S25/26 | The Official Match Thread | Swansea City 1 Portsmouth 0 | Att: 18,163 | 09/12/25 | The EFL Championship | The Swansea.com Stadium

[jackharris]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1998535137861267758

 

[jackharris]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1998522027771048037

 

[Michu78]

The only thing that matters at this stage is points on the board.

 

[Swansea93]

It’s pretty obvious to me that some contributors to this forum are the type who’ve got Swansea City wallpaper, bedding, curtains, PJ’s, slippers the lot.

They simply fail to have any balance in their posts, I’ll be delighted if we pick up another thirty points irrespective of how we play but please don’t try and tell me that there are
signs of improvement in how we’re playing.

Well we have just won 2 games on the bounce with 2 clean sheets and we scored from a set piece, improvement there straight away Copa.

 

[cadleigh]

You cant be watching very well the signs are there some passages of nice triangles, more effort to get players into the box and the nimbers you quotd show improvement Xg up by.05,total big chances doubled from 3 to 6....I wonder are you relates to Sheehan?
Nice guy but should never had the full time gig
Watch the inside Swans videos of Sheehan and Matos ,Their approaches in the dressing room are chalk and cheese.

Its still early days ffor Matos,he was unlucky with his first 2 games but we have just secured our first back to back wins this season and we no longer look like we are going to concede a last minute goal.
To me we look a better watch than earlier this season and we appear to be developing a pattern of play.
But then we all have our own opinions

Plus we are shooting from range now, which we hardly ever did under Sheehan. So the 'touches in the box' stat isn't going to reflect the reality of how much we are improving as an attacking threat. Just got to work on keeping the ball down a bit...

 

[J_B]

It's a new manager of course we're gonna see an increase in effort that should be a given. I'm talking about style of play I've not seen an improvement in any aspect of our game.

You mention underlying numbers, but even that really is grim reading as well. Yes I know it is such a small sample size, so nothing definitive can be taken from it.

But still had a look just to see if the numbers were as bad as what my eyes were seeing.

Touches in box/90 under Matos (first 4 games) = 16.5.
Touches in box/90 under Sheehan (last 4 games = 17.25.

Total Sot Under Matos = 16
Total Sot Under Sheehan = 14

Xg/90 Under Matos = 0.65
Xg/90 Under Sheehan= 0.6

Total Big chances Under Matos = 6
Total Big chances Under Sheehan = 3

Sheehan last 4 games average league position = 13th

Matos first 4 games average league position = 19th.

All your stats are about our performance with the ball. You have nothing to say about the biggest improvement in the team under Matos. He’s clearly taking a leaf out of Klopp’s gegenpress albeit with vastly inferior players. I don’t need stats to tell me that we’re much, much better without the ball, I can see it, particularly the last two home games.

Another stat:
Sheehan’s last four games 10 goals conceded.
Matos first four games 5 goals conceded.

 

[mrploppy]

Ahh those was the days... We used to have a half time studio analysis with Sian isn't it? Presenting.. I mean.. The stream was still rotten then.. But remember she used to do studio work for us.

We did, and it was. Sioned Dafydd

 

[Pegojack]

Watched the BBC Wales news this morning and fell about laughing. The female newsreader said "football news now, both Wrexham and Newport are in action tonight, blah, blah, blah". Yes, and Swansea? Fantastic victory last night? Nothing, not a word, nada.
Unfeckinbelievable

 

[jackharris]

Fan gallery | Swansea City v Portsmouth | Swansea

Thank you Jack Army for your fantastic support at our game against Portsmouth. View the pick of the images of the home fans at the Swansea.com Stadium.

www.swanseacity.com

 

[jackharris]

Highlights | Swansea City v Portsmouth | Swansea

Watch the bitesize highlights as Swansea City host Portsmouth in the Championship.

www.swanseacity.com

 

[jackharris]

Extended Highlights | Swansea City v Portsmouth | Swansea

Relive the key moments from the Championship clash between Swansea City and Portsmouth at the Swansea.com Stadium.

www.swanseacity.com

 

[jackharris]

The Full Match | Swansea City v Portsmouth | Swansea

Watch every minute of the action from Swansea City's Championship clash with Portsmouth at the Swansea.com Stadium.

www.swanseacity.com

 

[jackharris]

 

[Whaleoilbeefhooked]

Players are actually playing for their positions out there now, reality football has suddenly kicked in, if you've got to boot it out, you boot it out, every pass doesn't have to be safe.. they're actually thinking when to go forward and when not to go forward.. positionally we seem to be better.. it's not perfect, it's a bit slow, but he's been here for 2 weeks.. Stoke on Saturday will test us, let's see if it's a false dawn.. but if they have stinkers and get pumped I can see Matos dropping a few

I agree, Stoke will be a good test against a decent side. It’s hard to argue against 6 pts from 2 games, but I thought our lack of playing through the thirds of the pitch, with precision passing was a concern. We couldn’t really string 5 passes together, before hitting long hopeful balls. I had the Portsmouth commentary on, and he observed “Swansea go pass pass pass in their own third, then hit it long. not like the Swansea I used to know”
But as mentioned, the new manager hasn’t even had his 3 amigos to oversee the training yet. But please, I hope we get back to pass & move as the weeks go by.
Definitely progress though.

 

[Jackareme]

He mentioned against West Brom that we sat too deep in the 2nd half, but then he's brought a CB on at home to see a game out twice now. What message does that send to the players?

Attacking from open play there is absolutely nothing again especially against 2/3 weakest sides in the league at home.

I touched on the underlying number in my other post and they are very similar to Sheehans last 4 games.

He didnt change shape though - we continued with a back 4 and Canango at RB instead of a knackered Galbraith.
The point was we stepped out more as a back 4 and midfield. Definitely an improvement in such a short time.