MATCHWATCH : Swansea City (a) sponsored by a no pressure game

[URZZZZ]

Think the game plan from us was logical and pretty much worked. Keep it tight and try and hit them on the counter/from set pieces

Only thing I wasn’t quite impressed with defensively was our dealing of their crosses. Esteves and McIntyre stood off a couple of times and a couple of times Holmes was caught flat footed/Rafael should have come out and didn’t. Whilst we did keep the clean sheet, they did have two/three chances where at least one really should have been taken

We’re badly missing Joao and Meite, but we’re still doing OK. Swansea are a side who don’t concede many at all, and given our two most important attackers were out, was always going to be a struggle offensively

9 - Rafael
8 - Morrison
7 - Holmes, McIntyre, Laurent
6 - Esteves, Rinomhota, Swift, Richards
5 - Olise, Semedo, Ejaria, Baldock, Aluko

I know Ejaria is sometimes seen as an easy scapegoat, but arguably, he’s put in four/five poor performances in December. He’s missing Joao as a focal point IMO and he’s missing Meite’s inverted runs in behind so I’d take him out of the firing line against Huddersfield

[Snowflake Royal]

Rafael 8 good point blank saves
Esteves 6 not much wrong but wasn't impressed either
McIntyre 8 very good, not an attacking LB, but still had three of our best chances!
Morrison 7 solid
Holmes 7 same
Rino 7 bit more involved
Laurent 6 very quite compared to recent weeks
Olise 6 quiet game, not much available for him
Semedo 6 solid, but needs to compete for balls more
Ejaria 5 started brightly then vanished
Baldock 6 gets very little service, but runs all day and the odd run / pass, plus a shot on target

Swift 7 decent tempo
Richards 7 noticeable how our attack quickened when he came on
Aluko 5 forgot he was on tbh. Did nothing. Hiding to nothing trying to play upfront though, the soft shite

[Hound]

Think the game plan from us was logical and pretty much worked. Keep it tight and try and hit them on the counter/from set pieces

Only thing I wasn’t quite impressed with defensively was our dealing of their crosses. Esteves and McIntyre stood off a couple of times and a couple of times Holmes was caught flat footed/Rafael should have come out and didn’t. Whilst we did keep the clean sheet, they did have two/three chances where at least one really should have been taken

We’re badly missing Joao and Meite, but we’re still doing OK. Swansea are a side who don’t concede many at all, and given our two most important attackers were out, was always going to be a struggle offensively

9 - Rafael
8 - Morrison
7 - Holmes, McIntyre, Laurent
6 - Esteves, Rinomhota, Swift, Richards
5 - Olise, Semedo, Ejaria, Baldock, Aluko

I know Ejaria is sometimes seen as an easy scapegoat, but arguably, he’s put in four/five poor performances in December. He’s missing Joao as a focal point IMO and he’s missing Meite’s inverted runs in behind so I’d take him out of the firing line against Huddersfield

Would agree with a lot of that. And note how Richards coming on stopped a lot of the crosses from the left. McIntyre did fine on the ball but his positioning was wrong a number of times allowing god knows how many crosses from the right with him nowhere to be seen

Thought Ejaria had a good first half, a poor second. Swift coming back definitely allows him to be ‘rested’

Laurent probably had his worst game for us but still was ‘6’ level.

9 Rafael
7 Morrison Esteves McIntyre Swift Richards
6 Holmes Olise Laurent Baldock Ejaria Rino
5 Aluko Semedo

[Hendo]

https://www.bbc.com/sport/amp/football/55493844?__twitter_impression=true

Anyone else hear this before the start of the game? I don’t remember hearing anything from the tv, but I might not have been paying too much attention.

[Westwood52]

I think last night’s result was the best we could have hoped for,given the team sheet.Noticeable when Swift came on we began to have far more of the game.All credit to Holmes and McIntyre who under serious stress hung in there.Three players an absolute waste of space and Rino and Josh also found it hard going.

IMHO

Rafa 9 Kept us in the game.Swansea rarely tried any long range shots to test him out.

Estevez 5 He really does look at times like a schoolboy drafted into a big boys game.If getting forward is the best part of his game rarely showed it.
McIntyre 6 He created our two best chances and all but scored.Hung in there.
Holmes 6 A proper defender at CH. He will get better and better with time.
Morrison 6 Almost got caught out on the by line late on,but generally plugged most of the gaps.
Rino 6 Overun in midfield and his limitations were exposed but kept going.
Laurent 6 Just couldn’t get a grip in midfield.This is his level.He is a bit static and his shooting is woeful.But he is such a beast that he’s a real asset.His form not surprisingly beginning to dip.
Semedo 3 Why does he start ? He really does not have a lot going for him.
Ejaria 4 Kept on giving the ball away in dangerous situations,keeps on falling over and doesn’t track his man.Needs a good talking to;needs to adapt his game.
Olise 5 On the evidence of last night not going anywhere.Offered very little and all but disappeared 2nd half.
Baldock 4 Running round like a headless chicken just isn’t enough .I know we don’t play to his strengths,but his contribution is very limited.

Swift Looked the part last night,and made a noticeable difference. Must start Saturday even if we only get an hour from him.
Richards Good to seem him back.Shored up McIntyre
Alukho Very little impact.

Wasn’t great to watch,but a very valuable point.Well done lads for sticking it out.

[Snowflake Royal]

Think the game plan from us was logical and pretty much worked. Keep it tight and try and hit them on the counter/from set pieces

Only thing I wasn’t quite impressed with defensively was our dealing of their crosses. Esteves and McIntyre stood off a couple of times and a couple of times Holmes was caught flat footed/Rafael should have come out and didn’t. Whilst we did keep the clean sheet, they did have two/three chances where at least one really should have been taken

We’re badly missing Joao and Meite, but we’re still doing OK. Swansea are a side who don’t concede many at all, and given our two most important attackers were out, was always going to be a struggle offensively

9 - Rafael
8 - Morrison
7 - Holmes, McIntyre, Laurent
6 - Esteves, Rinomhota, Swift, Richards
5 - Olise, Semedo, Ejaria, Baldock, Aluko

I know Ejaria is sometimes seen as an easy scapegoat, but arguably, he’s put in four/five poor performances in December. He’s missing Joao as a focal point IMO and he’s missing Meite’s inverted runs in behind so I’d take him out of the firing line against Huddersfield

Would agree with a lot of that. And note how Richards coming on stopped a lot of the crosses from the left. McIntyre did fine on the ball but his positioning was wrong a number of times allowing god knows how many crosses from the right with him nowhere to be seen

Thought Ejaria had a good first half, a poor second. Swift coming back definitely allows him to be ‘rested’

Laurent probably had his worst game for us but still was ‘6’ level.

9 Rafael
7 Morrison Esteves McIntyre Swift Richards
6 Holmes Olise Laurent Baldock Ejaria Rino
5 Aluko Semedo

Isn't that an issue of Ejaria failing to back up McIntyre rather than McIntyre being at fault given Richards replaced Ejaria, not McIntyre

[Hound]

Think the game plan from us was logical and pretty much worked. Keep it tight and try and hit them on the counter/from set pieces

Only thing I wasn’t quite impressed with defensively was our dealing of their crosses. Esteves and McIntyre stood off a couple of times and a couple of times Holmes was caught flat footed/Rafael should have come out and didn’t. Whilst we did keep the clean sheet, they did have two/three chances where at least one really should have been taken

We’re badly missing Joao and Meite, but we’re still doing OK. Swansea are a side who don’t concede many at all, and given our two most important attackers were out, was always going to be a struggle offensively

9 - Rafael
8 - Morrison
7 - Holmes, McIntyre, Laurent
6 - Esteves, Rinomhota, Swift, Richards
5 - Olise, Semedo, Ejaria, Baldock, Aluko

I know Ejaria is sometimes seen as an easy scapegoat, but arguably, he’s put in four/five poor performances in December. He’s missing Joao as a focal point IMO and he’s missing Meite’s inverted runs in behind so I’d take him out of the firing line against Huddersfield

Would agree with a lot of that. And note how Richards coming on stopped a lot of the crosses from the left. McIntyre did fine on the ball but his positioning was wrong a number of times allowing god knows how many crosses from the right with him nowhere to be seen

Thought Ejaria had a good first half, a poor second. Swift coming back definitely allows him to be ‘rested’

Laurent probably had his worst game for us but still was ‘6’ level.

9 Rafael
7 Morrison Esteves McIntyre Swift Richards
6 Holmes Olise Laurent Baldock Ejaria Rino
5 Aluko Semedo

Isn't that an issue of Ejaria failing to back up McIntyre rather than McIntyre being at fault given Richards replaced Ejaria, not McIntyre

Bit of both I think

[Snowball]

All things considered, Is that result of the season?

No, that's winning our last game to get automatic

[Snowball]

Good point against a very tidy Swansea side, especially with our injury crisis. With the calvalry back in the New Year and get Swifty back is like a new signing, i really believe we could be dark horses and take a play off spot.

Play-Offs?


I EXPECT the PO's. Nobody below us is special.

I would say (with a healthy squad) we are dark horses for autos, or third, then winning the POs.

[RoyalBlue]

https://www.bbc.com/sport/amp/football/55493844?__twitter_impression=true

Anyone else hear this before the start of the game? I don’t remember hearing anything from the tv, but I might not have been paying too much attention.

Like you I didn't hear anything at the time but wasn't paying full attention.

Just played back the Sky coverage and you can just about hear the horns tooting faintly in the background. It was clearly far more noticeable in the stadium itself. Not overly surprised, as Swansea is another City/Town with a tough port area, which seems to breed some (a minority still, I'm sure) less than tolerant bigots.

[RoyalBlue]

I think last night’s result was the best we could have hoped for,given the team sheet.Noticeable when Swift came on we began to have far more of the game.All credit to Holmes and McIntyre who under serious stress hung in there.Three players an absolute waste of space and Rino and Josh also found it hard going.

IMHO


Baldock 4 Running round like a headless chicken just isn’t enough .I know we don’t play to his strengths,but his contribution is very limited.

To be fair to Baldock, on the one occasion when we did play a pass to his strengths he created probably one of our best opportunities of the game for Semedo with good running in behind the defender, control and clever pass.

[Nameless]

https://www.bbc.com/sport/amp/football/55493844?__twitter_impression=true

Anyone else hear this before the start of the game? I don’t remember hearing anything from the tv, but I might not have been paying too much attention.

Like you I didn't hear anything at the time but wasn't paying full attention.

Just played back the Sky coverage and you can just about hear the horns tooting faintly in the background. It was clearly far more noticeable in the stadium itself. Not overly surprised, as Swansea is another City/Town with a tough port area, which seems to breed some (a minority still, I'm sure) less than tolerant bigots.

Given the commentary uses canned background sounds is it not likely any noise of this type was simply drowned out by recorded crowd buzz ?
You have to wonder about people who travel out to a ground they can’t get into to ‘protest’ about players making a peaceful and dignified gesture of solidarity....

[RoyalBlue]

Great point from a fairly entertaining game.

Loved the post match interview from VP to remind Sky about confidentialality (sp??) re contracts - I think that's been well and truly broken tonight.

Fair play VP!

Sky were also speculating. They have heard that there is a release clause but their source clearly isn't good enough to tell them what it is. If it exists, I hope that the release clause is also dependent on the sale including a very substantial percentage of any future profit should he be sold on.

[RoyalBlue]

https://www.bbc.com/sport/amp/football/55493844?__twitter_impression=true

Anyone else hear this before the start of the game? I don’t remember hearing anything from the tv, but I might not have been paying too much attention.

Like you I didn't hear anything at the time but wasn't paying full attention.

Just played back the Sky coverage and you can just about hear the horns tooting faintly in the background. It was clearly far more noticeable in the stadium itself. Not overly surprised, as Swansea is another City/Town with a tough port area, which seems to breed some (a minority still, I'm sure) less than tolerant bigots.

Given the commentary uses canned background sounds is it not likely any noise of this type was simply drowned out by recorded crowd buzz ?
You have to wonder about people who travel out to a ground they can’t get into to ‘protest’ about players making a peaceful and dignified gesture of solidarity....

As I played it back I thought that would be the case but Sky and/or the stadium cut out the recorded crowd noise as the ref blew his whistle for the players to take the knee.

[Snowflake Royal]

I think last night’s result was the best we could have hoped for,given the team sheet.Noticeable when Swift came on we began to have far more of the game.All credit to Holmes and McIntyre who under serious stress hung in there.Three players an absolute waste of space and Rino and Josh also found it hard going.

IMHO


Baldock 4 Running round like a headless chicken just isn’t enough .I know we don’t play to his strengths,but his contribution is very limited.

To be fair to Baldock, on the one occasion when we did play a pass to his strengths he created probably one of our best opportunities of the game for Semedo with good running in behind the defender, control and clever pass.

Yeah this, he's done 1 or two of these runs pretty much every game, and been looking for several others. If we would just look for that more I'm sure we'd be seeing a far better performing player. But instead we build up slowly until they have 9/10 men behind the ball around their 18 yard box, or hump it up to him to try to hold off or out jump two big CBs.

It's a real failing in ability to adapt play to suit what we have. It's not like we don't have players who can pick a superb through ball, Olise can do it, Swift can do it, Ejaria can do it.

[Lower West]

I think last night’s result was the best we could have hoped for,given the team sheet.Noticeable when Swift came on we began to have far more of the game.All credit to Holmes and McIntyre who under serious stress hung in there.Three players an absolute waste of space and Rino and Josh also found it hard going.

IMHO


Baldock 4 Running round like a headless chicken just isn’t enough .I know we don’t play to his strengths,but his contribution is very limited.

To be fair to Baldock, on the one occasion when we did play a pass to his strengths he created probably one of our best opportunities of the game for Semedo with good running in behind the defender, control and clever pass.

Yeah this, he's done 1 or two of these runs pretty much every game, and been looking for several others. If we would just look for that more I'm sure we'd be seeing a far better performing player. But instead we build up slowly until they have 9/10 men behind the ball around their 18 yard box, or hump it up to him to try to hold off or out jump two big CBs.

It's a real failing in ability to adapt play to suit what we have. It's not like we don't have players who can pick a superb through ball, Olise can do it, Swift can do it, Ejaria can do it.

Swift is currently the only one who has the both the vision and composure to make a pass instinctively.

[Westwood52]

I think last night’s result was the best we could have hoped for,given the team sheet.Noticeable when Swift came on we began to have far more of the game.All credit to Holmes and McIntyre who under serious stress hung in there.Three players an absolute waste of space and Rino and Josh also found it hard going.

IMHO


Baldock 4 Running round like a headless chicken just isn’t enough .I know we don’t play to his strengths,but his contribution is very limited.

To be fair to Baldock, on the one occasion when we did play a pass to his strengths he created probably one of our best opportunities of the game for Semedo with good running in behind the defender, control and clever pass.

Yeah this, he's done 1 or two of these runs pretty much every game, and been looking for several others. If we would just look for that more I'm sure we'd be seeing a far better performing player. But instead we build up slowly until they have 9/10 men behind the ball around their 18 yard box, or hump it up to him to try to hold off or out jump two big CBs.

It's a real failing in ability to adapt play to suit what we have. It's not like we don't have players who can pick a superb through ball, Olise can do it, Swift can do it, Ejaria can do it.

Yeah and b****y Semedo should have done something with it.A bad pick ? Was Pauno responsible for both him and Estevez ?If so it’s a bit worrying.I think another Yiadom from L1 or L2 is required in Jan.Getting another striker with the three bad boys coming back seems a bit of a waste.

[South Coast Royal]

Really pleased to get a point with this a makeshift side but a side of triers and we fans always like triers, especially if they are "home grown".

It is easy to suggest, as 3 or 4 posters have, that with our best side we would have won a game with better chances and clearer opportunities for us (but also possibly them as well)

As it was we were set-up not to lose and Swansea didn't have the guile to break us down or the luck that many go on about on here when we seemingly don't get the luck-perhaps we had a bit of luck last night plus the level of keeping that we should expect at this level.

Before our game I watched Brentford v Bournemouth where there was so much attacking quality on display and both sides do look as though they will be competing for the automatic places-a pity that we have to play them both again in the coming weeks when probably still under strength.

Our game looked a division lower but I excuse Reading because , with our lack of a striker ,we had to play the way that we did .
Swansea must be a lot better than what they showed last night looking at the league position so all credit to our lads for mainly neutralising their attacks but this is the Championship where teams one week look like title contenders and the next are dire-I always think of teams like Bristol City who fit that description so well every season.

So going back to the "if we had our best side we would have won" postings-when will we ever (if at all) get the best side playing again with Moore and Meite seemingly out for some time and in any event both Joao and Meite so injury prone?

As we say after every game, who would have thought at the start of the season we would be in this position?
We really do need that target man as either Baldock is not good enough (quite likely) or our midfielders aren't good enough (possibly) to play to his strengths.

[Snowflake Royal]

To be fair to Baldock, on the one occasion when we did play a pass to his strengths he created probably one of our best opportunities of the game for Semedo with good running in behind the defender, control and clever pass.

Yeah this, he's done 1 or two of these runs pretty much every game, and been looking for several others. If we would just look for that more I'm sure we'd be seeing a far better performing player. But instead we build up slowly until they have 9/10 men behind the ball around their 18 yard box, or hump it up to him to try to hold off or out jump two big CBs.

It's a real failing in ability to adapt play to suit what we have. It's not like we don't have players who can pick a superb through ball, Olise can do it, Swift can do it, Ejaria can do it.

Swift is currently the only one who has the both the vision and composure to make a pass instinctively.

What rot.

[SCIAG]

To be fair to Baldock, on the one occasion when we did play a pass to his strengths he created probably one of our best opportunities of the game for Semedo with good running in behind the defender, control and clever pass.

Yeah this, he's done 1 or two of these runs pretty much every game, and been looking for several others. If we would just look for that more I'm sure we'd be seeing a far better performing player. But instead we build up slowly until they have 9/10 men behind the ball around their 18 yard box, or hump it up to him to try to hold off or out jump two big CBs.

It's a real failing in ability to adapt play to suit what we have. It's not like we don't have players who can pick a superb through ball, Olise can do it, Swift can do it, Ejaria can do it.

Yeah and b****y Semedo should have done something with it.A bad pick ? Was Pauno responsible for both him and Estevez ?If so it’s a bit worrying.I think another Yiadom from L1 or L2 is required in Jan.Getting another striker with the three bad boys coming back seems a bit of a waste.

Getting another right back when we have three options who aren’t Esteves also seems like a bit of a waste.

As for Semedo, he’s not the flashiest player but he has a habit of making important contributions. A good back-up option.