Rob Davies
Swanseq City were soundly beaten at promotion chasing Leeds United as former players came back to haunt with Dan James and Joel Piroe both on the scoresheet.
It all looked rosy for about 90 seconds as Jamie Paterson stylishly lobbed the Swans ahead after a mistake from Pascal Struijk within the first minute.
But very shortly after Piroe levelled as he passed the ball into the corner before Rutter took a long ball down, evading Bashir Humphreys and sliding home for a half time Leeds lead.
The second half was barely a contest as the dominant hosts netted a deserved third through James as the Swans yet again couldn’t capitalise on a leading position.
It was yet another disappointing result in what has been poor recent form and whilst it’s not exactly a surprise to lose at Elland Road, another L on the board and three goals shipped is not inspiring to anyone.
Duff was forced into a single change with Harrison Ashby awaiting the results of a scan to find out how long he will face out of action. Josh Key, still returning to fitness, took his position at right back.
Rushworth
Key – Cabango – Humphreys – Tymon
Paterson – Grimes – Fulton
Cooper – Yates – Lowe
There has been so many early leads that have been let slip this season. Think Bristol City, Preston, Leicester, Ipswich, QPR and Hull. And this was yet another one of those games where Swansea did start well with the first goal of the game but ultimately ended up pointless.
A ball from Key was not what you would call targeted and Joe Rodon’s central defensive partner made a hash of clearing, flicking the ball into the path of the onrushing Paterson who made no mistake.
It was a clinical finish leaving Meslier with no chance but what you need to do at Elland Road is retain the lead and frustrate the crowd. After that early bit of fortune, the Swans couldn’t do that and conceded less than two minutes later.
The sharp Crysensio Sunmerville, a one time Swans loan target, cut inside leaving his marker for dust and slid the ball through for Piroe who of course delivered the type of finish that we’d all become so accustomed to.
That settled the home fans down although the Swans were still putting up a fight without really troubling Meslier or suggesting that they could get a second goal and go onto win.
After a reasonable first half all the handwork was undone in stoppage time as a hopeful punt from Ethan Ampadu was chased by Rutter and with Humphreys trailing, he slid the ball past Rushworth.
It was quite comical defending and is unfortunately what we’ve largely seen for the past two and a half seasons. This defence is as bad as any we’ve had for the past 20 years that’s for sure.
In reality the less said the better about the second half; it does make you wonder what on earth goes on inside that dressing room between both halves. So many times we’ve seen poor second halves after a reasonable first and it’s quite baffling.
It was a case of the Swans doing their very best to gift a Leeds forward a goal. Piroe was roaming with the freedom of the city and James was allowed to run at pace with little in the way of a challenge.
Indeed James should have scored twice before he eventually slammed into the roof of the net for a killer third goal although realistically Leeds needn’t have chased as the second world have been enough had both teams played until Christmas Eve.
The highlight of the night for the hearty souls who travelled was the introduction of Yannick Bolasie whose chant continued for a good 20 minutes or more. Something to warm the heart?
It’s certainly more palatable than the Leeds fans on X who have been surprised about how the Swansea style has changed so significantly and that the club is better than that. Both in style and substance.
We appear to be satisfied these days with losing against these so called big teams and shipping three against Leicester, Ipswich and Leeds is par for the course. Whilst we’re in very different territory these days it is a sad indictment of where this club and fanbase is at that we are quite happy to go and lose at these promotion chasers because we shouldn’t really expect any better.
What happened to ambition? What happened to the expectations of the start of the season? Did we really expect to be on 20 points after 18 games?
I certainly didn’t. And the next three should be earmarked for nine points. Anything less than six is a huge disappointment because we should be more worried about the bottom than looking towards Ipswich and Leicesrer, who have more than double our points total even at this stage of the season.
A disgruntled Jack.
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