Season 24/25 | The Official Match Thread | Swansea City vs Gillingham FC | The Carabao Cup

[T8AD365]

Duff readily admitted the team had no intensity or pace in the squad..

LW stated a few times last season we had no intensity or desire in certain games

Could this be to do with our midfield pivot

And why did we turn up for the Cardiff home game and not the other countless home games

I'd say the lack of intensity stems from the example the captain sets. He's content to stroll around, taking more touches than necessary and making slow 5 yard passes so others follow the same way

 

[bakajack]

I'd say the lack of intensity stems from the example the captain sets. He's content to stroll around, taking more touches than necessary and making slow 5 yard passes so others follow the same way

This is where we desperately miss the influence that Joe has when he plays alongside Grimes. He usually moves the ball on first time and speeds up our tempo of play as well as consistently offering Grimes an out ball between the lines of the press when Grimes does drop deep.

Fulton by comparison for someone who is meant to be part of a double pivot is usually about 40 yards away from Grimes offering him no help but to either ping it long or go sideways/backwards.

Not saying that Grimes isn't too cautious for his own good sometimes, but he certainly isn't helped by Jay being so far away he may as well not be in the stadium let alone on the pitch for all the impact he has.

 

[T8AD365]

This is where we desperately miss the influence that Joe has when he plays alongside Grimes. He usually moves the ball on first time and speeds up our tempo of play as well as consistently offering Grimes an out ball between the lines of the press when Grimes does drop deep.

Fulton by comparison for someone who is meant to be part of a double pivot is usually about 40 yards away from Grimes offering him no help but to either ping it long or go sideways/backwards.

Not saying that Grimes isn't too cautious for his own good sometimes, but he certainly isn't helped by Jay being so far away he may as well not be in the stadium let alone on the pitch for all the impact he has.

Good point. The Grimes/Fulton axis of doom is baffling because you end up with Grimes standing next to the CBs and Fulton standing just off the striker, leaving a big hole in midfield where we invariably get overrun. Yet so many managers have persisted with it, just doesn't make any sense

 

[PSumbler]

I think it could be a difficult time for Luke if we come out with 0 points after 3 games at 5pm on the 25th of August.

Hopefully not. But 11 losses in 23 games is not fantastic

The problem is you are right but we have cut the playing side of this squad to the bone and the reality is even someone like Pep would struggle to get a tune out of the squad on any consistent basis

The fact that we are still reliant on players such as Fulton and Cullen too often gives you the biggest reason why we will struggle more and more

 

[T8AD365]

The problem is you are right but we have cut the playing side of this squad to the bone and the reality is even someone like Pep would struggle to get a tune out of the squad on any consistent basis

The fact that we are still reliant on players such as Fulton and Cullen too often gives you the biggest reason why we will struggle more and more

I dread to think what the squad will look like in 2-3 years time

 

[SwanseaJack]

I dread to think what the squad will look like in 2-3 years time

With new owners I think, there is kind of a feeling of a last push with these lot and if it doesn't work out I think they'll be gone. May require us going down first though but silver linings and all

 

[T8AD365]

With new owners I think, there is kind of a feeling of a last push with these lot and if it doesn't work out I think they'll be gone. May require us going down first though but silver linings and all

The problem is there's no guarantee that any new owners would do a better job than the ones we have now. Plus it's a long way back if we do end up going down

 

[SwanseaJack]

The problem is there's no guarantee that any new owners would do a better job than the ones we have now. Plus it's a long way back if we do end up going down

100% agree, just the only way I can see anything changing anytime soon

 

[T8AD365]

100% agree, just the only way I can see anything changing anytime soon

The crazy thing for me is that the owners either can't afford to or just refuse to invest in the club.

They've relied on stripping the squad of any valuable assets in order to pay the bills but it's resulted in us having a squad with nobody worth more than a couple of million.

It's not benefiting the owners at all, if they don't have the money or aren't going to spend to improve the squad then things are only going one way and the value of the club is constantly decreasing.

They're sticking around with the hope we'll get promoted but that's simply not going to happen because the squad is getting worse every season

 

[SwanseaJack]

The crazy thing for me is that the owners either can't afford to or just refuse to invest in the club.

They've relied on stripping the squad of any valuable assets in order to pay the bills but it's resulted in us having a squad with nobody worth more than a couple of million.

It's not benefiting the owners at all, if they don't have the money or aren't going to spend to improve the squad then things are only going one way and the value of the club is constantly decreasing.

They're sticking around with the hope we'll get promoted but that's simply not going to happen because the squad is getting worse every season

Based on the last 12 months (not including last summer transfer window) it would seem that they are hoping Watson can pull a few rabbits out his arse with young talents with high re-sale potential.

This window has been very positive so far in terms of recruitment, lets hope we have found a few gems and if/when they are sold on, we re-invest wisely in young players again

 

[A4Jack]

The scariest thing is that they have invested. Often just to keep us afloat.

But it's their mismanagement that has caused us to need that survival investment on the regular.

 

[T8AD365]

Based on the last 12 months (not including last summer transfer window) it would seem that they are hoping Watson can pull a few rabbits out his arse with young talents with high re-sale potential.

This window has been very positive so far in terms of recruitment, lets hope we have found a few gems and if/when they are sold on, we re-invest wisely in young players again

We hope it's been positive but we won't know for sure until we see how the new signings perform over the next few months. It's very much unknown at the moment.

We're massively down on numbers from last season so the squad depth is definitely going to be an issue over the course of the season

 

[T8AD365]

The scariest thing is that they have invested. Often just to keep us afloat.

But it's their mismanagement that has caused us to need that survival investment on the regular.

That's what I meant sorry, they've invested the bare minimum required. Whether that's through choice or limitations of available funds I don't know but I just don't see what's in it for them at the moment to just keep throwing their money away for the club to go backwards

 

[jasper_T]

That's what I meant sorry, they've invested the bare minimum required. Whether that's through choice or limitations of available funds I don't know but I just don't see what's in it for them at the moment to just keep throwing their money away for the club to go backwards

Don't let facts get in the way of the point you're trying to make, eh?

 

[T8AD365]

Don't let facts get in the way of the point you're trying to make, eh?

To be fair, it's hardly a controversial point that the owners aren't investing enough to take the club forwards