Swans v Hull city

KVetch

Key Player
The two plays starting at 1:15 are nice. Dyer showing he was the man of the match winning the corner. I like the short corner, Hull was very lucky neither of those went in. The next play Bidwell had plenty of time to put in a perfect cross that again Hull was lucky didn't go in. Gives me hope Bidwell will turn out to be a good signing.
 

Yankee_Jack

Key Player
Bidwell seems ponderous and slow to me.
We shall see.
He showed a couple of times against Hull that he was willing to bust a gut to get forward, but didn't have an ounce of desire to get back in position when it all broke down. Can't have that ... in the old axiom - if you can't get back don't get forward.
 

CroJack

Key Player
He showed a couple of times against Hull that he was willing to bust a gut to get forward, but didn't have an ounce of desire to get back in position when it all broke down. Can't have that ... in the old axiom - if you can't get back don't get forward.
He doesn't have speed to do both, but to be fair to him he delivers some good crosses when he gets forward. Apart from the lack of pace he's been solid defensively in the pre-season and against Hull. His positioning and man-marking has been good, he can tackle and steal the ball, and his passing has been ok. He is an average full-back and that's ok with me as long as he stays average. Saying all that, I'd like John to be given a chance to develop.
 

Yankee_Jack

Key Player
@CroJack ... it’s got nothing to do with pace; it’s about desire. Pace determines how quickly you get back, but if you never start then you never arrive, And, you can’t tackle if you’re not there. In the two examples I recognized Bidwell never started, which is the issue that I have. He has pace to get forward quickly enough, but no desire to bust the gut required to get back when the move breaks down.

I don’t think John has that problem, I’d like to see him get his chance also.

A lot of new faces have just arrived, Cooper is going to want to play them ... he chose them, or approved their acquisition, he is motivated to play them. This means quite a few acknowledged performers will be sitting instead of playing while the new pennies get tarnished or prove their value.
 

ivoralljack

Grizzled Veteran
Staff member
A lot of new faces have just arrived, Cooper is going to want to play them ... he chose them, or approved their acquisition, he is motivated to play them. This means quite a few acknowledged performers will be sitting instead of playing while the new pennies get tarnished or prove their value.
This is where character and attitude come in. A famous manager once said that he looked for those attributes first rather than talent. Cooper's signings means that there will be competition for places. But that only holds true if the players concerned WANT to play rather than sit on the bench and go through the motions just to get their pay cheques.

If we have a squad of players all of whom WANT to be in the starting X1 then we would seem to be in a healthy state. Once Cooper knows who truly wants it then he can start fine tuning and identifying the players who are displaying the best form in their respective positions.
 

Jackflash

Midfield General
Staff member
Difficult to know what Cooper will do, will he play our know eleven,trying to get some points on the board before he start experimenting with the newbies, We will probably have close to 50 games ahead of us this season, time enough to assess them all,quite honestly I cant see the first eleven deviating too much from the Hull game.
 

Yankee_Jack

Key Player
The first assessment will be the league cup vs Northampton on the 13th. Throw some raw meat on the field there and let's see what happens. We can run that match for 45 with our regulars on the bench and newbies on the field and if there isn't cohesion and production then take the tie with our regulars.
 
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