S22/23 The Official Swansea City v Norwich City Match Thread

[Captain_Sham]

2 away games and then Watford at home. Will we be going into new year on 9 games without a win? The next game after that is Burnley and Sunderland away. Holy fk. This could get ugly.

 

[K23]

No. I can’t remember the last time I felt so bored watching us. Some games in the Sousa season. But not all. Last time I felt so consistently bored was Hollins. And the difference then of course is that we won every game 1 nil. So at least there was that. The worst bit is feeling apathetic. I mean, I’d prefer we won of course, but my main response to us losing is to shrug and forget about it 5 minutes later.I don’t get angry about it at all really.
Spent the last 15 minutes of the match watching Morocco instead.

Btw - we almost signed Ziyech at one point from memory. And now we have this. How the world turns.
Allez les bleus.

Although I’m pretty sure England will win the whole thing. They are an extremely good team.

"my main response to us losing is to shrug and forget about it 5 minutes later."


This, absolutely, is what it's come to. I was there with my bro and his lad as usual, and when we conceded a goal in 57 seconds, we just looked at each other and laughed and everyone around us just seemed to give a collective shrug. Nobody jumped up and yelled like they would normally because nobody cared enough to bother. Walking away from the ground, it didn't really feel like we'd lost because it just doesn't hurt any more.

One thing I did feel though after the big improvement in the second half, due, it should be said, almost entirely to the substitutes, was that we could well have won that if we'd had last season's Joel Piroe instead of this season's because during the last 30, we got behind them several times and when the ball was cut back there was nobody there at all the first time and nobody really busting a gut to get there on any of the other occasions. That's just not getting the simple basics right. But what has happened to Piroe? It's sad to see him struggling so much.

 

[Londonlisa2001]

"my main response to us losing is to shrug and forget about it 5 minutes later."


This, absolutely, is what it's come to. I was there with my bro and his lad as usual, and when we conceded a goal in 57 seconds, we just looked at each other and laughed and everyone around us just seemed to give a collective shrug. Nobody jumped up and yelled like they would normally because nobody cared enough to bother. Walking away from the ground, it didn't really feel like we'd lost because it just doesn't hurt any more.

One thing I did feel though after the big improvement in the second half, due, it should be said, almost entirely to the substitutes, was that we could well have won that if we'd had last season's Joel Piroe instead of this season's because during the last 30, we got behind them several times and when the ball was cut back there was nobody there at all the first time and nobody really busting a gut to get there on any of the other occasions. That's just not getting the simple basics right. But what has happened to Piroe? It's sad to see him struggling so much.

I can’t decide whether Piroe is having a mare or whether he’s not actually particularly good and last season was just a freak one off. I would have thought the former but there’s a slight niggle that no one came in for him and I wonder if professional scouts could see something we, or at least I, couldn’t.

The apathy issue for me is, I think, made worse when I read stuff such as that attributed to Fulton this morning that said, in summary, ‘there are loads of positives, just a shame we lost’. As to me losing at home is quite a big thing.

 

[Swanjaxs]

Piroe wouldn't look more disinterested if he pulled a cigarette out of his sock and had a sneaky puff at a corner, basically he's downed tools

 

[J_B]

Piroe wouldn't look more disinterested if he pulled a cigarette out of his sock and had a sneaky puff at a corner, basically he's downed tools

True. He's a striker like the nurses.

 

[K23]

Piroe wouldn't look more disinterested if he pulled a cigarette out of his sock and had a sneaky puff at a corner, basically he's downed tools

That's quite possibly true but if it is, why does he keep getting picked?

 

[Whaleoilbeefhooked]

I’d be disinterested if I was waiting for a forward pass from Grimes, Fulton, Lad is bad o dear, Paterson, Woods, Cabango, Cundle.
When you have a totally delusional manager, who thinks it’s great to have 70% possession and keep loosing, with very few shots at goal, then would you keep running around, and being made to look like a headless chicken ?

 

[RWPower10]

This performance probably summed up Martin’s style of play and where it will nearly always break down in terms of consistency of winning games.

He setup in his usual 3-4-2-1 formation with little width or pace in the team.

Within the first 10 seconds Latibeaudiere plays a poor pass towards Cabango and he is immediately put under pressure by the Norwich forwards which allows them to turn the ball over and get a shot in on goal. We have seen this time and time again over the last 6 games giving the ball away in our defensive third.

After the goal Norwich were able to sit in their defensive structure and look for the counter attack or invariable loss of possession from our defenders.

We had lots of the ball as we always do but how much of this possession actually hurt the opposition? Because of the inability to get I behind it was probing side to side comfortable. In terms of big chances you can point to 17 shots but I don’t remember many clear cut chances.

This was performance we have become accustomed to and will be seeing more of.

Now solutions you might ask. Well I’m not a profession coach but I am an amateur coach who spends a lot of time watching and studying modern football. I know Martin won’t move away from his principles but if he did he has got options.

I would push for

Sorinola Cabango Wood/Darling Manning

Allen Fulton Grimes

Cooper Piroe Ono-Flex

This team allows the back four to defend and I’d suggest Sorinola are better served as genuine full backs.

The midfield 3 one of Fulton or Allen will serve as the presser supporting the front 3 when possession is either turned over or won in the final third. It suits Cooper who is very capable of winning possession and the speed of Oko-Flex the only option for this. We can utilise their strengths to create more opportunities for Piroe as a number 9.