Will we get the blues at the Blues?
- Thread starter ivoralljack
- Start date
The Blobster
Prediction Champ
2 points dropped but overall a decent away performance.
Yankee_Jack
Key Player
I think the shot took a slight deflection on the way. Nobody closed the player down, he had a cup of tea before shooting
Can't stand that or when players turn their backs to a shot.
The fairies get paid more than enough to face those. Look at what rugby players have to endure for an awful lot less money. About the game, comms reckoned that Swans were excellent in the second half and that Brum 'stole' a point. They also said that Brum barely had a sniff in the second period. All in all, a disappointing result, a good away point and a very encouraging performance. For me, Williams has passed his first test in a good way and, with more time, I'm looking forward to even more improvement.
Final whistle summary was that Swans struggled first half (probably when Brum racked up their stats) but we were by far the superior team in the second half and deserved all 3 points.
I'm trying not to rag on Yates, but he was on that field for 33 minutes and managed:
0 shots
1 pass
0 dribbles
0 tackle attempts
0 interceptions
0 clearances
0 blocks
2 fouls
0 header attempts
In over half an hour, he had 3 touches. That's less than 1 touch every ten minutes. You could stand still with your eyes closed and expect the ball to accidentally hit you more often than that. And this in a Luke Williams team, where it's meant to be all about attack.
I don't buy the "isolated striker" crap either. If you're attacking, you're the striker so you should be involved, and if you're defending a lead you should be helping out defensively with clearances and tackles and interceptions. How many defensive headers did Bony used to make for example?
I know it's super early days for Williams, and overall there were some really encouraging signs, but Yates's invisibility means this team effectively played with 10.5 men for over half an hour.
It should have been Cooper on instead of Yates, with Cullen pushed up top. Cooper is a high-engine player who can attack and defend, always gets involved and isn't afraid to put a hard tackle in. @Yankee_Jack mentioned that Jordan James had tons of time and space to shoot. I'm not saying Cooper would have been in the right place to stop that, but he is the type to get in opponents faces, and I think that's worth a chance on the field. There's no way he ends up with less impact than Yates today.
Yates really needs a break and some mental coaching. There is a player in there somewhere but he's slow to everything atm and it's just not working. It's frustrating because I feel Swansea would have won today if Yates was even 60% as good as he can be.
Still, early days and already quite a bit of improvement across the team performance as a whole.
0 shots
1 pass
0 dribbles
0 tackle attempts
0 interceptions
0 clearances
0 blocks
2 fouls
0 header attempts
In over half an hour, he had 3 touches. That's less than 1 touch every ten minutes. You could stand still with your eyes closed and expect the ball to accidentally hit you more often than that. And this in a Luke Williams team, where it's meant to be all about attack.
I don't buy the "isolated striker" crap either. If you're attacking, you're the striker so you should be involved, and if you're defending a lead you should be helping out defensively with clearances and tackles and interceptions. How many defensive headers did Bony used to make for example?
I know it's super early days for Williams, and overall there were some really encouraging signs, but Yates's invisibility means this team effectively played with 10.5 men for over half an hour.
It should have been Cooper on instead of Yates, with Cullen pushed up top. Cooper is a high-engine player who can attack and defend, always gets involved and isn't afraid to put a hard tackle in. @Yankee_Jack mentioned that Jordan James had tons of time and space to shoot. I'm not saying Cooper would have been in the right place to stop that, but he is the type to get in opponents faces, and I think that's worth a chance on the field. There's no way he ends up with less impact than Yates today.
Yates really needs a break and some mental coaching. There is a player in there somewhere but he's slow to everything atm and it's just not working. It's frustrating because I feel Swansea would have won today if Yates was even 60% as good as he can be.
Still, early days and already quite a bit of improvement across the team performance as a whole.
Kevin Ratcliffe, historically no friend of the Swans, gave his post match summary and it was quite glowing. He conceded that we struggled badly first half when we might have been behind going in but Williams obviously got some points across during the break and the second half was an entirely different affair. Brum had one good effort at the onset and had bugger all else until Jordan's strike at the end.
However, he added that Williams would have been well pleased with the overall display and, that once he'd done a forensic analysis of the game, he'd learn an awful lot. The main thing Rats touched on was the positioning of the players when defending and the tendency to overplay when coming out of defence. He thinks that Luke will sort that out pdq and, with the addition of a couple of players, the team should go from strength to strength.
It was very encouraging to hear this from someone who always seemed to enjoy being critical of us in the past. Perhaps time has diluted some of the enmity he felt towards us as a former Cardiff player; never forgetting that he was a world class CB during his long stint at Everton. So he knows what he's talking about. I get the sense that he feels we only need some fine-tuning to become a formidable Championship team and that Luke Williams has the capacity to do just that. I guess we all hope he's right.
However, he added that Williams would have been well pleased with the overall display and, that once he'd done a forensic analysis of the game, he'd learn an awful lot. The main thing Rats touched on was the positioning of the players when defending and the tendency to overplay when coming out of defence. He thinks that Luke will sort that out pdq and, with the addition of a couple of players, the team should go from strength to strength.
It was very encouraging to hear this from someone who always seemed to enjoy being critical of us in the past. Perhaps time has diluted some of the enmity he felt towards us as a former Cardiff player; never forgetting that he was a world class CB during his long stint at Everton. So he knows what he's talking about. I get the sense that he feels we only need some fine-tuning to become a formidable Championship team and that Luke Williams has the capacity to do just that. I guess we all hope he's right.
CroJack
Key Player
Leicester game is postponed.
Victoria Swan
Key Player
Job 1 for Williams has to be teaching the players how to defend a lead. How many times have we succumbed in stoppage time? Too many. As the BBC report states "Swansea ... have dropped more points from winning positions than any other Championship side this season."
We've taken the lead in 10 away games and won just 4 of them dropping 22 points according to the BBC. Williams was quite realistic in his summation of the game saying that, whilst he was very disappoined to concede so near the end, overall he was pleased with the point (probably a reference to Brum's first half dominance). He added that he saw many good things to work on. Radio comms were adamant, however, that our second half resurgence should have resulted in three points as Brum were outplayed for most of it. Some stats:
POSSESSION: 47-53 SHOTS: 11-6 OT: 6-3 CORNERS: 5-5 FOULS: 21-11 GOALS: 2-2
Look at the foul count. That indicates to me that Brum were under a lot of pressure to keep us out. You don't need to foul that often if you have control of the game. Disappointed not to win but encouraged by a decent display under our new man. I think that once he's had some serious time to work with the squad, we'll see the benefit.
POSSESSION: 47-53 SHOTS: 11-6 OT: 6-3 CORNERS: 5-5 FOULS: 21-11 GOALS: 2-2
Look at the foul count. That indicates to me that Brum were under a lot of pressure to keep us out. You don't need to foul that often if you have control of the game. Disappointed not to win but encouraged by a decent display under our new man. I think that once he's had some serious time to work with the squad, we'll see the benefit.
Victoria Swan
Key Player
Agree Ivor but ... our defensive faffing around under pressure in the first 20-30 minutes scared the beejeezus out of me and reminded me of those awful giveaway goals under Martin. Brum should have scored one or even two from our mistakes and we were lucky they didn't. I just hope Williams either a) gives that up with this group of players who are not skilled enough to do it or b) brings in some players who can do it in this transfer window.
Yes, Ratcliffe on the radio repeatedly made the point about our defensive shortcomings and our insistence on trying to play out under pressure when the players don't have the skill to do it. But he reckons that Williams will have noted that and will take steps to correct it. Brum certainly had lots of good chances in the first half and should have gone in easily ahead and Williams has acknowledged it. What pleased me though is that after the break we took the game to them, dominated and should have won it. Showed character. And I agree with Williams that over the whole game a draw was a fair result.
Yankee_Jack
Key Player
@jackodiamonds … agree with everything you said about Yates. I gave up on him a while back and the more he plays the more he depreciates his market value and the more he reinforces the point that we over paid. IF there is a valid reason not to play Cullen at #9, then FFS starting Lowe as #9 instead of Yates is a statement in itself, and surely even if Big Myk is not deemed worthy then Thomas, if fit after his return, must be given preference over Yates. As it was, in preseason, Thomas was the most effective forward we had and IMHO got ejected on loan to avoid embarrassing the buyers on the acquisition of Yates. I hope Williams gets his shit together and sets aside any biases he may have carried forward as a part of Martin’s Madness and either gives a good reason why Not to play Cullen at #9 or plays Cullen and let him settle it once and for all, sink or swim … him and Thomas are the only ones who have never been given a chance.
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I'm pretty sure Yates was a Duff acquisition as Yates had done well with Blackpool, who last season at least were playing long ball football. If you look at his Blackpool goals, there are many scruffy penalty box goals, picking up scraps in the box, bundling the ball over the line at set-pieces and that kind of thing. He's a Duff style player, but even if he could turn his game to a different style of play, his confidence is nowhere right now - you can tell from how little involvement he has in matches. Confidence-shy players tend to go missing.
We know Duff didn't rate Cullen or Thomas, and we also know that Yates isn't going anywhere anytime soon, so Williams should give Cullen a real chance at 9 before the end of January. Strikers are expensive and it would be madness to pay winter-window prices for yet another one when the team already has two mostly untested bone fide strikers in the squad. Recognising Cullen's obvious fit as a striker is a test Williams should easily pass.
We know Duff didn't rate Cullen or Thomas, and we also know that Yates isn't going anywhere anytime soon, so Williams should give Cullen a real chance at 9 before the end of January. Strikers are expensive and it would be madness to pay winter-window prices for yet another one when the team already has two mostly untested bone fide strikers in the squad. Recognising Cullen's obvious fit as a striker is a test Williams should easily pass.
We can but hope.