MATCHWATCH : Swansea City (h)

[South Coast Royal]

This has probably been posted elsewhere but it's quite entertaining.

Nice chap, does a good job, so fair play to him.

But seriously the smugness of the Swansea fans ripping the piss out of us for the playoff final. Thinking 4-1 is game set and match. Then all going silent looking at their phones. "I. Hate. Football."

Seems like they honestly believed they are playoff material and they were going to make it. We played and matched a very good team today with everything to play for. Well done boys.

I thought he was fine. An entertaining watch and he at least managed to pronounce “Madejski” properly unlike Courtney Friday.
In fairness his comments about them having a play off shout were justified as had they won yesterday they would be in the mix and let’s face it some of the teams up there are bang average.

They shouldn’t have taken off Downes who was completely controlling the game. He was finding space and we not closing him down.

Like you, very impressed by Downes and checked him out-bought from Ipswich for £1.5 million.
Seeing the young lad from Cardiff recently it hit home that, amongst other things, we have no one as good if (and we soon have to face up to the regrettable prospect ) we don't have Swift.

Much as I really enjoyed the game yesterday because we all like to see goals there needs to be a stern look at the overall defensive part of our game before there is any talk of doing much better in the near future.

When we were relegated from this level on 42 points we conceded 78 goals in the season.
So far, with 3 games still to play, we have conceded 82 goals.
On top of that we have conceded many, many more than any other side , including the bottom 3,at home.

Much as I like Holmes and McIntyre (how couldn't you?) and admire Yiadom's commitment there needs to be a review not just of the back 4 and keeper but how we defend as a team before we can contemplate doing better next time.

Having said all that , and we know that in sport generally the better defences bring better outcomes , yesterday was a real pleasure in the sun and Swansea played their part in a very open game and 4-4 is definitely preferable to a 0-0..

[windermereROYAL]

So to sum it up when not if Posh and Barnsley fail to win one of their remaining games or if we get the required points by then we are officially safe.

[windermereROYAL]

How SSN reported the last gasp goal.

https://mobile.twitter.com/SkyFootball/ ... SspPotlD3E

[Hound]

This has probably been posted elsewhere but it's quite entertaining.

Nice chap, does a good job, so fair play to him.

But seriously the smugness of the Swansea fans ripping the piss out of us for the playoff final. Thinking 4-1 is game set and match. Then all going silent looking at their phones. "I. Hate. Football."

Seems like they honestly believed they are playoff material and they were going to make it. We played and matched a very good team today with everything to play for. Well done boys.

I thought he was fine. An entertaining watch and he at least managed to pronounce “Madejski” properly unlike Courtney Friday.
In fairness his comments about them having a play off shout were justified as had they won yesterday they would be in the mix and let’s face it some of the teams up there are bang average.

They shouldn’t have taken off Downes who was completely controlling the game. He was finding space and we not closing him down.

Yeah good watch, funny though

Thought Downes was useful but a) struggled when we pressed him and b) started giving away fouls inc a yellow card - could have seen him being sent off. Suspect the latter is why they took him off

[John Madejski's Wallet]

This has probably been posted elsewhere but it's quite entertaining.

Nice chap, does a good job, so fair play to him.

But seriously the smugness of the Swansea fans ripping the piss out of us for the playoff final. Thinking 4-1 is game set and match. Then all going silent looking at their phones. "I. Hate. Football."

Seems like they honestly believed they are playoff material and they were going to make it. We played and matched a very good team today with everything to play for. Well done boys.

I thought he was fine. An entertaining watch and he at least managed to pronounce “Madejski” properly unlike Courtney Friday.
In fairness his comments about them having a play off shout were justified as had they won yesterday they would be in the mix and let’s face it some of the teams up there are bang average.

They shouldn’t have taken off Downes who was completely controlling the game. He was finding space and we not closing him down.

That was a very enjoyable watch

[Hound]

Drinkwater made 14 tackles in the game - impressive that. Won a lot of ball in midfield

[windermereROYAL]

Drinkwater made 14 tackles in the game - impressive that. Won a lot of ball in midfield

The improvement has been massive since clowno left.

[URZZZZ]

Drinkwater made 14 tackles in the game - impressive that. Won a lot of ball in midfield

The improvement has been massive since clowno left.

Yep - another decent game yesterday, excellent ball to Yiadom in the build up to the third. Pass set up the penalty and he put the cross in at the end

Did leave gaps in midfield at times mind, and partially at fault for their first by taking himself out of the game

[Zip]

Drinkwater made 14 tackles in the game - impressive that. Won a lot of ball in midfield

The improvement has been massive since clowno left.

Yep - another decent game yesterday, excellent ball to Yiadom in the build up to the third. Pass set up the penalty and he put the cross in at the end

Did leave gaps in midfield at times mind, and partially at fault for their first by taking himself out of the game

He also did a nice pass to Laurent building up to the pen.
The energy levels of the entire team were excellent in the second half too.

[Zip]

This has probably been posted elsewhere but it's quite entertaining.

Nice chap, does a good job, so fair play to him.

But seriously the smugness of the Swansea fans ripping the piss out of us for the playoff final. Thinking 4-1 is game set and match. Then all going silent looking at their phones. "I. Hate. Football."

Seems like they honestly believed they are playoff material and they were going to make it. We played and matched a very good team today with everything to play for. Well done boys.

I thought he was fine. An entertaining watch and he at least managed to pronounce “Madejski” properly unlike Courtney Friday.
In fairness his comments about them having a play off shout were justified as had they won yesterday they would be in the mix and let’s face it some of the teams up there are bang average.

They shouldn’t have taken off Downes who was completely controlling the game. He was finding space and we not closing him down.

Yeah good watch, funny though

Thought Downes was useful but a) struggled when we pressed him and b) started giving away fouls inc a yellow card - could have seen him being sent off. Suspect the latter is why they took him off

I think that’s why they took him off too. We gave him far too much time on the ball in the first half. He wasn’t so effective when we pressed in the second half.

[Snowflake Royal]

Do wonder if we’ll look back on this season as a bit of a ‘what if?’

So many injuries, Pauno stinking the place out for so long etc.

Adding a fit Meite, Swift and Ejaria to that side - it really does look a useful team. Absolute travesty we are where we are.

There is obviously far more quality in the side than the table suggests, it's just been a difficult season off the field which will have affected performances on the field like it tends to do with clubs.

Hopefully we can continue to have a strong end to the season and go again next season.

That's the story of our decade on the whole.

[paultheroyal]

Tom Ince was awesome yesterday. He's rivalling Salako and Upson as one of our best ever loan signings.

[Zip]

This has probably been posted elsewhere but it's quite entertaining.

Nice chap, does a good job, so fair play to him.

But seriously the smugness of the Swansea fans ripping the piss out of us for the playoff final. Thinking 4-1 is game set and match. Then all going silent looking at their phones. "I. Hate. Football."

Seems like they honestly believed they are playoff material and they were going to make it. We played and matched a very good team today with everything to play for. Well done boys.

I thought he was fine. An entertaining watch and he at least managed to pronounce “Madejski” properly unlike Courtney Friday.
In fairness his comments about them having a play off shout were justified as had they won yesterday they would be in the mix and let’s face it some of the teams up there are bang average.

They shouldn’t have taken off Downes who was completely controlling the game. He was finding space and we not closing him down.

Like you, very impressed by Downes and checked him out-bought from Ipswich for £1.5 million.
Seeing the young lad from Cardiff recently it hit home that, amongst other things, we have no one as good if (and we soon have to face up to the regrettable prospect ) we don't have Swift.

Much as I really enjoyed the game yesterday because we all like to see goals there needs to be a stern look at the overall defensive part of our game before there is any talk of doing much better in the near future.

When we were relegated from this level on 42 points we conceded 78 goals in the season.
So far, with 3 games still to play, we have conceded 82 goals.
On top of that we have conceded many, many more than any other side , including the bottom 3,at home.

Much as I like Holmes and McIntyre (how couldn't you?) and admire Yiadom's commitment there needs to be a review not just of the back 4 and keeper but how we defend as a team before we can contemplate doing better next time.

Having said all that , and we know that in sport generally the better defences bring better outcomes , yesterday was a real pleasure in the sun and Swansea played their part in a very open game and 4-4 is definitely preferable to a 0-0..

Yep I’m not sure of the last season we concede as many as this. It’s been a long long time. It’s not just down to the defence. Our set up was so poor under Pauno with teams finding it too easy to get the ball into attacking positions.

At this level players struggle when the opposition press. Yesterday was a perfect example of that. We stood off Swansea and allowed the likes of Downes time and space on the ball. In the second half we were much more in their faces and it paid off.

[stealthpapes]

Good the Grandstand theme was played at the end because it felt like a win.

It is a banger. Proper tune.

Anyway, that was fun. The minor negatives - why even have substitutes? the spell from 4-3 to the moment that last cross was hit was desperately poor - utterly and completely outweighed by one hopeful ball into the box, a knock down and someone finding just the space.

Brilliant.

[YorkshireRoyal99]

Good the Grandstand theme was played at the end because it felt like a win.

It is a banger. Proper tune.

Anyway, that was fun. The minor negatives - why even have substitutes? the spell from 4-3 to the moment that last cross was hit was desperately poor - utterly and completely outweighed by one hopeful ball into the box, a knock down and someone finding just the space.

Brilliant.

I thought that regarding the substitutions. All in vain now, but we didn't make any changes until less than 5 minutes to go when Meite came on. Saved ourselves in this game, but I feel like we will miss out on some points in games we are chasing.

[Stranded]

Good the Grandstand theme was played at the end because it felt like a win.

It is a banger. Proper tune.

Anyway, that was fun. The minor negatives - why even have substitutes? the spell from 4-3 to the moment that last cross was hit was desperately poor - utterly and completely outweighed by one hopeful ball into the box, a knock down and someone finding just the space.

Brilliant.

I thought that regarding the substitutions. All in vain now, but we didn't make any changes until less than 5 minutes to go when Meite came on. Saved ourselves in this game, but I feel like we will miss out on some points in games we are chasing.

I'm not sure what else could have been changed really. Maybe Barker or Halilovic for Ince? The obvious change was bringing on Meite and probably should have brought him a little bit earlier but no-one was playing badly and there wasn't really an option to switch it up as arguably any sub would have made the side worse.

[YorkshireRoyal99]

It is a banger. Proper tune.

Anyway, that was fun. The minor negatives - why even have substitutes? the spell from 4-3 to the moment that last cross was hit was desperately poor - utterly and completely outweighed by one hopeful ball into the box, a knock down and someone finding just the space.

Brilliant.

I thought that regarding the substitutions. All in vain now, but we didn't make any changes until less than 5 minutes to go when Meite came on. Saved ourselves in this game, but I feel like we will miss out on some points in games we are chasing.

I'm not sure what else could have been changed really. Maybe Barker or Halilovic for Ince? The obvious change was bringing on Meite and probably should have brought him a little bit earlier but no-one was playing badly and there wasn't really an option to switch it up as arguably any sub would have made the side worse.

I thought he could have maybe taken Drinkwater or TDB off potentially, just to throw an extra body forward. It will have obviously impacted the balance of the team, but we were chasing the game. Again, it's all a bit fruitful as we got something anyway, I just think being a bit braver and throwing a couple of attackers on the pitch when we are chasing the game may pay dividends. But if this is working as it is now, obviously don't change it.

[RoyalBlue]

This has probably been posted elsewhere but it's quite entertaining.

Nice chap, does a good job, so fair play to him.

But seriously the smugness of the Swansea fans ripping the piss out of us for the playoff final. Thinking 4-1 is game set and match. Then all going silent looking at their phones. "I. Hate. Football."

Seems like they honestly believed they are playoff material and they were going to make it. We played and matched a very good team today with everything to play for. Well done boys.

Agreed. Obviously a decent, passionate supporter, reacting exactly the same way I would've done in the situation, including accusing the ref of being a pratt and the opposition of diving for the penalty (at the time I thought Asst Ref got it right and I still think he did after watching replays). He highlighted that a few of our fans behaved like knobs but said that so did some of the Swans fans too. I'd happily have a few pints with him and talk football.

[Mr Angry]

Met a lot of decent Swans fans at the PO Final; I find it difficult to have any issues with them tbh.

[Franchise FC]

Met a lot of decent Swans fans at the PO Final; I find it difficult to have any issues with them tbh.

Compare and contrast to the Bolton fans in ‘95