Season 20/21: Blackburn Rovers v Swansea City Match Thread

[Badlands]

Just seems the last transfer window was a complete waste of time and an opportunity passed up. There is no point in signing Morris, ariola and Whittaker if you are not going to make use of them in matches. It has been a complete waste of 3 signings , and if he didn't think they were good enough or going to be any use to the team then they shouldn't have been signed. It's obvious to all the team is knackered on it's feet and three quarters full of players who will only get you the odd goal and yet according to cooper there's no one good enough to give some of them a rest.

I think the January transfer window will be seen as a complete waste of time in hindsight. Let's hope it doesn't turn out to be the deciding factor in not going up.

I don't think there's any doubt that Woodman, Guehi, Gibbs-White, Latibeaudiere, and Palmer (plus Surridge, Brewster, Gallagher last season) were Cooper-led signings. They either played for him for England, or he would have known all about them through scouting. I think Whittaker would also be in this group, although that raises the question of why Cooper doesn't seem to want to use him.

Lowe, Manning, Smith, Bennett all seem to be Andy Scott signings. Value for money signings, but Cooper seems to trust all of them with the possible exception of Manning.

Then you've got Hourihane, Morris, Arriola and Freeman. We already needed depth in January before losing MGW, Palmer and Gyokeres. The question is what happened then?

Is Cooper's scouting book exhausted? None of the rest of the players he has experience of from his England days were available? With money tight everywhere, were there no Andy Scott bargains to be had?

Did we get towards the end of the window and Cooper was told these are the only guys we can get, so it's these guys or nothing? If so, I would think Cooper would sign off on them and hope that they would prove themselves in training etc and earn his trust. I think Hourihane did that and started well before things went south and maybe Morris was on his way before the injury. The others clearly haven't for whatever reason.

I'm not blaming or exonerating anybody, but it's clear that losing MGW and Palmer has had a major effect on our season. I'm in the camp giving Cooper credit for our results despite the squad clearly being weaker now than it was, but I'm also frustrated over the poor football and the lack of changes being made when it clearly isn't working. I'd be amazed if we could get promoted without our form improving.

I keep going back to Sousa's season but the January transfer window has echoes of that for me. Trundle coming in when Sousa clearly didn't want him and wasn't Bayo on his way to sign before Sousa stopped it?

MGW baldly playeD
The only successful signings were Cooper's
Sousa didn't want Bayo! Eh? Trundle was never up to Championship standard as he founD out with Bristol, Leeds and us.
Cooper likes his boys and seems to take a very long time getting much from anyone else.

 

[Captain_Sham]

We already have more points this season than Potter got in 46 games.

 

[swansnews]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wz7fOjA5Cj8

 

[JackSomething]

MGW baldly playeD
The only successful signings were Cooper's
Sousa didn't want Bayo! Eh? Trundle was never up to Championship standard as he founD out with Bristol, Leeds and us.
Cooper likes his boys and seems to take a very long time getting much from anyone else.

I'm going to try and translate that so I can answer.

MGW barely played because of injury, but just about everyone could see how much potential he had and how important he could have been this season had Wolves not recalled him.

If you're classing the same transfers as Cooper's as I did in my first post, I'd say that 'non-Cooper' signings like Smith, Lowe and Bennett have all been successful, with Manning looking good when given a chance.

I remember it being widely accepted that Jenkins authorised the signings of Trundle and Bayo late in the transfer window that season when we were desperate for strikers. Sousa reluctantly accepted Trunds, but put his foot down on Bayo who turned round when he was halfway up the M4 to come sign for us. I'm not arguing if Trundle was up to the Championship (although he was probably our best performing striker in that turgid season), but that the situation of the club basically saying it's these guys or nothing may have repeated itself this January. I could be completely wrong of course.

Not much argument on your last sentence. In his defence, that approach has led to us being level on points with the team in second with a game in hand. Maybe we'd be doing better if he rotated more, maybe we wouldn't. If he gets us promoted despite how poorly we're playing, he's some kind of wizard.

 

[JackSomething]

We already have more points this season than Potter got in 46 games.

Indeed.

The 'results versus pleasing to watch football' debate has come up many times before, but I don't remember it being tilted so heavily in favour of good football over results before. Perhaps it's not being in the stadium for so long, or perhaps it's mental scars from what Monk's style of play led to?

 

[Dr. Winston]

The 'results versus pleasing to watch football' debate has come up many times before, but I don't remember it being tilted so heavily in favour of good football over results before. Perhaps it's not being in the stadium for so long, or perhaps it's mental scars from what Monk's style of play led to?

We were dealing with the fallout of relegation and subsequent need to both rebuild the squad and a style of play under Potter.

I'm not saying Potter was perfect (seems to suffer from the same problem as Martinez when it comes to matching attractive football to a defence worth a spit) but what he had to deal with that first season was far trickier than anything Cooper has faced. To successfully blood so many young players and get us back playing some semblance of attractive football again against that backdrop was fine management, despite the attempts to play it down since. Many will wonder "what might have been" in a hypothetical second Potter season once he'd done the hardest part.

Cooper is what he is. He has his style of play and you can't knock it's effectiveness. It's just not much fun to watch and ultimately (IMO) probably not sustainable in the long term.

 

[K23]

I agree that the current style of play is not sustainable in the long term. More importantly possibly (hopefully), is that it would definitely not be sustainable a division higher. We've been well below par for the last 7 games but have somehow gleaned 13 points quite a few of which can be attributed to poor opposition, especially in front of goal. Even with a few decent squad additions, playing that style a division higher, we would probably lose all 7 because it just won't work. If a fair chunk of this season has not been enjoyable to watch, I dread to think of what next season could be like.

 

[JackSomething]

The 'results versus pleasing to watch football' debate has come up many times before, but I don't remember it being tilted so heavily in favour of good football over results before. Perhaps it's not being in the stadium for so long, or perhaps it's mental scars from what Monk's style of play led to?

We were dealing with the fallout of relegation and subsequent need to both rebuild the squad and a style of play under Potter.

I'm not saying Potter was perfect (seems to suffer from the same problem as Martinez when it comes to matching attractive football to a defence worth a spit) but what he had to deal with that first season was far trickier than anything Cooper has faced. To successfully blood so many young players and get us back playing some semblance of attractive football again against that backdrop was fine management, despite the attempts to play it down since. Many will wonder "what might have been" in a hypothetical second Potter season once he'd done the hardest part.

Cooper is what he is. He has his style of play and you can't knock it's effectiveness. It's just not much fun to watch and ultimately (IMO) probably not sustainable in the long term.

It is tantalising to wonder what Potter could have achieved once Andy Scott was in place. One part of his season that hasn't aged well was the signings made, although of course that leads to the question of who was making those decisions?

There's also the issue that some of our most important players over the last 2 seasons have been Brewster, Woodman, Guehi, Gallagher. With Gibbs-White, Surridge, Wilmot and Palmer all playing a part too. Would any of those have been here under Potter? Doubtful.

I'm not enjoying watching us and agree massive changes (at low cost) will be needed if we somehow get promoted, but I'm surprised at how many are prioritising good football over results. To the extent that plenty are hoping Cooper leaves this summer. I thought we had a more pragmatic fanbase than that.

 

[Captain_Sham]

I find it hilarious the lengths people will go to to minimize Coopers achievements. He hasnt surpassed Potters total hes obliterated it.(12 games to spare. TWELVE) With a team of kids/loanees and without a centre forward. How the fk was Potters situation trickier than that.

 

[Fireboy]

I find it hilarious the lengths people will go to to minimize Coopers achievements. He hasnt surpassed Potters total hes obliterated it.(12 games to spare. TWELVE) With a team of kids/loanees and without a centre forward. How the fk was Potters situation trickier than that.

Read what the Doc has posted a few posts ago.

He is spot on.

 

[Captain_Sham]

I find it hilarious the lengths people will go to to minimize Coopers achievements. He hasnt surpassed Potters total hes obliterated it.(12 games to spare. TWELVE) With a team of kids/loanees and without a centre forward. How the fk was Potters situation trickier than that.

Read what the Doc has posted a few posts ago.

He is spot on.

I did read it. Thats why I posted what I posted. And he isnt spot on.

 

[Captain_Sham]

I was just looking at the squad Potter inherited. Tricky my fking arse.

 

[Badlands]

We were dealing with the fallout of relegation and subsequent need to both rebuild the squad and a style of play under Potter.

I'm not saying Potter was perfect (seems to suffer from the same problem as Martinez when it comes to matching attractive football to a defence worth a spit) but what he had to deal with that first season was far trickier than anything Cooper has faced. To successfully blood so many young players and get us back playing some semblance of attractive football again against that backdrop was fine management, despite the attempts to play it down since. Many will wonder "what might have been" in a hypothetical second Potter season once he'd done the hardest part.

Cooper is what he is. He has his style of play and you can't knock it's effectiveness. It's just not much fun to watch and ultimately (IMO) probably not sustainable in the long term.

It is tantalising to wonder what Potter could have achieved once Andy Scott was in place. One part of his season that hasn't aged well was the signings made, although of course that leads to the question of who was making those decisions?

There's also the issue that some of our most important players over the last 2 seasons have been Brewster, Woodman, Guehi, Gallagher. With Gibbs-White, Surridge, Wilmot and Palmer all playing a part too. Would any of those have been here under Potter? Doubtful.

I'm not enjoying watching us and agree massive changes (at low cost) will be needed if we somehow get promoted, but I'm surprised at how many are prioritising good football over results. To the extent that plenty are hoping Cooper leaves this summer. I thought we had a more pragmatic fanbase than that.

While player have come and gone under Cooper he did inherit a fairly stable and very good squad.
Potter lost 14 players, 10 with Premier League experience and had 11 senior players loaned out of which 6 had Premier League experience.
He brought in just 5 senior player with, I think, 1 PL appearance between them and 1 loan player.
In total, Potter lost 33 players many near the start or after the start of the season.
Although a few senior players player left under Cooper most had not been chosen to play or had contracts terminated prior to him arriving.

On another point.
A delivery driver who supports the Swans called today and said he's stopped watching the game live. His reason was we are so bad to watch. He argued the club has his money which is fine with and when we get back to crowds in he feel like he's part of the experience and actively supports the team - watching TV he is disconnected and doesn’t feel like he's watching the Swans. In his 40s and a life long ST holder as were his parents.
Are our dull as ditch water performances losing us fans?

 

[monmouth]

To be fair I can see the argument that watching it on flashscore is probably marginally more entertaining. You might get one of those little pulsating circles to see.

I really couldn't care less now as long as we keep getting results. It won't change, and if we go up we won't need to worry about losing fans.

I'm still chuckling about getting a point and a goal from last night. It's almost entertaining in itself to see how bad we can be.

 

[airedale]

To me, fwiw, promotion to the PL means one thing, wonga. And, as long as it doesn’t affect parachute payments, relegation at the end of next season wouldn’t bother me either. Good sustainability is more important than throwing money at it in the hope of survival up there.