BFTG Swansea

[Gunny Fishcake]

So boring , did we have a shot on target ? I think if we were still playing this next day we'd have not scored. Stam's negative boring tactics is seeing his halo starting to lose it's shine.

[Snowflake Royal]

Well that was a depressing evening. Not so much the performance or even the result but how far we are behind Swansea as a club. Since the play off final they have gone from strength to strength winning a major trophy along the way and becoming an established Premier league club. Whilst we look a million miles off ever reaching those heights. Why do they and other clubs get it so right and we f...k it up? As for the game it was a promising start some nice passing but as usual no end product. Swansea grew into the game and as it wore on looked the better side and were good value for the win, even though the ref helped with the 2nd goal it made little difference as we could have played to midnight and not scored. At least now we can concentrate on avoiding relegation.

TBF, Swansea were streets ahead of us the year they went up and have had moving towards a decade of PL financing in that time. It's not surprising even at a point they're currently struggling they're still miles ahead of us.

[BR2]

The good, the bad and the ugly !

GOOD
I like the look of Bacuna. Strong, competitive but also has some real quality and the ability to play forward. Also, we are technically even better than last season in terms of possession and movement. If anything we were slightly better than Swansea in that aspect.

BAD
The front three in general. Nothing wrong with individual performances in relation to their strengths but collectively no threat at all. Our attacking options were either to play perfect football passing through the thirds or play a wonder ball in behind which we actually did on a couple occasions.
When we do find our way into the final third nobody gets in the box. We created a number of crossing opportunities but there would only be one player in the box. I don't think we'd have scored in a month of Sunday's

UGLY
Car parking just gets worse (luckily only 9,000) there last night and then the motorway is shut ! Going to games is becoming hard work !

I think everyone has come to realise just what a good player Kerm is. Not only is he a major threat in the box but he also gives us the option to go long and play off him. If we get him, Aluko and Barrow on the pitch and also get midfielders such as Swift and Edwards arriving in the box then we will score goals without doubt. There is hope !

Are we not in danger of falling for the common trap that the longer a payer is out of action, the greater his reputation grows?
Yann did well for us in the second part of last season but will he be as effective being one year older and having had major surgery?
With flying machines like Aluko and Barrow in the side will he have the pace and energy to keep up with play and put chances away?
I hope that we find out sooner rather than later so that the manager can try again if necessary in the next transfer window to bring in a striker-it's early days but Bod so far has not looked the answer.
In fairness neither did Yann when he first came but at least he had a record for being a goalscorer.

[Lower West]

Are we not in danger of falling for the common trap that the longer a payer is out of action, the greater his reputation grows?
Yann did well for us in the second part of last season but will he be as effective being one year older and having had major surgery?
With flying machines like Aluko and Barrow in the side will he have the pace and energy to keep up with play and put chances away?
I hope that we find out sooner rather than later so that the manager can try again if necessary in the next transfer window to bring in a striker-it's early days but Bod so far has not looked the answer.
In fairness neither did Yann when he first came but at least he had a record for being a goalscorer.

If he can play like Sheringham did in his latter years. Then Yann will be the perfect foil. Let the rest of the team do the legwork.

[Oilroyal]

Are we not in danger of falling for the common trap that the longer a payer is out of action, the greater his reputation grows?
Yann did well for us in the second part of last season but will he be as effective being one year older and having had major surgery?
With flying machines like Aluko and Barrow in the side will he have the pace and energy to keep up with play and put chances away?
I hope that we find out sooner rather than later so that the manager can try again if necessary in the next transfer window to bring in a striker-it's early days but Bod so far has not looked the answer.
In fairness neither did Yann when he first came but at least he had a record for being a goalscorer.

If he can play like Sheringham did in his latter years. Then Yann will be the perfect foil. Let the rest of the team do the legwork.

We need him back. Yann’s return will not only lift the players on the pitch but the fans as well.

[Hound]

Yann didn't really rely on his pace anyway. He won't have lost anything much by being a year older. Said this before but being 35 rather than 34 is pretty immaterial

The major surgery concerns me more, but suppose we'll have to wait and see. Be certainly good to have him back. One thing the start of this season has shown is just how good he was after Christmas last year

[muirinho]

So boring , did we have a shot on target ? I think if we were still playing this next day we'd have not scored. Stam's negative boring tactics is seeing his halo starting to lose it's shine.

9 shots to Swansea's 10

4 on target each

[muirinho]

Bacuna is a growing influence everytime I see him play.

Club should slash ticket prices to a fiver for cup games. Devoid of an atmosphere games such as this will be flat.

There's nothing really between £5 and £10. I mean - I know it's double, but it's only an extra fiver. People didn't come because they weren't interested in the game, not because it cost too much money.

[Gunny Fishcake]

So boring , did we have a shot on target ? I think if we were still playing this next day we'd have not scored. Stam's negative boring tactics is seeing his halo starting to lose it's shine.

9 shots to Swansea's 10

4 on target each

I must have been asleep when we had ours

[genome]

Someone raised the issue yesterday - did we need to sign quite as many players as we have in the summer? Maybe it has disrupted the team for now, until if/when they settle in and results hopefully improve.

What was our outlay, like £15m? Would've been better spent on a goalie, a midfielder (to replace Al-Habsi and Williams - which I think Mannone and Bacuna have been good replacements for), a quick winger and a striker to supplement the squad that already had momentum

[CountryRoyal]

It's a good point but hindsight is a wonderful thing. Everyone was lamenting our business, bar the lack of striker, happy that we've now got genuine competition and "could field two competitive sides".

Not quite going to plan. Football is a fickle game and it's amazing what a few bad results and performances will do. At the moment it's a bit worrying but we can't have gone from promotion runners up to relegation candidates in a few months. Hopefully we will turn it round but the longer this continues the harder it's going to be.

[10539.4 Miles Away]

So boring , did we have a shot on target ? I think if we were still playing this next day we'd have not scored. Stam's negative boring tactics is seeing his halo starting to lose it's shine.

9 shots to Swansea's 10

4 on target each

I must have been asleep when we had ours

And if you watch the official highlights, on our own website, then you'll see 5 of Swansea shots and only one of ours. If you watch the sky highlights (both 2 mins long) then you'll actually see 4 of ours and only 3 of theirs, including the goals. Perhaps our video editor had also fallen asleep during ours.

[SCIAG]

Quietly assuring performance. There was only a narrow margin between us and Swansea, which bodes well for the future.

Our build up play has also improved significantly. Movement off the ball from all players is now much better. Our issue last night, as everyone has acknowledged, was the lack of a striker. We got into good positions when Swansea made mistakes, but we didn't have someone to finish off the chances. Bod or Aluko could have made a big difference.

[3points]

FWIW I thought we were dreadful in the second half. First 15-20 minutes I really enjoyed and thought it was going to be an end to end cracker of a game. Then they had a couple of chances on the break (and I think we were lucky the lino gave a foul on Obita as I thought it wasn't and probably off-sets his interception for the second goal) and we seemed to shut up our attacking intent a bit and Obita started playing slightly deeper. Once they scored it was always game over.

Swift was terrible as was Clement (who looks lost on the left - his best position seems to be more central). I sat in the Lower West last night close to Stam (usually I'm an ED spectator) and it was really interesting to watch his frustrations show with those two players. He pulled Swift because he lost possession 3 times in about 90 seconds and had had enough of him. Popa looks like he can't do anything without first getting approval from either Stam or Gunter but was very surprised he got subbed and not Clement.

I'm usually a big George Evans fan, but I can really see why Stam plays Joey over Evans after last night. He's very tidy but didn't make anything happen in the second half. Bacuna played well and should definitely start against Hull.

Stam's post match comments didn't reflect his performance on the touchline. He was very frustrated that the players kept taking the wrong (or too safe) option. I bet he gives them a good grilling at training today.

[Snowflake Royal]

Quietly assuring performance. There was only a narrow margin between us and Swansea, which bodes well for the future.

Our build up play has also improved significantly. Movement off the ball from all players is now much better. Our issue last night, as everyone has acknowledged, was the lack of a striker. We got into good positions when Swansea made mistakes, but we didn't have someone to finish off the chances. Bod or Aluko could have made a big difference.

[ILoveMoonPig]

I actually thought we were pretty good, considering that it was really about getting match fitness for the injury-returning players.

We gave it a good go, came close to scoring a few times.

Funny to see how Swansea still play the same football they were under BR. Break quickly or else just try to draw a foul in or around the box.

Silly to lose a second goal like that, but you could hardly claim we deserved to win.

We were never going to win the cup, so really, who cares?

[John Smith]

Anyone coming on here slating Stam needs their head checking.

He got a bunch of jokers to the brink last season and now you're calling for his head after losing a League Cup game in which the ref scored the 2nd. Embarrassing and disgraceful.