Swansea v Brentford.

KVetch

Key Player
Unbelievable stuff from Hourihane. At least that kick. That's something we've needed for a long time. Have to wonder what could have happened if Cooper had taken off Naughton earlier. If I was managing a match like this one I would be careful with anyone on a yellow. But we got the point. Going to need a lot of wins to get back in automatics now.
 

KVetch

Key Player
Wildman had terrible kicks but made important saves. Better than losing 3-0 to Brentford. It's either them or us for 2nd. We're more likely to face Watford in a playoff imo.
 

ivoralljack

Grizzled Veteran
Staff member
Wow! Totally undeserved but I'll take it in lieu of the many times the polar opposite has been true. Steve Cooper and his players had better take a long, hard look at themselves after this shabby effort tonight. It lacked anything good of any note other than a sterling display from our defence. That said, the players have to ask themselves WHY they had to defend for so much of the game. Easy answer - they just didn't turn up and allowed Brentford to dictate the game from first to last. Not good enough by a long, long way and certainly not promotion form.

PS: Whilst we are indebted to Woody for a couple of good saves, I don't think I've ever seen such an abysmal keeper in terms of distribution. Pep Guardiola wouldn't even use him as a ballboy and the commentators just found it so poor they were making jokes about it before the end.
 

Yankee_Jack

Key Player
We are still second. We need to power forward. We didn't fight for every scrap this evening. This has to be nothing but going forward.
 

KVetch

Key Player
Brentford's final 2 matches of the season home to Watford and away to Bristol City. We are home to Derby and away to Watford. With our squad we should not be drawing to mid or bottom table sides. Once Hourihane and Morris get involved we can still play for automatic promotion.
 

IanABS94

Key Player
Missed the match as I was at work; it sounds like we set up to be defensive and only a freekick goal from Horry saved us?

Cooper needs to learn from this; yes Brentford have the ability to destroy teams that try and play out from the back but we also have a good squad and shouldn't be trying to sit deep. We're in 2nd place and need to be more proactive. This harkens back to the old Cooper who was always afraid of losing. I can only imagine that we're going to sit deep as hell vs Man City now when we should be attacking them. It sounds like we showed them far too much respect.
 

Jackflash

Midfield General
Staff member
Missed the match as I was at work; it sounds like we set up to be defensive and only a freekick goal from Horry saved us?

Cooper needs to learn from this; yes Brentford have the ability to destroy teams that try and play out from the back but we also have a good squad and shouldn't be trying to sit deep. We're in 2nd place and need to be more proactive. This harkens back to the old Cooper who was always afraid of losing. I can only imagine that we're going to sit deep as hell vs Man City now when we should be attacking them. It sounds like we showed them far too much respect.
I Agree with everything you say above Ian.
I think you can put it down to total inexperience, Cooper has never been in this situation before, not even in any senior league, let alone the Championship, pressing for promotion to the Premiership. It would seem he sees us as the underdog when we come up against formidable opponents .I feel we will suffer the same when we play Norwich, all of a sudden we have gone for the long ball over the top, when all our success has come from playing out from the back, keeping us in possession into their half., Can he not see what hoof ball over the top has done for Cardiff in this league. (It cost them their manager).Your kicking a ball into a half where your outnumbered by 2/3 to 1, OK if you have a attack plan, but this is purely hoof it out of our half, when it's back again in seconds and under control of the opposition.
 

ivoralljack

Grizzled Veteran
Staff member
Well we were given an absolute footballing lesson by Brentford and, on this occasion, the stats were a true reflection of the game - apart from the result that is because they were three goals better than us in truth. And their manager simply schooled ours.

POSSESSION: 35-65 SHOTS: 2-21 OT: 1-5 CORNERS: 1-9 FOULS: 17-11

This game has raised serious doubts in my mind about automatic promotion because Brentford have a far superior team (and manager) whilst Norwich show no signs of slowing their gallop back to the Premier League. We were really poor weren't we? I mean, a shot ratio of 21-2 indicates that they were using us for target practice, a coconut shy. The only stat we bettered them at was the foul count because that was the only way we could stop them giving us a total battering.

They were faster than us in thought and deed and those that argue we still got a result despite this are deluding themselves. We got a flukey goal that clearly was intended as a cross but were never remotely in their class as a team. Cooper has to get his players to speed up. We are some 15% slower at moving the ball than we should be. Our transition and passing is so painfully slow it makes chess look like a dynamic game in comparison.

Cooper's answer is to hit long balls for Lowe to chase because he is the only genuinely quick player we have - unless Garrick is given a few minutes. But even when Lowe wins the ball he is isolated and often loses it because the rest of them are so slow they haven't got a hope in hell of getting up with him. It's a big problem that Cooper will have to solve if we are to have a realistic chance of promotion this season.

Meantime it's Rotherham away next game and that won't be easy. They've just won 3-0 away from home and their tails will be up. Just hope we don't have a hangover from that mauling we took last night.
 

KVetch

Key Player
I Agree with everything you say above Ian.
I think you can put it down to total inexperience, Cooper has never been in this situation before, not even in any senior league, let alone the Championship, pressing for promotion to the Premiership. It would seem he sees us as the underdog when we come up against formidable opponents .I feel we will suffer the same when we play Norwich, all of a sudden we have gone for the long ball over the top, when all our success has come from playing out from the back, keeping us in possession into their half., Can he not see what hoof ball over the top has done for Cardiff in this league. (It cost them their manager).Your kicking a ball into a half where your outnumbered by 2/3 to 1, OK if you have a attack plan, but this is purely hoof it out of our half, when it's back again in seconds and under control of the opposition.
I'm going to have faith in Cooper that he can still learn from these matches. He's not an old manager making the same mistakes time and again. Don't let me down Cooper.
 

IanABS94

Key Player
I'm going to have faith in Cooper that he can still learn from these matches. He's not an old manager making the same mistakes time and again. Don't let me down Cooper.
I'm going to let this one slide because it was definitely one of those games where many managers would do what Cooper did; but that's the problem, you've got to have belief in your squad if you want success. If Cooper truly believes we are good enough for automatic promotion then he should have sent the team out to get after Brentford and use our ability to beat them.

It's discouraging to me that in a huge match like that we set up like it we did when we were floundering in the PL. We set up just to get the point and anything else was a bonus; that is not how you get promoted and succeed if you do get promoted. Playing to an identity is vital for success and it doesn't matter who the opponent. It's the consistency of every match playing to a philosophy regardless of opponent and being confident you can beat them with your game.

As I said I'm letting this one slide, we are allowed a slip up and after watching it back it was clear that our manager was only concerned about not losing. It makes the piss poor performance a tad more palatable as I could see us being on a leash and restrained but it still isn't fun to watch. I was rather hoping to see us take the game to Brentford and show them why we should be top 2 and not them - the media's darling club. If anything we just let them have that and it's a shame.

All that said, the signs of a good team is one who can play like utter garbage with poor tactics and still grind out a result so kudo's to the players for that. It's just got to be a wake up call for everyone that complacency is not something we can afford. We have a tough test vs Rotherham where 3 points of required and then an absolutely massive clash vs Norwich. I wouldn't say that's a 6 pointer but I'd rather drag Norwich back into the dogpile than let them get quite clear and looking smart.
 

Jackflash

Midfield General
Staff member
I'm going to let this one slide because it was definitely one of those games where many managers would do what Cooper did; but that's the problem, you've got to have belief in your squad if you want success. If Cooper truly believes we are good enough for automatic promotion then he should have sent the team out to get after Brentford and use our ability to beat them.

It's discouraging to me that in a huge match like that we set up like it we did when we were floundering in the PL. We set up just to get the point and anything else was a bonus; that is not how you get promoted and succeed if you do get promoted. Playing to an identity is vital for success and it doesn't matter who the opponent. It's the consistency of every match playing to a philosophy regardless of opponent and being confident you can beat them with your game.

As I said I'm letting this one slide, we are allowed a slip up and after watching it back it was clear that our manager was only concerned about not losing. It makes the piss poor performance a tad more palatable as I could see us being on a leash and restrained but it still isn't fun to watch. I was rather hoping to see us take the game to Brentford and show them why we should be top 2 and not them - the media's darling club. If anything we just let them have that and it's a shame.

All that said, the signs of a good team is one who can play like utter garbage with poor tactics and still grind out a result so kudo's to the players for that. It's just got to be a wake up call for everyone that complacency is not something we can afford. We have a tough test vs Rotherham where 3 points of required and then an absolutely massive clash vs Norwich. I wouldn't say that's a 6 pointer but I'd rather drag Norwich back into the dogpile than let them get quite clear and looking smart.
As you say Ian, the buck stops with Cooper, and once again I feel it's down to inexperience. Lets take a look at his previous job,. Manager of the English youth. A job where you have at your disposal all the talent of every academy of every club in England. All professionally trained by the best coaches in the business. Absolutely none that he's had to nurture himself, it's like having a squad of a hundred. Not one iota of experience in the job he talked himself into. There is literally no comparison. Is it coincidence or guilt that the three that elected him disappeared off the scene a few months later. IMO Cooper is being carried along by his staff. Whilst he has a job they have a job.
 

Yankee_Jack

Key Player
Tate needs to be more involved. It seems to me that he is slowly moving into a role previously occupied by Curt before Clement arrived and put the knife in. Curt was the ever present continuity of club coach ... the senior guy that took over when the current manager was let go. Good enough to save the Club’s bacon but never trusted to be THE guy.
 

Behindthegoal

Key Player
It’s no sin to be “carried along by your staff.” I mean, if you’re Prime Minister, what’s the point of having ministers who are rubbish at their jobs? No, wait, I’ll start again.

I have worked for bosses who were absolute martinets, micromanaging to the nth degree. Staff moved out as soon as they could to find somewhere to express themselves.

I have also worked for people who head their “team” who can stay as long as they share the vision and can contribute to its fulfilment.

Perhaps that is our current manager, like several Swans managers before him.
We‘ve had some pretty good loanees since he arrived, and they all seemed like they wanted to come. They see it as their main route to bagging a spot at a PL club.

Wednesday was the proverbial bump in the road. Lesson learnt, move on.
 

Jackflash

Midfield General
Staff member
It’s no sin to be “carried along by your staff.” I mean, if you’re Prime Minister, what’s the point of having ministers who are rubbish at their jobs? No, wait, I’ll start again.

I have worked for bosses who were absolute martinets, micromanaging to the nth degree. Staff moved out as soon as they could to find somewhere to express themselves.

I have also worked for people who head their “team” who can stay as long as they share the vision and can contribute to its fulfilment.

Perhaps that is our current manager, like several Swans managers before him.
We‘ve had some pretty good loanees since he arrived, and they all seemed like they wanted to come. They see it as their main route to bagging a spot at a PL club.

Wednesday was the proverbial bump in the road. Lesson learnt, move on.
Exactly BTG, someone who head their team, or at least show some enthusiasm that the are trying to. Game time is when a manager should be endeavouring to instil some of the weeks training into them and shout them down when they get it wrong but congratulate them on the good moves.
We may just as well have a cardboard cut out of Cooper hands in pockets placed on the halfway line for what his enthusiasm for his team is worth, no manager on matchday being in charge of a team, especially one challenging promotion could ever be that complacent. Win, lose, or draw nothing changes, still that vacant expressionless look on his face. A face that almost says I'm only here for as long as the wage packet lasts.
 
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