What are we really expecting from Matos....

[Treehuggerjack]

Over the festive period we've picked up nine points from five games. Extrapolated over the season that would give us a final points total somewhere in the low 80's. Over Matos' reign entirely it's fifteen points from nine games, which puts us in the mid 70's. Both would see us squarely in the mix for a playoff spot, and potentially more.

Of course, we have to maintain that. If you're a glass half empty sort of person you might assume that the players we have won't be that much better next season, like say, a Slovenian striker who shall remain nameless. Or we can see how things go when the games aren't coming at a clip of two per week and he actually has a chance to do some proper training ground work with the coaches who only recently arrived.

Totally agree with this. We have played a hell of a lot of games. Matos had 2 games in his first 3 days I think?
Then a Christmas period of a game every 3.
In about 6 weeks time we might have a real picture of where we are really heading.
Fingers crossed he keeps improving us as a team and individual players also.

 

[SwanseaBoy123]

I’ll admit to being one of the people who thought the attacking output would improve if we changed manager and I still think that has been the case but not as much as I initially thought. I was hoping we’d see a bit better from some of our wide players than we have in terms of end product. There are clearly not enough goals and assists in us at the moment.

Our recruitment needs to improve if we want to get anywhere near the top 6 I think. I like the potential that we brought in this summer and some will develop into good players and assets but we didn’t bring in enough players for the here and now and I think top 6 was way wide of the mark for this season.

The owners in their Christmas statement said they were disappointed at our position and the aim for the season was to improve on last seasons finish, I think they may have their eyes opened a little bit as to that. It’s going to take multiple seasons/windows to get us competing for top 6 places.

The only player (attacker) which has disappointed me since Matos has come in is Inoussa I really thought he'd kick on by now but he rightly finds himself on the bench majority of the time. As for our attackers I'm not that suprised by.

Eom has always been a streaky player and that has continued but he has had more good performances then bad since he came in to be fair to him.

Ronald is a lost cause no manager will ever get a tune out of him simple as that.

I've not seen anything in Widell which has changed my opinion on him since Matos he reminds me of a foreign Oli Cooper. No quality on the ball but will run alot and for 3million that is just not enough for me.

 

[Dr. Winston]

Totally agree with this. We have played a hell of a lot of games. Matos had 2 games in his first 3 days I think?
Then a Christmas period of a game every 3.
In about 6 weeks time we might have a real picture of where we are really heading.
Fingers crossed he keeps improving us as a team and individual players also.

I've included the Derby and WBA games in my figures. If you consider how little chance he'd have had to influence those results in the time he had what he's done so far looks even better.

 

[swansvalleyjack]

Oh i agree with you , but fans like myself, 70 years of age, can't afford to wait years for us to build an ideal squad. We need it to happen NOW or preferably yesterday so we can have savour the good times again

Tbh as a similar septuagenarian, I take great comfort from having seen two golden eras.

I can though live without a third, however nice it would be ..but it's for the youngsters I really hope that the good times come again. Nothing of real note since around 2016 (apart from the awful play off final and the double doube).

In general terms the football has been so boring. I'd love them to experience the likes of a Leighton/Jimmy and Dyer/Rangel etc etc going forward and the thrill of a genuine play off push or promotion. Not one off Cardiff games.

Maybe with Matos there are the green shoots of a more positive forward playing era.

 

[PenlanJack]

Yep.

Part of what worked for us the first time around was the continuity. From Flynn right through to Rodgers there was a certain idea of how we wanted to go about things and whilst players came and went, three of our starting lineup at Wembley in the Playoff final had been here since League Two. Several others had joined in League One. The team grew up together. Lately we've just chopped and changed managers, players and philosophies.

Culture, it was more real then.. how did that team cope with 46 game seasons.. 3 games a week.. now it's all the poor sods are tired and we can't compete and sport science dictates our fate on match days by everyone on here.. it's amazing how accepting and naive everyone is on here.. but attendances prove that people can't be bothered to turn up because Ronald likes to walk around in circles, Burgess and Cabango can't pass a football.. Renato Sanches got vilified for passing out of play once, Cabango does it every game.. yet he's the messiah.. it's odd as f*ck on here these days, it's gone all Utopia.. it's like let's all crowd around a camp fire and sing together

 

[cmajack]

Tbh as a similar septuagenarian, I take great comfort from having seen two golden eras.

I can though live without a third, however nice it would be ..but it's for the youngsters I really hope that the good times come again. Nothing of real note since around 2016 (apart from the awful play off final and the double doube).

In general terms the football has been so boring. I'd love them to experience the likes of a Leighton/Jimmy and Dyer/Rangel etc etc going forward and the thrill of a genuine play off push or promotion. Not one off Cardiff games.

Maybe with Matos there are the green shoots of a more positive forward playing era.

For the youngsters? They have seen enough good times. They need to experience some of the dreadful matches that we have had to tolerate over the decades .

 

[swansvalleyjack]

For the youngsters? They have seen enough good times. They need to experience some of the dreadful matches that we have had to tolerate over the decades .

Well, yes I know what you mean about the barren years of old ... but a youngster aged say 9 in 2016 starting out watching the Swans, will have seen some awful boring stuff for the subsequent 10 years. I don't recall being bored in the barren years, frustrated yes, but the object in the main was to go forward. Not f******g sideways and backwards building up possession stats.

Anyway, fingers crossed for Vitor and his more positive approach

 

[Londonlisa2001]

Over the festive period we've picked up nine points from five games. Extrapolated over the season that would give us a final points total somewhere in the low 80's. Over Matos' reign entirely it's fifteen points from nine games, which puts us in the mid 70's. Both would see us squarely in the mix for a playoff spot, and potentially more.

Of course, we have to maintain that. If you're a glass half empty sort of person you might assume that the players we have won't be that much better next season, unlike say, a Slovenian striker who shall remain nameless. Or we can see how things go when the games aren't coming at a clip of two per week and he actually has a chance to do some proper training ground work with the coaches who only recently arrived.

Extrapolating the results since Matos over a season and expecting similar would make more sense if it wasn’t for the fact that of those 5 wins in 9 games (it’s 10 but I guess we’re ignoring the loss at Derby which is fine albeit it messes up your predicted points totals), 2 have come against Oxford, quite possibly the worst team I have ever seen at this level, 1 against Portsmouth and 1 against West Brom (who we’ve also lost to in the same period). All three teams are below us (bearing in mind we’re 17th). Only one win has come against a team above us. And that was a bit of a one off being Wrexham.

The teams we’ve played that are competitive this season (top 10), we’ve lost them all.

So assuming we could get ‘mid 70s’ or ‘low 80s’ only makes any sort of reasonable sense if we could play the bottom half of the table every game (or bottom quarter even) and not bother with the teams that are any good.

 

[Dr. Winston]

Extrapolating the results since Matos over a season and expecting similar would make more sense if it wasn’t for the fact that of those 5 wins in 9 games (it’s 10 but I guess we’re ignoring the loss at Derby which is fine albeit it messes up your predicted points totals), 2 have come against Oxford, quite possibly the worst team I have ever seen at this level, 1 against Portsmouth and 1 against West Brom (who we’ve also lost to in the same period). All three teams are below us (bearing in mind we’re 17th). Only one win has come against a team above us. And that was a bit of a one off being Wrexham.

The teams we’ve played that are competitive this season (top 10), we’ve lost them all.

So assuming we could get ‘mid 70s’ or ‘low 80s’ only makes any sort of reasonable sense if we could play the bottom half of the table every game (or bottom quarter even) and not bother with the teams that are any good.

Yes, and as I've previously mentioned, I also included the games against WBA and Derby, marches where Matos cannot reasonably have been expected to have any kind of impact at all.

But I get it. Some people like looking for negatives.

 

[Risc]

Top half would be awful this season?! On what basis would that be?

Our squad value is around 12th in the league, we spent this summer but the squad was down the absolute bare bones. Wrexham paid more for two players than we did on our whole summer aswell. No way would top 6 have been demanded by those in power and rightly so, completely unrealistic.

 

[Copamundial]

More than just a pressing game that’s for sure, currently that looks like the only tactic we have, two games a week will see us run out of steam so he better start adding some footballing ideas as well.

 

[Michu78]

More than just a pressing game that’s for sure, currently that looks like the only tactic we have, two games a week will see us run out of steam so he better start adding some footballing ideas as well.

To be honest, I don't think the players are capable of playing a different way. I've can't believe the amount of times I tut when players can't get the basics right from trapping the ball, first touch, simple passes going to stray, wingers taking the wrong options all the time and the frustrating one is players diving in good positions and giving up dangerous attacking plays when referee waves play on. So I have doubts they can handle a more technical way of playing.

I think new wingers are the highest priority, we have a bunch of impotent players in that position. The biggest flop for me is Inoussa, I am not sure how he is earning a living at this level, a really bad signing this one.

 

[sit_down_jack]

Why does it have to take multiple seasons/windows then? Sunderland finished 16th in the championship in 23/24 season, so obviously not a great squad to be that low in the table. They got promoted the following season and are now doing excellent in the Premier league. It doesn't have to take an eternity if you have the right people in place.

The difference with Sunderland is that they finished 6th the season before they finished 16th, proving that they had a few players that could mix it up the top end of the table. Their recruitment has been more hit than miss from what I’ve seen and I think in general that 16th season was seen as an anomaly.

With us, we have two, maybe three players who would be considered at top 6 Championship clubs, other than that, there is not enough creativity or end product at the moment.

That’s why it’s going to take time. We will either need to develop what we already have or bring in some new players when the transfer windows open.

 

[MrSwerve]

This. Is such a poor shout.
How some luddites are still in the doldrums is beyond baffling

I honestly couldn’t care less. Obviously I want to push for a playoff place and it looks like Matos has been a good appointment, but judging by where we were a month ago, 4 wins for the rest of the season was looking like a push let alone 4 wins in 6 or whatever it is now. Survival is key, anything else will be a bonus for me.

We’re likely to end up mid table again and that would be fine with me this year. That looked like a far-fetched possibility in November/early December. This season is a product of Sheehan’s tenure as well as Matos’.

It’s a cliché, but if we end up on a positive this year with Matos and it gives us something to build on for next year, with a bit of stability, I’ll be happy.

 

[cmajack]

The difference with Sunderland is that they finished 6th the season before they finished 16th, proving that they had a few players that could mix it up the top end of the table. Their recruitment has been more hit than miss from what I’ve seen and I think in general that 16th season was seen as an anomaly.

With us, we have two, maybe three players who would be considered at top 6 Championship clubs, other than that, there is not enough creativity or end product at the moment.

That’s why it’s going to take time. We will either need to develop what we already have or bring in some new players when the transfer windows open.

Think our side would be a completely different animal with decent wingers , a right back and a proper creative number 10 .