S25/26 | The Official Match Thread | Blackburn Rovers 1 Swansea City 2 | Attendance: 11,013 (372 away) | Tues 30th Sept | The EFL Championship

[CommonCents]

I don’t get the argument the midfielders are the same.

Galbraith is a tempo controller with insane weight of pass.

Stamenic is a physical defensive midfielder suited to the deep role.

Franco is a ball winning 8 that makes his way into the box.

Yalcouye is an 8 that drives the ball forward with ball at feet.

None of them are a 10, but they aren’t the same either.

 

[Longlostjack]

Where’s Jolly Lollita ?

 

[Frankie Burrows Cap]

I don’t get the argument the midfielders are the same.

Galbraith is a tempo controller with insane weight of pass.

Stamenic is a physical defensive midfielder suited to the deep role.

Franco is a ball winning 8 that makes his way into the box.

Yalcouye is an 8 that drives the ball forward with ball at feet.

None of them are a 10, but they aren’t the same either.

They definitely all have different attributes and aren’t like for like replacements for one another.

I’d like a different balance (with 2 of them and a number 10) at home though, but I do think they’d actually complement each other really well if you had 3 of those 4 playing in a midfield diamond (definitely not suggesting that atm though as it would defeat the point of having 4 wingers in the squad).

As others have mentioned it’s good that this season we’re discussing who to leave out and not worrying about who we’re having to shoe horn into a position they clearly don’t suit!

 

[J_B]

Where’s Jolly Lollita ?

Sobbing in his bedsit. Hasn't been seen since Franco's goal.
He's not one of us and never has been.

 

[Londonlisa2001]

I don’t get the argument the midfielders are the same.

Galbraith is a tempo controller with insane weight of pass.

Stamenic is a physical defensive midfielder suited to the deep role.

Franco is a ball winning 8 that makes his way into the box.

Yalcouye is an 8 that drives the ball forward with ball at feet.

None of them are a 10, but they aren’t the same either.

Too much of the same is what I said. Too similar.

They have somewhat different strengths but at the heart of it they are all neat, tidy, technically good - some strength with Stamenic and Franco - some drive with Yalcouye - good link up from Galbraith, but none of them have that creative spark (that we’ve seen so far).

They’re all good players, but one player in midfield needs to provide something different.

I’m thinking of the De Guzman, Dobbie, Siggy type player. Routledge when he played more centrally. Pablo when he played more centrally. The sort of player that makes things happen with a moment of magic. Fer had it. Ntcham as well.

 

[Longlostjack]

Sobbing in his bedsit. Hasn't been seen since Franco's goal.
He's not one of us and never has been.

Bless

 

[jackharris]

 

[Longlostjack]

Too much of the same is what I said. Too similar.

They have somewhat different strengths but at the heart of it they are all neat, tidy, technically good - some strength with Stamenic and Franco - some drive with Yalcouye - good link up from Galbraith, but none of them have that creative spark (that we’ve seen so far).

They’re all good players, but one player in midfield needs to provide something different.

I’m thinking of the De Guzman, Dobbie, Siggy type player. Routledge when he played more centrally. Pablo when he played more centrally. The sort of player that makes things happen with a moment of magic. Fer had it. Ntcham as well.

Yes. Pablo on his day - a creative attacking midfielder playing centrally is the missing link I think. Crosses coming in and nobody blocking them was another problem.

 

[Menston4128]

Have to agree. There's a decent player in there - just needs the right coaching to get it out of him

I don't see a Championship level player, his touch is poor, decision making worse and looks like a rabbit caught in the headlights half of the time.

Also how much coaching does he need, he's been at Swansea 2 years now and there has been zero improvement.

 

[Menston4128]

Not a pen, just shown on Sky and he has dived.

Was at the game in the Blackburn stand on the side nearest the penalty, shout and have to say I thought we were lucky and got away with one, so kudos to the ref if he got it right.

The Blackburn fans were going mental and even more so when Burgess won the header not long after as he looked to be pushing down on the Blackburn player.

 

[Curtis]

Franco’s goal = Sublime, Perfection

That is all.

 

[Menston4128]

Just got home after the pleasure of my first game in the flesh this season and surprised with so much negativity about the performance. I thought it was a decent away performance yes it could have been better but there were positives for sure and plenty to build on.

Agree that the first half was a bit flat but a great goal from Franco at just the right time and I thought Swansea were the better side in the 2nd half and Sheehan made good subs at the right time and the comepition for places is great to see and can drive the players to better performances.

Postivies -

I thought Cabango and Burgess were solid.
The midfield has been massively upgraded from last season.
4 wide players all capable of starting (Inoussa I really liked the look of)
Cullen and Idah both did well after coming on and combined for a great goal
Good usage of the bench by Sheehan, we now have a good squad with plenty of comeptition for places
Last and by no means least Vigouroux was fantastic and made 3 quality saves and without him we lose tonight.

Negatives -

Tymon had a very tough evening and their right back was excellent going forwards.
We really need to find that No 10 solution as Vipotnik didn't get much service (Idah looked more involved but he had Cullen as a link to help him)
Key is the weak link, he just isn't good enough (IMO)