Phil Sumbler
Swansea City put on another inept performance this afternoon as Hull secured a first win in fourteen to move off the bottom of the table but in truth they won’t have played many as bad as today’s Swans during that period.
Luke Williams confirmed his starting line-up an hour before kick off with the news that both Franco and Ronald would start the game on the bench with Eom ad Fulton bought into a midfield against a side that was thirteen games without a win going into the match itself.
If the Swans started brightly last week they started this week at a walking pace with it being more than twenty minutes into the game before a touch of the ball in the opposition area was registered by Luke Williams’ side. That first touch resulted in nothing as this was looking in those early stages very much a game between two side on whom the pressure was very much on.
The Swans found themselves a goal down just past the half hour mark when Joao Pedro got a shot in on the angle inside the near post to give Hull the lead. It was a short-lived lead as a little over five minutes later Harry Darling bought the Swans level when he headed home a Josh Tymon cross with some great accuracy to give the home keeper no chance and send us into the break at 1-1.
They were two moments in a very largely forgettable first half and all watching – either at home or inside the MKM Stadium – were hoping for a much improved second half.
The early exchanges of that second forty-five minutes were anything but better as both sides continued with their pedestrian pace football and defences seemed to reign supreme although neither was under any real pressure such was the pattern of the game. Matt Grimes almost presented the home side with the best chance to go back ahead but as Pedro hesitated Vigouroux did enough to push him wide and the chance was lost once again.
Luke Williams rang the changes in the 63rd minute – well as much as he tend to at this stage of the game – when Ronald and Bianchini replaced Eom and Vipotnik – could it have the positive impact on not just the scoreline but the nature of play that we had see up to that point?
On seventy minutes it could most definitely have impacted the scoreline as a deep corner from Grimes was headed back across goal by Darling, met by Cabango but the Welsh international saw his header rebound back off the post and the scoreline remained level. Another well worked corner off the training ground it certainly was and one that should have resulted in a goal such was the nature of the move itself.
These instances though were rare moments of action in a game that was delivering very little. The home side without a doubt had slightly more danger about them but this was a game with very little goalmouth action as it headed into the last fifteen minutes of the game.
With a little over ten minutes to go though the Swans were once again the architects of their own downfall. A frankly dreadful distribution from Vigouroux presented the ball to Burstow and whilst the chance was not an easy one he curled a perfect shot past the Swans keeper and into the net. It wasn’t the first time we had presented Hull with a chance in the game but this time we were punished for what was another moment of sloppiness.
A minute of so later we were almost 3-1 down when Grimes surrendered possession in midfield and as Longman burst into the area with the ball his shot rebounded back off the post thankfully for the Swans but we were second best here against the most out of form team in the division.
What was more worrying about the performance was the meek way again in which the Swans were playing. We were second best in all areas of the pitch and there was no real sign that we had any desire to break a sweat to try and get ourselves back into the game. The truth was Hull wanted this more and they knew that the more pressure they put on us the more chances they could create. A performance that simply was so far short of the standards that we would expect from any Swansea City side. With less than five minutes of stoppage time it was nothing more than walking football from the Swans and all the attacking football was coming from the home side.
It was all too easy for Hull as they played out the last few minutes of the game plus the 4 minutes of stoppage time with no real challenge from a Swansea side who simply were not good enough.
A game that will be banished to the back of the memory very quickly but just another example of an average Championship mid table outfit going through the motions with a group of players who largely would not walk into too many Championship sides. Merry Christmas!
MATCH FACTS AND LINE UPS
OTHER CHAMPIONSHIP RESULTS
LATEST TABLE
NEXT UP FOR THE SWANS
