S25/26 | The Official Match Thread | Swansea 2 Middlesbrough 2 | Att: 18,168 | 6th April | The EFL Championship | The Swansea.com Stadium

[Swanjaxs]

I agree, Parker looked overawed in the first 10-15 minutes but he got virtually no support and was often up against two players. His confidence grew exponentially as the game wore on. And boy, has he got pace going forward. Hard to knock off the ball when he's flying too

He got stronger the game went on Peggy. He's definitely up there with Lissah and Congreve for me. I'm optimistic.

 

[Swans Jack]

He got stronger the game went on Peggy. He's definitely up there with Lissah and Congreve for me. I'm optimistic.

His pace and pass accuracy stood out to me. His first game with us I believe in a year. I think we got to keep playing him there now till end of season. Maybe not have Cullen. Ronald seemed to do well with him. Matos was over the moon when Parker came off with his performance.

 

[JackSomething]

Thought he was excellent when he came on. Gave us a real outlet, the team shape looked far better with him and he caused problems

I can see why Matos picked the starting 11 he did and we got a point against a superior team, so he got it right. However, the difference in Parker once he had an actual winger ahead of him and wasn't being left two against one constantly because of Cullen's natural instinct to drift infield was stark.

We all know Ronald's limitations at this point, but he'll clearly attract stick from plenty who've made up their minds, even when he plays fine.

 

[Flash]

Please can Ronald never play for us again. It was like playing with the 10 men when he came on. If pointing and running around in circles gets you a championship contract I may pretend I’m Brazilian

We were ropey as hell on that right flank until Ronald came on. Poor Parker had hell of a trial by fire with no support. Looked much better with Ronald on

 

[magicdaps10]

We were ropey as hell on that right flank until Ronald came on. Poor Parker had hell of a trial by fire with no support. Looked much better with Ronald on

Was very strange set up that didn't protect Parker at all.
I think Matos got that wrong.

 

[Frankie Burrows Cap]

Was very strange set up that didn't protect Parker at all.
I think Matos got that wrong.

I think Matos may have second guessed Hellberg and thought he was going to play a back 3 again like he did against Millwall.

A bit surprised he didn’t swap Widell and Cullen when he realised that wasn’t the case so there was a bit of mobility to support Parker.

 

[LeonWasTheDogs]

I think Matos may have second guessed Hellberg and thought he was going to play a back 3 again like he did against Millwall.

A bit surprised he didn’t swap Widell and Cullen when he realised that wasn’t the case so there was a bit of mobility to support Parker.

Yep, that was an obvious option. That was a poor starting selection and cost us their first goal.

 

[Gors Buster]

I’m an optimist but I was fuming watching that.
We cannot go into another season being so weak out wide.
We try to make out that we’re a possession based team but when we have nowhere to go (which is f*cking always), we go backwards and then lump it forward.
Credit to Vig, Burgess, Tymon, Cabango and in particular, Parker - who I felt was hung out to dry by Matos.

 

[sit_down_jack]

I thought we did admirably today and you certainly can’t fault our commitment. Boro are arguably the toughest attacking team to play against in terms of intensity and we were put through the wringer. When we had the ball we used it well, although we keep using the counter-press well but not quite capitalising on it.

There’s the bones of a good side here and you can see the style of play we’re going for. We just need a few more key personnel.

2 good points from games I thought we’d probably lose. The draws under Matos are starting to happen.

 

[J_B]

Enjoyed that.
Hard to tell early on who was supporting Parker on the right. Sometimes it looked like Cullen, sometimes it looked like Franco but most of the time it looked like no one.
The lad had a roasting for the first quarter but came into the game and was excellent after that.
You can see why Boro dominate games and you can see why they don’t score the goals to reflect their dominance. They don’t like shooting and prefer to try to walk it in.
We’re certainly not on the beach and have given a decent account of ourselves over Easter.
Time for a beer.

 

[Copamundial]

Just got back, not going to comment on the game but I am interested to hear the opinions of those fans that seem happy with the progress they believe we’re making.

Just one question, what is the game plan and what is the vision?

Not interested in the opinions of the best in class brigade or those that bring absolutely nothing to the table….fire away.

 

[Pacemaker]

It was mad, bad, frantic but i enjoyed it, the game flew by and was all action if lacking in quality. Could have ended 5 all!

 

[Lifelong]

Didn’t go to the game today, watched it on Sky. Enjoyed the game but have to say that the pre match commentary was dreadful.
I thought Parker, despite one or two early errors, had a very good game.

 

[Birchgrovejack]

Enjoyed that.
Hard to tell early on who was supporting Parker on the right. Sometimes it looked like Cullen, sometimes it looked like Franco but most of the time it looked like no one.
The lad had a roasting for the first quarter but came into the game and was excellent after that.
You can see why Boro dominate games and you can see why they don’t score the goals to reflect their dominance. They don’t like shooting and prefer to try to walk it in.
We’re certainly not on the beach and have given a decent account of ourselves over Easter.
Time for a beer.

I think they reminded me a bit like us under Russ, over passing the ball, and not really making many dangerous chances.

 

[sit_down_jack]

I’d argue the plan right now is for Matos to use this current squad to the best of his ability before implementing what he really wants to do in the summer. You can see at times that we want to try and build out from the back but our current CB partnership is not comfortable enough on the ball to execute it, so Matos doesn’t force them to do it. I don’t think we can expect to play possession based football and control a game with the current squad so we aren’t trying to do it. Our main game plan seems to be counterpress and attack from those situations but we also don’t have much pace to really make that work. We’re caught in an awkward spot tactically but Matos is working to his players’ strengths.

Give it a summer and I think we’ll see the vision more clearly. Matos has done his job for this season.