The Blobster
Prediction Champ
Cooper coming on , Yates pulled
Can we silence the Roker roar at the Liberty
- Thread starter The Blobster
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The Blobster
Prediction Champ
Cabango coming on , Patto pulled.
You echo exactly what I've said many times before here. He's not tall, not physical, not fast nor has he much trickery to beat a man. But he knows how to score goals and, the last time I looked, that was the purpose of a game of football. But, as I said earlier in the thread, most managers are too stupid or ignorant or short-sighted to see this. Cameron Toshack wasn't, which is why I think he'd be light years better than Duff.Duff likes "big men up front", which is why we have Yates, Lowe and Big Myk. Cullen isn't big, so Duff can't see him as a #9. Yates isn't that big in terms of height, but he's more bullish and physical than Cullen. I'm sure Duff wouldn't even play Cullen on the wing if there was anyone with decent speed in the squad to play there instead.
Cullen's an interesting case - he's not big, he's not strong, he's not fast, but he can score. He reads the game well, puts himself in exactly the right places, and can shoot. He's a #9 and really not much of anything else, but his limitations elsewhere on the field should be irrelevant when he can score goals. Every team needs a natural scorer, and Swansea have one. Playing on the right wing. And sometimes in defensive midfield
Duff was also married to the back three when he arrived and he's had to change his mind about that, so maybe there's hope for Cullen yet.
Just the sort of thing we'd do though. But it's been a very good defensive effort so far in the second half.
Victoria Swan
Key Player
Up yours Madeley! That's what this result says.
The Blobster
Prediction Champ
Great point , but could have been 3 , I don't want to see Lowe take anymore penalties.
Yankee_Jack
Key Player
With 11, we were total shit and didn’t deserve a thing. A man down, we earned the point and could/should have had 3 with the penalty
Yes, a good defensive effort and a worthy point at the end. Lucky that the Mackems' strikers were as useless as those at Blackburn! Agree that should be the last penalty that Lowe ever takes for us and I don't give a fuck if he is on a goal bonus. The 3 points are worth more to us. But for most of the game Sunderland, from what I gather, played the type of football that we should aspire to. I've seen them play before and knew that they were good as I said at the top of the thread - up to the strikers that is. They should buy Cullen because we don't seem to want him and Tony Mowbray is canny enough to use him properly, unlike Duff who ain't got a clue. And that's our problem. Duff is neither experienced enough or good enough to improve us as a team. I've now seen enough of his so-called footballing nous and we'll go nowhere with him at the helm. He's far too limited and I'm hoping the Liberty suits have seen that and are getting prepared to bite the bullet and pay him off.
Not much to add to what's already been posted. We defended superbly well after imo a heavily biased referee reduced us to 10 men. But let's face facts; before the sending off we were being comprehensively outplayed and that is down to Duff. Some stats, which have been distorted by the amount of time we had to play against a good team with just 10 men.
POSSESSION: 29-71 SHOTS: 3-25 OT: 2-3 CORNERS: 2-8 FOULS: 13-12 GOALS: 0-0
Had Sunderland put on their shooting boots we'd have been slaughtered. As it was, 3 from 25 was shabby from them and lucky for us.
POSSESSION: 29-71 SHOTS: 3-25 OT: 2-3 CORNERS: 2-8 FOULS: 13-12 GOALS: 0-0
Had Sunderland put on their shooting boots we'd have been slaughtered. As it was, 3 from 25 was shabby from them and lucky for us.
I doubt Duff's going anywhere anytime soon. The past 9 games (starting after the derby defeat at the end of that early losing streak) Swansea's record is 5 wins, 2 draws and 2 losses. That's near enough 1.9 points per game, 17 from a possible 27 and a win rate of 55%. If Swansea had been playing to this level all season they'd have 29 points and be third in the table. Those are solid figures, though I'm not sure the on-field performances deserve them. @CroJack - where does the team stand in terms of xG etc? Are Swansea riding their luck or secretly doing the important things well enough?
The Blobster
Prediction Champ
Riding their luck in the last 2 games !
Yankee_Jack
Key Player
The one thing that Sunderland exposed is that the midfield is as leaky as a sieve and the opposition pass and carry right through our lines like we're a bunch of ornaments.. Grimes and Patino with the faux midfield trio of Lowe/Paterson/Cullen just can't cut it.
Grimes / Patino are a decent duo, as would be Grimes / Fulton or Fulton / Patino. The trouble is with the three in front. They are not midfield players, have limited defensive skills, don't really know how to tackle and position, are not box to box and just don't have the work rate. We could carry Cullen and Lowe if we replaced Paterson with a work horse like Cooper. Cooper does known how to tackle, does get stuck in, works his balls off and can go box to box. An alternative would be to put Fulton there or move Grimes forward a line and play Fulton / Patino. But the current setup doesn't work. Most of the time Paterson stays high as if we're playing 442 and he doesn't have to defend.
We survived a man short, purely because it forced us to be more compact and organized and required less work from these three as a result. The compactness prevented Sunderland from playing through us.
Duffer is not the sharpest knife in the draw when it comes to putting a line-up together.
Grimes / Patino are a decent duo, as would be Grimes / Fulton or Fulton / Patino. The trouble is with the three in front. They are not midfield players, have limited defensive skills, don't really know how to tackle and position, are not box to box and just don't have the work rate. We could carry Cullen and Lowe if we replaced Paterson with a work horse like Cooper. Cooper does known how to tackle, does get stuck in, works his balls off and can go box to box. An alternative would be to put Fulton there or move Grimes forward a line and play Fulton / Patino. But the current setup doesn't work. Most of the time Paterson stays high as if we're playing 442 and he doesn't have to defend.
We survived a man short, purely because it forced us to be more compact and organized and required less work from these three as a result. The compactness prevented Sunderland from playing through us.
Duffer is not the sharpest knife in the draw when it comes to putting a line-up together.
CroJack
Key Player
I'll have a look.
CroJack
Key Player
Disagree. They are not the problem. They run their socks off, they press, and are actually helping a lot in defence. The problem is our full-backs, the (lack of) quality in the squad, the lack of pace, Duff's formations and tactics. Especially the lack of pace at the back is killing us. We simply can't block crosses.
Yankee_Jack
Key Player
The general weaknesses notwithstanding ... the fact still remains is that we are playing with 2 functional deep midfield players and 3 in front that don't obstruct the opposition from playing through. Our two full backs went up against two of the best wingers in the league and acquitted themselves fairly well.
Yankee_Jack
Key Player
Are the club going to appeal Patino's red card.
The Blobster
Prediction Champ
I don't think you can appeal a 2 yellow dismissal, only a straight red .
It means he'll miss the Ipswich game and we'll need all hands to the pumps over there.