Robins come to play

[ivoralljack]

glad you had a great day out despite the quality of the football.

Not so sure it was as great for LadyGG though! She tends to be 'Rainbowesqe' about her view of the Swans and, if you remember, Rainbow used to take it very badly if she read any criticism of the team. Trouble is, whenever I watch football, particularly the Swans as I care so much, I tend to wear my coach's hat even though it's been many, many years since I did that.

If a player does what's expected I mentally shrug because that's his job as a professional footballer. He's supposed to do it. But others around me applaud enthusiastically, so it seems I lack enthusiasm when I don't. But then I see something obviously poor and I rant about it, call it out. So my fellow supporters think I'm there just to find fault and I'm sure LadyGG shares that view at times. I think she enjoys it more with her usual partner who's not so critical. Mind you, when I see something good, I'm on my feet clapping and cheering as loudly as anyone. It's how I'm wired. I call it as I see it.

I should also add that LadyGG knows her football (so she should, she's related to both the Allchurch and Charles families!!). In addition she's a highly intelligent person who grasps things extremely quickly and often makes highly pertinent observations about what's going on.

 

[The Blobster]

The only thing I can say is that we are now in the bottom 3 in the table . Yes , we are in the relegation zone ,with a manager whose after game comments clearly showed his lack of understanding as to what the next fixture means to the vast majority of our fan base, I was prepared to give him 12 games to bed the team in but after today I strongly suspect that if we lose to the scum most of our fans and possibly our management team will be calling for Duffs removal .
Retrospectively, I think it may be better to remove him now .

 

[CroJack]

If a player does what's expected I mentally shrug because that's his job as a professional footballer. He's supposed to do it.
But then I see something obviously poor and I rant about it, call it out.
Mind you, when I see something good, I'm on my feet clapping and cheering as loudly as anyone. It's how I'm wired. I call it as I see it.

That's how it should be. No bullshit approach. They can get their reward if they deserve it.

 

[CroJack]

I don't, and I will never accept this "give him ten games" crap. He has had his pre-season.

This is what a good manager and a true leader would do:

1. He would use the first 5 days of his appointment (while all his players are still on holiday) to watch every Swansea game from the last two seasons and analyse it all.

2. He would get rid of the players who lack pace.

3. He would get rid of the players who can't or won't run.

4. He would get rid of the players who lack basic skills.

5. He would get rid of the players who are physically weak.

6. He would get rid of the players who are mentally weak.

7. If it means getting rid of the whole squad, so be it.

8. He would have a good look at our academy players and see if he could find some players there.

9. He would tell the club hierarchy to spend 90% of the transfer budget on four wingers, two attacking midfielders and two strikers, because these players should have something more than the attributes mentioned in 2-6, and that's creativity, technical ability and goal-scoring instinct. Any other player in the squad can be a runner, but the four attacking players should be able to create and score a lot of goals.

10. He would give Paul Watson a list of players who have all the attributes mentioned in 2 - 6 with a deadline of 1 July. No loans, only permanent signings. Wherever they come from (lower leagues, other clubs' academies, USA, Zimbabwe...), the deadline has to be met so that he can have a full squad to start pre-season on 1 July.

11. It would take him a month of pre-season to put all his ideas into practice and everyone would be able to see the style of football he plays from the very first game of the season. High-pressing, gegen-pressing, high intensity, high tempo, attacking and defending as a team, creativity up front, forward passing and ball carries...

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We saw yesterday how Bristol's pace, runs, skill, physicality and mental strength tore the Swans apart. Nigel Pearson is a tough guy, he won't take any nonsense. We must not forget that it was Nigel Pearson, not Claudio Ranieri, who was the architect of Leicester's title-winning team.

 

[ivoralljack]

Duff reckoned that we didn't run hard enough and he's right. But whose job is it to get the players to run....... and a whole lot more? With the incoming players Duff said the season starts now but, if he can't get his existing players to run and work, what makes him think he'll have any more success with the new guys? There's a malaise about our team right now and I think Duff (and his methods) is the cause. What he's trying to do is obviously not working; obvious, that is, to almost everyone but him. He's a lower league manager with lower league experience and a lower league mentality.

He's been out-thought by the manager of every team we've faced so far. Nigel Pearson, Bristol's manager, is decent enough but he's not the world beater our team made him out to be yesterday. They were quicker, slicker, better organised than us but we allowed them to be because our lot didn't have a fcuking clue what they were supposed to be doing and that is down to Duff. Some stats if you can bear to read them.

POSSESSION: 61-39 SHOTS: 12-16 OT: 4-4 CORNERS: 4-8 FOULS: 13-17 GOALS: 1-2

 

[CroJack]

Here are the highlights from yesterday's game. As you can see, despite our poor performance, we created a lot of chances. Just like in the previous 4 games. Not to forget a clear penalty that was not given to us.

 

[CroJack]

Here are our chances:

Cullen's first chance. There is no goalkeeper between the posts, so he has to take a one-touch shot. How difficult is it to find an open goal from 18 yards out? So what does he do? He turns and gives one of the Bristol defenders enough time to block his shot.





Here is our second chance. Cullen scores an excellent goal.



Here is another Cullen's big chance created by Ginnelly. The angle of the camera is not optimal here, but this is a really good chance:



Here is Cabango's chance. He hit the inside of the post and was a few inches away from scoring.

 

[CroJack]

Cabango's chance from another angle. Bristol goalie is watching the ball and can't do anything.



A clear penalty not awarded to us. It's difficult to see it in this screenshot, but it was a penalty. No doubt about it.



And it was Darling who had our last real chance with a towering header in the dying minutes of the game.



It's actually incredible how many good chances we created despite playing like 11 strangers.

 

[CroJack]

And who was responsible for the goals and chances we conceded? Mostly Key, Wood, and Naughton.

1. Patino gives the ball away in Bristol half. Still not much to worry about.



But look what Key is doing here. He's not following his man and he's doing something he shouldn't be doing. He is trying to help. A few days ago I wrote about this 'helper's syndrome' that our defenders suffer from. Mark your man and don't try to 'help'!




And Bristol scores their first goal. Lazy Wood gets dribbled past in our box.



Key dribbled past here.



Lazy Wood not closing down the Bristol player who puts in a low cross. Cabango and Naugton are not closing down their men.

 

[CroJack]

And an easy goal.

 

[CroJack]

Good night.

 

[lliwt yr lavac]

Our defence was badly exposed yesterday, especially Wood, who was very poor. Is he throwing his toys out of the pram because he didn’t get his Southampton move?
The wing-backs were too far forward and not covering left and right centre-backs, the huge gap between midfield and defence was leaving our sluggish back three wide open to the pace of their wingers.
On the positive side, looking at the highlights we did create a few good chances to recover the situation and on another day we would have had a penalty. Also, we signed some quality defenders on deadline day and need them to be integrated into the team during the two week break so they are up and running for the derby.

 

[Yankee_Jack]

Cabango is away with Wales, so he is likely to be on the bench or in the stands when he gets back at best since Duff is going to be crafting a system with the others. That leaves Wood and Darling and I’m not going to mention Naughton (just did) at CB. Humphries has got to be worth a start as do one of the others we’ve just acquired … otherwise what’s the point.

the big question is about the number of CBs on the field. Can Duff play with two and use Ginnelly and Lowe in their natural positions. We don’t need FBs to be jack of all trades if we play with proper wingers.

 

[Yankee_Jack]

There’s an obvious question to be considered.

Madness concluded the season with a winning streak that demonstrated the potential of the squad. Duffer has taken largely the same squad over five games and done jack shit with it. Manning and Lati were replaced with Key and Ashby. We’ve missed Piroe for one match. We’ve replaced Fisher.

what does this say about Duffer and Madness. Did Madness get the squad to perform way above their mean at the end of last season and now we’re seeing the squad’s true self or rather the squad reverting to the abysmal run in the middle of last season. Or is Duffer exactly that and he’s just not connecting with the squad, nor performing adequately on match management.

thoughts?

 

[jackodiamonds]

I'm probably beating @CroJack to the point here, but Martin got good results when he switched to the back 4. Duff has reverted to a back 3, which Martin also struggled to get a tune out of. It's no surprise - a quick look at the squad says central defence is the weakest position, and yet Duff's system puts an additional CB out there at the expense of a mid or forward, positions where the team has quality.

The back 3 only works with very high-level wing backs. With such players, it becomes more than the sum of its parts, as you have 2 wing backs doing the job of 4 players (2 full backs and 2 wingers). With more ordinary players at wing back, it becomes less than the sum of its parts, as you have 2 wing backs who neither defend as well as dedicated full backs or attack as well as dedicated wingers.

It's a garbage system which is ill-suited to the current squad and the sooner Duff realises the better. Sadly, based on his previous history, it looks like he might only know one shape.

 

[Yankee_Jack]

It’s hard enough to find box to box midfield players, it’s harder still to find to box to box wing backs.

 

[CroJack]

4-2-3-1 (Rodgers, Laudrup)

Paterson/Lowe --> left wing
Ginnelly/Cullen --> right wing
Cullen/Yates/Lowe/Ginnelly/Big Mick up front
Cooper/Paterson/Ginnelly/Patino --> ATM
Grimes/Fulton/Allen/Patino --> defensive/central midfield
Pedersen/Humpreys --> LCB
Darling/Wood/Cabango --> RCB
Key/Ashby --> right full-back
Tymon/Tjoe --> left full-back.

4-1-2-3 (Klopp, Pep)

The same four at the back
Grimes/Allen/Fulton/Patino --> one of them as a defensive midfielder
Patino/Paterson/Cooper/Fulton/Allen --> two of them as attacking midfielders
Paterson, Yates, Cullen, Big Mick, Ginnelly, Lowe --> three of them up front

4-1-4-1 (Bielsa)

The same four at the back
Grimes/Allen/Fulton --> one of them as a defensive midfielder
Lowe, Paterson, Allen, Fulton, Grimes, Cooper, Ginnelly --> four of them behind a lone striker
Big Mick, Yates, Cullen, Lowe, Ginnelly --> as a lone striker

We can play 4-3-3, 4-4-2, 4-2-2-2...

We have a good squad, we just need to get rid of that stupid 3-5-2 formation that is too defensive and play a four at the back.

 

[Yankee_Jack]

Same goes for Cullen and Cooper as Cabango, being away with Wales means that they are not going to be part of Duffer’s plans for the match against Cardiff. He’ll be working and planning around the remnants and new players. It puts the three at a disadvantage.