Swans v Brentford

[Yankee_Jack]

Dear o’ Dear, where to begin. There’s urgency and there’s haste and we have been too often on the wrong side of that line.

The first goal was a peach, no complaints. The second was ridiculous to concede, a gift from nothing. Brentford are tidy but we’re making them look too tidy and the score flatters.

Peterson has looked threatening. His best game to date. Dhanda has done well, he’s getting into scoring positions. Fulton looks more energetic than usual.

I’m listening to Giles on the half-time commentary my observations contradict his.

 

[Yankee_Jack]

Celina on for Dhanda
Byers on for Fulton

Don’t get this at all

 

[Yankee_Jack]

Celina as #10 role.

 

[Yankee_Jack]

Ouch. Devastating strike from outside the box. Woodman didn’t move, should have done much better.

We concede so easily.

Barnsley game with a much better opponent, we flatter to deceive and the only ones deceived are ourselves

 

[Yankee_Jack]

Ayew now playing up and down the middle of the park.

 

[Yankee_Jack]

Borja off for Surridge.

This is going to take one hell of a come back

 

[Yankee_Jack]

The one glaring fact that I’m sure @CroJack cam substantiate with the appropriate charts, is this .... all of our threat came down the left hand side, with the vast majority of that thanks to Peterson who never gave up attacking the defense. And the balance from Bidwell.
Down the right side there was next to nothing, actually I’ll bet absolutely nothing. In comparison to Peterson, Ayew provides zero threat down the right side, and most importantly does absolutely nothing to bring Roberts into the play, which nullifies the bona fife threat of Roberts. So it’s a double zero, We can’t play like we’re paralyzed down one side.

I have written copiously about the last few weeks in another thread and about Ayew. For tonight’s game .... ditto all that. After watching tonight i am absolutely convinced that Ayew is either played at #9 or he sits on the bench. Routs or Dyer would be a dramatic improvement on the right side, a genuine threat in their own right, and both would activate Roberts. If you play Ayew, then Borja sits, it’s simple, but there’s no other rational option. Our goal scoring has disappeared since the reappearance of Ayew.

Celina must never play left wing again. Peterson has demonstrated that he is capable of being purposeful and threatening on the left side. We must persevere with Peterson. He’s capable and did more to create in this match than Celina in his last few.

 

[Borini]

That was diabolical. Two goals gifted by dreadful passes. Cardiff are absolute rubbish, and they will hammer us on Sunday. If Ayew is dropped we may have some shape and take the game to them. If he plays it must be as a 9 or 10. This cannot go on any longer. Peterson did well , if we have Routs or Dyer on the other side we will destroy the scum.

 

[ivoralljack]

if we have Routs or Dyer on the other side we will destroy the scum.

I'm not sure that this team of ours is capable of destroying any side the way it's been playing. Tonight we plumbed the depths of sheer awfulness. I need to get my thoughts together before saying too much right now but suffice to say that @Jackflash and myself watched the punters pouring out of the ground long before the end. I spoke to quite a few whilst waiting for JF to take his turn after me in the bog and their disgust and bad language at that utter travesty of a performance was too vitriolic to post here. Seriously.

I'm still seething about it myself. JF made a round trip of 140 miles to watch that crap and still won't be home as I write this!! And I can confidently say that there was better looking crap in the bog than that shithouse of a display that our team served up tonight. There was no skill, no pace, no cohesion, no accuracy, no passion, no visible pattern of play and absolutely no thought involved in what they were doing. To say that they were a disgrace is letting them off lightly. They looked as though they had never seen a football before and playing with a bunch of strangers they had never set eyes on.

One man is responsible for this and he'd better start putting it right else it won't be Christmas cards he'll be getting, it'll be his employment cards.

 

[KVetch]

That was absolutely horrific. I hope those 39 bodies have nothing to do with this match. What is going on, driver came through Holyhead in Wales.

 

[KVetch]

I'm not sure that this team of ours is capable of destroying any side the way it's been playing. Tonight we plumbed the depths of sheer awfulness. I need to get my thoughts together before saying too much right now but suffice to say that @Jackflash and myself watched the punters pouring out of the ground long before the end. I spoke to quite a few whilst waiting for JF to take his turn after me in the bog and their disgust and bad language at that utter travesty of a performance was too vitriolic to post here. Seriously.

I'm still seething about it myself. JF made a round trip of 140 miles to watch that crap and still won't be home as I write this!! And I can confidently say that there was better looking crap in the bog than that shithouse of a display that our team served up tonight. There was no skill, no pace, no cohesion, no accuracy, no passion, no visible pattern of play and absolutely no thought involved in what they were doing. To say that they were a disgrace is letting them off lightly. They looked as though they had never seen a football before and playing with a bunch of strangers they had never set eyes on.

One man is responsible for this and he'd better start putting it right else it won't be Christmas cards he'll be getting, it'll be his employment cards.

I feel for you, I hope this fires them up for Sunday. Have to get up for that match. Who's in charge of that dressing room?

 

[KVetch]

Video live now on iOS

I thought it was just me. Caught all 3 goals though. Hate paying for that. I'm going to try and make a London match Millwall or Reading but would rather be in Swansea.

 

[KVetch]

The one glaring fact that I’m sure @CroJack cam substantiate with the appropriate charts, is this .... all of our threat came down the left hand side, with the vast majority of that thanks to Peterson who never gave up attacking the defense. And the balance from Bidwell.
Down the right side there was next to nothing, actually I’ll bet absolutely nothing. In comparison to Peterson, Ayew provides zero threat down the right side, and most importantly does absolutely nothing to bring Roberts into the play, which nullifies the bona fife threat of Roberts. So it’s a double zero, We can’t play like we’re paralyzed down one side.

I have written copiously about the last few weeks in another thread and about Ayew. For tonight’s game .... ditto all that. After watching tonight i am absolutely convinced that Ayew is either played at #9 or he sits on the bench. Routs or Dyer would be a dramatic improvement on the right side, a genuine threat in their own right, and both would activate Roberts. If you play Ayew, then Borja sits, it’s simple, but there’s no other rational option. Our goal scoring has disappeared since the reappearance of Ayew.

Celina must never play left wing again. Peterson has demonstrated that he is capable of being purposeful and threatening on the left side. We must persevere with Peterson. He’s capable and did more to create in this match than Celina in his last few.

Peterson played like a man trying to earn minutes. There have been way too many poorly aimed crosses, through balls that go to no one, they say no communication but this is stuff you need have down in practice. I know they can do better. I haven't forgotten the first few matches where they looked like a team. Byers has a good shot, where do you put him.

 

[Yankee_Jack]

I feel for you, I hope this fires them up for Sunday. Have to get up for that match. Who's in charge of that dressing room?

This I think is one issue, although not the critical on. It should be Grimes. Last season it was Fer / VdH. In hind sight, a big mistake shifting the captaincy away from VdH, I don't see Grimes being that vocal on the field and his performances of late have not been sufficient leadership by example to get the other slackers to buck up. Grimes is not going to give Ayew or Borja any lip ... VdH on the other hand, a look would suffice.

 

[Yankee_Jack]

Peterson played like a man trying to earn minutes. There have been way too many poorly aimed crosses, through balls that go to no one, they say no communication but this is stuff you need have down in practice. I know they can do better. I haven't forgotten the first few matches where they looked like a team. Byers has a good shot, where do you put him.

Peterson provided a glimmer of hope on a dreary night. He kept willing to have a go, not slow to cross, nor cut inside and shoot. He's got the tools; he just needs the minutes.

Grimes, Fulton, Byers ... Celina drifts in and out but is capable of a little bit of magic when he's "in". Grimes and Fulton with Byers as #10 looks the like our most solid, functional, and dependable midfield trio. Dhanda was busy around their box in the first half - I was surprised to see him and Fulton taken off. I'm not sure that Byers offered more than Fulton.

There appear to be a few untouchables in the team at the moment ... Ayew being one of them. Harping on about him again, but to dredge up a phrase used long ago with Shelvey, he's a bit of a square peg trying to be hammered into a round hole and its proving futile.

 

[Borini]

Dhanda was rubbish... An absolute disgrace..he only made about 3 or 4 passes and just waltzed around avoiding the play or having to tackle. Hope he never gets picked again.
It is not Ayew's fault he is picked out wide that is down to blooperman. It is Ayew's fault that he has no positional discipline. He should only be picked as a 9 or false 9 and never ever asked to play wide. We have loads of proper wingers. Play them and we will be fine. Best Team ....not best 11 players. That is how we were successful, we were a team not a bunch of posers.

 

[ivoralljack]

Here are the WOL ratings for that shower of shite last night. Can never remember them being as bad/low as this and I do mean 'never'. Had to go to the hospital today for the 6 monthly check on my cancer: I was pronounced 'still clear', or undetectable, so at least I've had some good news. The bad news is that they've found some blood clots on my legs, so I've been told to keep my walking to an absolute minimum (Hector will be pissed off) until they can get me in to do further checks, which means I miss Cardiff. Is that good or bad? I guess I'll know come 2 pm ish on the day.

The Swans player ratings as substituted pair sum up Brentford defeat

 

[ivoralljack]

My take on the game is that we now seem to have a wankfest of a midfield and that's being kind. Look at the ratings, which incidentally I regard as inflated in some cases. Fulton got a 3 and was hooked at the break. Dhanda also got a 3 and Grimes 'excelled' with a 4 !! How in all that's Holy are we going to win football matches with performances like that? Byers got a 5 when he came on and I thought that was generous given some of his atrocious passing, whilst Celina just about merited his 5. Hardly glowing is it? Especially when any promotion aspiring team requires its midfielders to be turning in a minimum of 7 in game after game. Mr Cooper's silence on this subject is deafening.

Our defenders were little better averaging a lofty 4.5 and Rodon's gift for their 3rd goal summed them up. Perhaps he'd better get his head out of the clouds because if he continues with performances like that, the Premier League clubs touted to be interested in him wouldn't even have him in their THIRD team - unless, of course, they felt able to coach his natural talent to a better level, which I doubt Cooper can do from what I'm seeing.

As for the attack, whilst Ayew (5) divides opinion, there is no doubting his quality and there's no doubting his effort to TRY AND MAKE THINGS HAPPEN. Okay, I get that he's indisciplined in terms of keeping his position and the team's shape but think on, he just might be playing to Cooper's brief as a loose cannon to confuse opposing defenders by popping up in different postions. I get that in doing so he often leaves Roberts exposed but you can't have everything and, anyway, Roberts has to start making a better fist of doing his own job imo. But bear in mind that before this game Ayew had scored 3 in 3. Anyone else scoring lately?

Now on to poor Borja who rated a 4. Whose fault is that? Sure as Hell I wouldn't like to exist on the chances that our midfield create. They are plain fcuking useless!! Fair enough he failed to sort his feet with one good chance and blew it but that happens to any striker PARTICULARLY when the chances he gets these days are as rare as hens' teeth. He did alright early doors in the season when he scored a few but as our midfield go from bad to worse, so his chances have dried up. As for Peterson (5) he did at least offer some glimpses of what he can do, seemed to be our most potent threat and gave me the impression that he could come good for us providing he gets the minutes under his belt.

Now on to Steve Cooper. For many reasons I want him to succeed but right now I don't see it. His early results may well have come about as a legacy of the work Graham Potter had done (hate to admit that) but the stark, indisputable fact is that, as the season has progressed, our results and performances have regressed into something approaching relegation form.

And that is where I feel we are at. Early in the season we picked up results despite being nowhere near our best. And I took heart from this because we all know the old adage that it's a good sign when a team picks up points despite playing poorly because, when it does begin to show true form, the results will get even better. My worry now is that we are seeing our true form and it doesn't bode well because our play has plunged the depths of awfulness and I don't see that Cooper has the nous to do anything about it. He's learning about Championship football on the hoof but the team is suffering because he lacks the experience to deal with what's happening.

So, based on the past few games, I've revised my expectations from us being genuine promotion contenders to believing that, unless Cooper gets a grip pretty soon, we will be fighting to stay in this division. The sad thing is that there IS enough talent and ability in our squad to do really well but Cooper, at this point in time, appears to have little idea how to use it. Perhaps one of the emerging breed of German managers might. Just a thought.

 

[Yankee_Jack]

Cooper's post match interview was as uninspiring as BoBo's or Clements or Monks when we were suffering.

We don't have a leader on the field. We don't have a leader in Cooper. He's not motivating players to be their best and whatever is going on in his head during matches solutions are not popping up. I have to compare him to Potter and Potter would make 5 or 6 tactical moves in a match ... Cooper can barely make one. Remember, when Potter played Grimes in 5 or so roles against City in the cup and he did every one absolutely brilliantly. With Cooper ... never going to happen.

On the basis of performances over the last few weeks, and Cooper's persistence that he picks the team he thinks can do the best, then what the hell is going on in training. What is he seeing there that convinces him that Dhanda is better at #10 than Routs or Celina or Byers. Clearly, McKay has disappeared into the boot room. And, that Routs is best on the bench. Garrick who can murder opposition given the chance wasn't dressed for the Brentford match.

I'm almost hoping that Ayew clocks somebody on Sunday, gets a straight red, and gives us 3 matches to reset and reboot. Not that I wish him ill, but Cooper is not going to put him at #9 or play him at #10, or do anything to right our imbalance up front and down the right side. And we could wait until hell freezes over, but there is absolutely no sign whatsoever that Borja and Ayew have ever met each other never mind practiced together.

Roberts is a naturally offensive minded RB. He was wants to get forward, he wants to work combinations, he wants to get into the opposition's box, but with Ayew AWOL on the right hand side for most of the game that's not possible for him. We may has well be playing any old RB.

Is there anybody on here that has watched training. Can anybody comment on what the hell is going on.

 

[Jackflash]

Have had to scroll back 70 years to try and equal such a disapointing performance, Swansea supporters are reputed to be among the most supportive to the club. The booing at half time was quite resounding from the converted. It was impossible to establish anything that resembled a game plan,meanwhile Cooper sat out best part of the game in the dugout,the amount of misplaced passes were beyond any thing one would expect to see in a Sunday pub game. The entire team seemed to be disorientated, as if they'd never played together.To whom does the finger point for these recently worsening performances, For me it's the manager who is vastly inexperienced at this level of football,on his initial appointment he seems to have issued the orders "as you were" (Potters game plans) Then began to introduce his own ideas on Championship Football, hence the slow development of our downhill spiral.This now needs nipping at the bud one way or another,either he seeks some advice from those that have the T shirt,or admit defeat and walk, Being honest I'd prefer the later, before this rot becomes the norm as it did with Monk.