Phil Sumbler
Swansea City were on the end of another heavy defeat against one of the division’s form teams but yet again we also found ourselves surrendering far too meekly and making it easy for the visitors.
Two down inside ten minutes we continued to labour for most of the game and reverted to the mistakes of previous weeks rather than building on the weekend success at Hull. Of course, Leeds are a very different team to Hull and there is little doubt that they are a substantially better team than us but they are substantially better than many teams in the division but rarely will they find it as easy as they did this evening.
The ease at which they found space in our midfield in the first half was alarming only equalled by the number of times our own midfield failed to spot the runs of Ronald who was looking to find equal space in the Leeds defence. It was pitiful at times to watch us place a foot on the ball and take the easy pass when he was running into space only to have to check his own run because he found himself in an offside position due to our own hesitation.
Couple that with a centre half pairing of Ben Cabango and Nathan Wood who, frankly, were a disaster waiting to happen and the only real surprise in the game was that Leeds spurned as many chances as they took on what could have turned into an exceptionally embarrassing night.
The only positive for Luke Williams will be that we do not have to play someone as good as Leeds every week but we also have to improve massively if we are to take anything from the next few games as well. We showed we can do that at Hull last weekend but we need to do it on a more frequent basis and not once every two months.
Leeds first goal had a touch of good fortune about it but again came from hesitation in the Swans defence and the fact that for the opening twenty minutes Leeds cut through both midfield and defence without even showing sign of breaking sweat. Too often we had our backs to the ball as they advanced forward and seemed happy to let them come at us rather than make a tackle when it mattered. In games like this the odd heavy challenge early on gives the opposition something to think about. We didn’t do that.
Joel Piroe scored the second inside ten minutes when he was afforded the space – along with his two team mates – of the Swansea.com Stadium pitch and the former Swans man made the most of his late inclusion at the expense of Patrick Bamford who was initially named in the Starting XI.
The Swans had what looked a good shout for a penalty turned down when Ronald went down under challenge – there was no logic in simulation here as his next act would have been a shot at goal but the appeal was waved away and just minutes later Leeds scored a third to end the game completely as a contest. Yet again the third had similarities to the first two with too much space in the Swansea defence capitalised on and Leeds were scoring at will.
Whilst there were no changes at half time every change made in the second half (five in total) were like for like substitutions and, despite us toiling to try and get back in the game all too often we were made to look for the backwards ball or – more frustratingly – made to watch players put a foot on the ball and stop playing when 3-0 down. None of it makes sense.
The game for me was summed up by two instances in the second half. The first a free kick taken by Joe Allen ten yards into the Leeds half that ended back at the feet of Carl Rushworth without the need for a Leeds player to touch the ball and the second was the fourth Leeds goal. Any hope of a quick corner after the deflection of a Pato free kick was taken away when Matt Grimes insisted on taking the corner thus slowing the play down and his corner ended up with us on the back foot and Leeds breaking to score their fourth with total ease. For those left in the stadium, this prompted a mass exit.
A crowd of 17800 can easily be reduced by 3000 for empty seats not taken up by season ticket holders and the continuous reminder of the early bird window ending this Friday gives more than a single suggestion that there are many hesitant for renewing to watch a team that has slowly been dismantled over the course of several years with terrible recruitment to replace.
Mention has to be made of a perfect tribute to Chris Brown which bought the game to a halt on 29 minutes where the whole ground and all on the pitch stopped to applaud someone who was a true jack. Quite what he would have made of tonight’s performance I wouldn’t like to say.
It was said many times in the build up to the game that this was a free hit for Luke Williams but frankly we made it more of a free hit for Daniel Farke. His side never really needed to be totally at their best and as the news filtered through of Southampton being beaten up the M4 in Bristol the visiting fans went home with the knowledge that they had moved to 2nd place in the table.
In the last six games we have seen the Swans well beaten by Southampton, Bournemouth, Leicester (scoreline wise) and now Leeds, it is not so much the fact that the results have gone against us but it is the fact that we have not competed enough to even try and make a game of it.
And that will be the biggest worry for Luke Williams when he gets back to work tomorrow morning.
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