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

The only important thing this week was turning the tide of 5 straight defeats.

We’ve won twice in three days.

Job done.

Second half was messy, but looked pretty solid at the back.

Great strike from Cullen. A couple of glimpses from Inoussa. Yalcouye looked poor.

Definitely better since Galbraith moved to right back.

Few more days again to work on things.

We need a few in the window though. And a few out.
Yalcouye looked lively to me. Give him a chance had he come on earlier i think we would have seen the best of him. Definitely should be in the matchday squad
 
This has been a massive week for us, 6 points against 2 relagtion fighting teams. Whatever way you look at the performance it's 2 wins and 2 clean sheets. That will bring confidence and improve performance. Matos needs time but he is definitely making his stamp already. The subs he made tonight were excellent, every one of them improving the team. Personally I'm absolutely delighted. He's bringing the passion back, he's animated on the touchline, in a funny way it was great to see him get booked.Shows his passion for the club already. There's a long way to go but it's looking much better since the West Brom defeat. Tough game on Saturday and then it's Deadpool at home, where the stadium will be bouncing. No negativity from me, let's enjoy the moment and trust in this manager
 
This has been a massive week for us, 6 points against 2 relagtion fighting teams. Whatever way you look at the performance it's 2 wins and 2 clean sheets. That will bring confidence and improve performance. Matos needs time but he is definitely making his stamp already. The subs he made tonight were excellent, every one of them improving the team. Personally I'm absolutely delighted. He's bringing the passion back, he's animated on the touchline, in a funny way it was great to see him get booked.Shows his passion for the club already. There's a long way to go but it's looking much better since the West Brom defeat. Tough game on Saturday and then it's Deadpool at home, where the stadium will be bouncing. No negativity from me, let's enjoy the moment and trust in this manager
Couldn't of put it better myself. 🙏🙏🙏
 
I can sort of see where you’re coming from but the manager has only had one full week with the players on the training pitch and there won’t have been much opportunity to do much between Oxford and tonight.

Things are changing slowly, we had 7 on target tonight and I’d be willing to bet that we’ve had a lot more touches in the opposition box per 90 in the last 4 games than we were having.

Are we playing well and controlling games? Not yet but Matos has been here two weeks with no coaching staff of his own. Time needs to be given, and in the meantime the effort is there.
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.
 
Some apparently are still not. 🙄
We are not playing free flowing football for 90 minutes, we are not great to watch, we are still dropping too deep on times, but… we are giving our all on the pitch, we are taking more shots, we are getting the substitutions right and at last at the right times. We’re low on confidence and the manager has been here for two minutes but we’ve won two on the bounce. This will give the players more confidence and I have to say thank you Vitor, please keep it up.
I’m feeling much happier with this than the way things were going under Sheehan.
Again I quite enjoyed watching from my seat on the East with MY team winning.

Some people will never be happy and don’t get me started on that utter cunt elsewhere.
This time last week we were deep in the brown stuff,two games later and we’re looking up.
 
Only had a quick flick through here and not seen any footage of the game. So what's the summary, an ugly but vital win?
 
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.
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
 
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
You don't have to tell me about Sheehan I think he was absolutely woeful and should have never been given the job in the first place.

I said after Oxford that I'm seeing alot of the same red flags and that this is going in the same direction as Sheehan. Today has done absolutely nothing to ease my concerns if anything, it's set off even more alarms.
 
Some random thoughts from your Spanish correspondent, freezing his nuts off tonight in the Swansea com stadium.
This was a tense, tense match played between two teams desperate for points. You could feel the tension from minute one. Pompey came primarily for a point, and hoping for more via a fluke or mistake. They slowed the game down at every opportunity, and fouled relentlessly, aided and abetted by yet another blind ref. Where does the EFL get them from?
Our players:
Vig 7 - competent, classy, didn't have to do too much.
Galbraith 8 - the boy oozes class in everything he does, how did we manage to sign him?
Cabango 6 - got caught out once or twice tonight, could have had red for one poor rugby tackle foul, but put a shift in.
Burgess 7 - good solid defending, nothing fancy, nothing dangerous
Tymon 8 - another gem of ours, put in a great display despite receiving some cynical fouls
Stamenic 8 - gutsy display, really got stuck in breaking up attacks, he's a big unit and one or two Pompey players felt his wrath tonight, like a bulldozer on steroids
Franco 6 - a little bit anonymous
Widdell 5 - the boy tries hard but it's not quite clicking for him at the moment, he's losing possession and losing 50/50 battles too often for me
Ronald 6 - as I've said often, he is SO frustrating. Gets into good positions so many times then f*cks it up. Doesn't hide though, puts a shift in
Eom 7 - he's a bit lightweight sometimes in physical battles but he's got talent and a football brain. Lovely right foot which is going to score goals this season
Idah 5 - is it him or is it lack of service? We were counting in the stand, it took him 18 minutes before he had his first touch of the ball. He drifts around like a ghost, doing f*ck all, he has no presence in the match. He needs to change, or we need to get rid.
Subs
Vip 7 - when he came on, you immediately felt we had a threat up front. Worked his socks off but got no clear cut opportunities
Cullen 8 - been highly critical of him lately but he made a massive contribution tonight. A sweet and oh so valuable goal, and he worked hard for the team
Yalcouye 6 - was looking for the ball but didn't get much of it, he worked relentlessly though. This boy has class and he will contribute more
Inoussa 6 - didn't see much of the ball but looked threatening, gave Pompey something to worry about on their left. Outrageous foul on him in last few minutes
Casey 7 - looked solid when he came on, good defender, certainly gives fresh legs to our defence in last ten minutes

Vic Tomato 9 - I like the way he sets the team up, motivates them and uses subs effectively. Fantastic.

This was an invaluable victory and a gritty performance. And to all the trolls on here tonight, go f*ck yourselves! We got another three points and another clean sheet! STID
 
You don't have to tell me about Sheehan I think he was absolutely woeful and should have never been given the job in the first place.

I said after Oxford that I'm seeing alot of the same red flags and that this is going in the same direction as Sheehan. Today has done absolutely nothing to ease my concerns if anything, it's set off even more alarms.
Im curious. And this is a genuine question. What is it that is making you feel uneasy? Yes, we have not gotten rid of bad habits and we still might have an off day. But considering the time Matos has been with us, what is it 2 weeks and 1 week of full training, he has shown more identity and passion in the team than Sheehan had all season. And Matos has literally arrived without any of his backroom staff. Your not gonna suddenly erase all bad habits from players overnight. Its gonna take time. Imagine we will sit deep here or there or not get into certain areas. But it's clear we are showing signs of improvement. Ignore the results for a second. We are pressing and making the teams have no time. More aggressive off the ball too. It will take time but there are improvements.
 

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