Planet Swans ArchivesIf you ever wanted to wonder what impact the international break would have on the momentum we had when we beat Manchester United you just had to look at the way we performed today which looked lacklustre at best and sloppy at its very worse.
The sheer fact that we had 62% possession and yet could only manage under half the attempts on goal that Watford had says much about the performance today with no player really standing out as having a good game.
We surrendered possession too easily right from the very first minute of the game and we were unable to get the flowing football that we have played started at all with Watford seemingly wanting the win even more.
Even when Valon Behrami was sent off midway through the second half it made little difference as we failed to make the man advantage count. Indeed you would certainly say that Watford looked the side most likely to add to the scoring even with a man less and the Swans were left with Federico Fernandez’s late header that sailed high and wide as the best chance of the second half.
Bafetimbi Gomis did have one snap shot on the turn in the first half that was well saved by Gomes in the Watford goal but it was never a display that reached the highs of the games against Chelsea or Manchester United.
Maybe there is something in that last statement that says something we need to learn from. Raising your game against those kind of teams is one thing but we need to keep the same tempo in our performance on days like today especially when we are handed an advantage through their stupidity.
Stamping on Ayew was stupid of Behrami and the commentators immediately predicted that Watford would find it difficult to hang on but the reality was that they didn’t thanks to a strict and disciplined defensive line and a complete off day for too many people.
Ki, Eder and Montero were all introduced in the second half but none of them really had an impact despite some late crosses from Montero including the one that Fernandez inexplicably failed to hit the target with.
It can never be easy when you have had just two days to work with the full squad following the international break but that is the price we have to pay for the quality that we want in the squad. We need to be able to pick it up quicker when the break ends and I am sure that there are things that Garry will have learned from today that he will work on in coming weeks.
Of course we have not become a bad team overnight and I am confident that we can bounce back next week against Everton but today was a disappointment and one that we must put behind us as soon as possible.
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