Rob Davies
Swansea City were thrashed at the hands of Vincent Kompany’s Burnley yesterday afternoon thanks to two goals from Jay Rodriguez on a torrid afternoon at Turf Moor.
The game was over as a contest at half time with the Clarets 3-0 up through goals from Vitinho, Rodriguez and Zaroury and the Swans simply couldn’t cope with the pace on both wings.
To compound matters Joel Piroe saw red for a second half stamp after Rodriguez netted his second meaning he will miss the next three games including next Sunday’s Cardiff City derby match.
The writing was largely on the wall before kick off with a strange starting line up showing four changes with the impressive Oli Cooper, Harry Darling, Ryan Manning and Luke Cundle all making way.
In came Olivier Ntcham, Joel Latibeaudiere, Kyle Naughton and Michael Obafemi. Not really the answer when taking on an energetic and attacking Burnley team?
Benda
Wood – Naughton – Cabango
Latibeaudiere – Fulton – Grimes – Sorinola
Piroe – Obafemi – Ntcham
Despite the scoreline the Swans started well and took control of the game with little to show for it bar possession and a Piroe shot that via a deflection was well saved by Burnley keeper Muric.
Perhaps the Clarets were determined to end a run of four draws in their six home Championship games and they began to attack in numbers eventually taking the lead in the 15th minute.
The impressive wing backs Ian Maatsen and Vitinho combined with the former’s cross not dealt with by some typically lackadaisical defending in the six yard box allowing the latter to head home.
By this point Martin’s men were all at sea and the way in which Burnley cut both wing backs to shreds was worrying although team selection will be a point of discussion for a further date when Nat Ogbeta is sat at home and Fin Stevens is bench bound.
Soon it was that weakness that was exploited again as this time Zaroury found the veteran Rodriguez who had time and space in the box to finish and perhaps put the game beyond the in form Swans after just 29 minutes.
In a desperate attempt to try and put their stamp on the match Swansea players began to earn bookings, four in total in the first half and a red card at some point looked inevitable as did more goals.
Brownhill came close to a third in a terrible first half for Martin and his team and it got worse just before half time.
Zaroury turned from provider to goalscorer although the less said about the defending the better as Ben Cabango – so reliable of late – misplaced his pass and got badly punished.
That was 3-0 and the Swans were shellshocked after a torrid 45 minutes. It was like being in the middle of a storm without even an umbrella.
Surprisingly no changes were made at half time – perhaps the manager accepting that there was little chance of his team getting back into this against a hungry Burnley team. This is not the Burnley of old under Sean Dyche for sure.
The second half did offer some crumbs of comfort at least at the beginning as Muric denied Cabango’s header and Obafemi posed a problem for the Clarets backline.
But it counted for nothing much like this trip to Lancashire as Rodriguez put even more gloss on an ugly day for the Swans.
Josh Cullen found Rodriguez and he made no mistake under little pressure from an absent defence and that was that before Piroe put a rubber stamp on a poor day.
His petulant stamp as he was falling backwards met Cullen and the referee had no hesitation in showing red to the striker to compound what has been a difficult start to his second season at the club.
Four goals in fourteen games is not the return he would have expected and the rest may do him the power of good as he bids to regain the form that saw him score 24 last season.
It could have come at a better time but the baton will pass to Michael Obafemi and the fit again Liam Cullen for the next three games including the Cardiff City game a week today.
There’s plenty to work on after this one and the great form before this can’t be forgotten. Although perhaps it would have been easier to swallow it it hadn’t been such a thrashing against a team that was just a point better off before kick off.
Russell Martin is constantly learning and the game against Reading Tuesday will demonstrate how quickly he can pick his players up after this battering at Turf Moor.
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