S25/26 | The Official Match Thread | WBA 3 Swansea 2 | Att: 22,200 (1,032) | 29/11/25 | The EFL Championship l The Hawthorns

[Londonlisa2001]

The whole team? Entire squad? So the only option is to get rid of all of them and start again?

Last season one loan made a huge difference to the team.

We need to attempt to do the same this year.

One experienced, probably expensive, loan from a team that has a midfielder who is great at this level but not quite up to it at premier league level, who can inject energy and drive.
Hopefully Matos can use his contacts to find someone.

 

[eteb]

First 20mins demonstrated the coaching is correct. The other 70 showed that the players have neither the fitness or determination to enact it.
That these defeats don't translate into better determination is very worrying.
Matos not fixing fitness in season, so it's hard to see how we avoid relegation. We are easily bottom 3 team, probably bottom 2.
Moneyball didn't work. Our squad is awful

Sheehan has really fucked us here I think - mental and physical fitness non existent. Just obsession with shape

 

[eteb]

Pray to god we don’t hall behind. There is zero character or fight in this team.

It will be a bloodbath if Oxford score first

 

[swan65split]

Cabango, Burgess and Timon have not become bad players all of a sudden. Yes, we have problems in some key areas (pun not entirely unintended) but I think a lot of it is down to confidence and to tactics. So the manager is crucial to both of those problems.

We do need to strength in the transfer window though.

it appears to be in the whole club, bad apple syndrome maybe?

 

[eteb]

Genuine question if we lose both Pompey and Oxford, do we gamble and get a Rowatt type appointment (idk if there is any of those about) we cannot mess around here we need results.

Giving it to a guy who has managed 12 games in the 2nd Portugese division without his backroom staff is just shows a complete lack of appreciation for the position we are in.

Gorringe arguably needs sacking for that alone. It's the definition of gross incompetence

 

[Andrew - North Hill]

You can't put any blame on Matos, he is here now and he needs to be given time.

The appointment was made in arrogance, it was made because the decision makers thought they could pull another Martinez or Rodgers out of the bag. The timing of it just highlights their arrogance and Naivety.

In a weird way, I agree with you - it feels like a Football Manager appointment.

But I'm glad you can see he deserves more time - it's not his fault that he probably shouldn't be here. And there were small signs for the first 15 mins today that he might have something. All we can do is keep the faith.

 

[GriffTom]

If we do what I suspect we will do - which is, struggle over the next 10/13 games and then sack the manager for a ‘experienced championship type’ to save our season - it will only delay the inevitable rot within the club. You’ve given the manager a 4 year deal, he’s young, ambitious and seemingly wants to do things in the right way. Get the right personnel around him and back him long term imo regardless of the threat of relegation.

 

[SwanseaBoy123]

Do you genuinely think the club will bin a manager after a handful of games after paying up for his release from his previous club, wasn’t it around £1m with everything in? How much will it cost to pay him off and bring another manager in?

If you think VM is a poor appointment and that he needs replacing, just maybe you should be questioning whether the people who appointed him should be replaced first.
The trajectory has been downward for a while, maybe the issues are bigger than the managerial appointment.

FWIW I’m surprised VM was appointed as I’d have gone for more experience, but I’ve been impressed with his honesty and comments and I think he needs to be given time. What we’ve seen over last few games isn’t down to him and to expect him to turn things around overnight is unreal.

I've said my piece on the owners and the people in key positions in the club. I think they are terrible (I even compared them to the previous owners thats how incompetent i think they are) and that they should have been replaced ages ago. People are now only starting to catch on.

I've watched 2 games of Matos and we've been really poor in both of them and deservedly lost both. Yes its early days but surely their should be a reaction from the players they've been seriously outplayed in both games. Just look at Norwich.

We do not have time to sit here in blind faith and pray he comes good we are in my eyes the 2nd worst team in the league we are as VitalSwans said whipping boys.

 

[Nocountryforoldjack]

My question is how are the owners going to fix this mess or are they just going to accept wet are going down?

 

[Swans Jack]

I refuse to give up. It took Chris Wilder almost two months to sort out things and find solutions and now they are flying. VM deserves at least 10 games before we can really start worrying.

Wish I had your confidence. I'm super depressed. Maybe give them a team talk.

 

[Andrew - North Hill]

Last season one loan made a huge difference to the team.

We need to attempt to do the same this year.

One experienced, probably expensive, loan from a team that has a midfielder who is great at this level but not quite up to it at premier league level, who can inject energy and drive.

I'm really not convinced that would achieve the same effect this year. We've got worse as a whole since then, not better.

And if we do look for a player of that calibre, it's probably a wide forward/attacking midfielder we need, not a CM. Our wingers are all absolutely pathetic, none of them are actually worthy of the job title.

 

[eteb]

I'm still utterly
Amazed about what's happened today. Brom looked dead and buried, crowd killing them and every pass, bereft of any idea, yet we roll over and let them fucking swamp us for 60 minutes?

What the fuck is going through these idiots heads?

Sheehan is really going to ruin us here. They are completely bereft of any idea other than to absorbe pressure and wait it out. He's fucking killed our football, mental and physical fitness.

 

[ajacks]

Not a problem, i bet our player recruitment team are on it already..........

Either that or they're on a forum somewhere arguing with people

 

[3swan]

On well it started so well but you could see WBA getting more control before half time. 4 subs did.they make the difference or did we run out of steam?
I think the latter as we lost the majority of physical battles and allowed them acres of space and time to pick their passes.
Two games now where we'd have shown glimpses but then capitulate
It's going to be a long season and the crunch will be the January window where we will.cry out for experience and physicality.
I don't think there is enough in the squad to be able to turn things around,

 

[Jack2jack]

Not long back from xmas shopping in Trostre, been reading though the match day thread. Seemed like we were on fire first 20 mins, then went to pot. Radio commentary was like listening to someone eating a bag of crisps half the time, bloody useless signal in most shops. Anyhow, not a good afternoon.