about 40 hours since yet another horror show from the Swans in a League campaign that is drifting as fast as it all started.
And there has been plenty of talk in that time about what is going so badly wrong at the football club that has seen 1 win in 12 ranging from the manager’s position to the owners’ lack of spending.
It isn’t a great time to be a Swansea supporter but things change quickly in football and it’s sure to be a defining week in SA1 with two games to play and an end to what has been a rather unproductive transfer window.
But going back to Saturday, let’s have a brief overview of what happened, what went wrong and were there any chinks of light on yet another dark day?
Russell Martin dropped Harry Darling for the first time since he signed from MK Dons and changed his system to a back four – something that fans have asked for.
Fisher
Wood – Cabango – Naughton – Manning
Allen – Grimes
Piroe – Ntcham – Congreve
Obafemi
Yet again the less said the better about the actual match. Little intensity – an important Russell Martin phrase – very little adventure and endeavour. And the Swans quickly paid for it
It took less than fifteen minutes for Riley McGree to open the scoring, netting for the third time in as many games against the Swans after scoring for Birmingham and Boro last season.
Congreve gave the ball away in midfield and Matt Crooks took possession supplying the pass to McGree who finished calmly past a static Fisher.
It was soon two as weak defending down the Swansea right side as Ryan Giles – one time target – run past three backline all too easily to pass to Crooks who passed it into the far corner past Fisher. He might as well have not been there.
It probably should have been more and the talking point of the first half was the substitution of Congreve for Sorinola as Martin looked to take back control of the contest. But it had no impact as despite all the possession it was only one team in the contest. As has been said so often.
Any team can hold onto possession but only good ones are productive with it and we most certainly are not. The change to a back four exposed more weaknesses than normal. It was a mess.
Joel Piroe’s second half penalty gave some hope after a debatable decision but there was still little chance of a comeback that seemed so unlikely for the majority of the game.
Ben Cabango summed things up as he was dismissed for a second booking but in reality it meant little. The Swans could have got a point had it been for some attackingย momentum but as per usual we were happy passing for passing sake.
And yet again it was a disappointing day. Whatever Martin’s metrics are suggesting they aren’t true. We deserved nothing and that’s what we got. And we were only Piroe’s penalty away from being bottom of the league but for Coventry’s inability to play any games at home yet.
It’s all a sad affair and one that needs urgent attention. Otherwise, despite the talk of no money Martin will find himself out of a job surely. A loss at Stoke would surely push him ever closer.
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