Phil Sumbler
The Swansea City class of 2024 served up a typical performance once again at the Swansea.com Stadium as the failings that have been evident for so long floated to the top once again and a goal from a set piece proved to be the difference between the two sides.
It was another ninety odd minutes of laborious nonsense from the Swans as we played about with the ball intent on increasing our possession stats mostly in the first half and then went to sleep at a QPR corner in the second half to concede the only goal of the game.
We can talk about a Matt Grimes free kick that crashed back off the crossbar and a Govea cross that came back off a post but the reality is we were served up another performance where the large part of the game was played at walking pace and more than a fair share of the game was spent with the back line (which stretches as far as our midfield) playing about with the ball in our own half. Often standing on the ball to slow it down even more just in case there was ever any danger of us reaching as high as second gear.
With the Swans playing in the commemorative strip that celebrates our first appearance at Wembley in 1994 you started to wonder whether some of the Autoglass squad that was introduced to a half empty dot com at 2.40pm could sign on to play a part of the game. Let me put it this way there is no way that John Cornforth is any slower than Jay Fulton who once again failed to deliver something you can say about him for a large chunk of his 250+ appearances for the Swans. There was a reason Russell Martin didn’t pick him in his opening months but similarly it is his fault that we still have him under contract for two more years.
Fulton though was not alone in putting in a dreadful performance. Jerry Yates showed once again that nobody – bar maybe Paul Watson – can figure out why we spent in excess of £2m on him and Nathan Wood remains a disaster waiting to happen in the backline. Losing Joe Allen to injury midway through the first half slowed us down which is quite a statement seeing as we had never hit any pace at all and each of the second half substitutions was as predictable in their making as they were in their effect on the game.
Govea was the bright spot of the afternoon and showed a desire to take on defenders that was missing from most of his more experienced and mature colleagues but the fact that we played second fiddle to a very average side tells you all that you need to know about the afternoon.
Tymon had come close in the first half with a stinging shot from the edge of the area and Ronald almost scored his first goal at home from a cross on the left but they were rare highlights of a performance that was as far from the intensity that Luke Williams talks about as you can possibly get. If Swansea didn’t already have a walking football team then they could create one around the team that has played the two games over the Bank Holiday weekend.
When the visitors got the decisive goal the only surprise was that it had taken so long as they grew in confidence against a side that was looking more likely to make a mistake. A corner from the right was headed back across goal and Stephen Cook hit a low and powerful shot into the back of the net.
I have no doubt that this evening we will hear the same comments being made but the reality is once again the team came up short in so many areas and we cannot build a side around two games a season – just beating Cardiff is not enough, those are the performances we need to turn in week in, week out.
Luke Williams talked pre-match about how he wanted to turn in performances for the home crowd but the reality is today there will be many people wondering why we bother to turn up week in, week out when so many players seem unable to do the same themselves. At least they get paid for not turning up I suppose…
We have talked many times on these pages about the size of the job that faces the Swans this summer and none of us have the confidence that we have anywhere near the ability behind the scenes to do that job. With so many players not up to either the challenge or the fight of the bread and butter games next season is looming larger on the horizon and the size of the struggle seemingly more obvious week in week out. Which in itself begs the question of why we keep making the same mistakes game after game – clearly nobody told us about the definition of insanity.
Seven points ahead of the bottom three with six games to go should be enough but the one thing I know for certain is that we need the remaining points as quick as we can as I wouldn’t put any money on this crop of players being up for the fight of a last one or two game six pointer if it came to that.
Simply not good enough. By a long way.
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