Swansea away match thread

[DooooodekNo5]

Tonight not the best but we didn't get beat, nor did we fall away under pressure.

 

10 points from 12 is excellent. What we must do is beat Saints at the weekend because one of utd or city will be dropping points. There is also the fact City drew at stoke and Everton beat chelsea. There are no easy games at all and you cannot beat them all every game. But if you ge beat as little as possible you will always have a chance.

 

This game in isolation, not great, but in the season so far it will do.

 

Sums it up well.

[Bjornebye]

i cant wait till we win the league this season and some whopper moans that we finished on odd points. ocd wanker. 

[torahboy]

Has anyone called Ashley -fucking Ashley- Williams a Sunday League cunt yet?

[kalasoma]

Not mine, but apt:

 

First half possession = Brazilian

Second half possession = Linda Blair

[Anubis]

 Sigh.

 

Quality addition to the debate.

[Anubis]

Has anyone called Ashley -fucking Ashley- Williams a Sunday League cunt yet?

 

Donkey - yes.  Yard dog - yes. Sunday League cunt - no.

[Gym Beglin]

I think that was an ok result. A poor performance, but an ok result.

 

Swanseas best players not on international duty, two weeks to prepare for this, whereas we looked loose and like we'd just met each other for the first time.

 

Jammy fucking goal from Shelvey as well.

 

That said, wasn't impressed with Sakho.

 

Anyway, we're here and lets get on with the next game.

[Brigant Moloch]

MF is our greatest weakness. We just don't have the quality at the moment.

 

And Sakho very good? Really?

 

yes mate, really. He's very good in the air, got exposed few times because of our midfield and lack of tracking back from Lucas and Gerrard (both poor today), but he's got commitment and tactical awareness in him, just needs game time after such long break

 

his stats today: 15/15 clearances, 10/10 headed clearances & 95% pass completion

 

He's very good, just be patient mate

[Stickman]

Its 4 games in, we're top. I dont see why there is such an inquest.

Give it time as we ain't going to win the league and aren't one of the favourites for top 4 so the moaning cunts are going to have some fun as the season continues.

[beejay]

Lucas is half maybe even a quarter of the player he was before the injury. Out of position so often because he can't get round the pitch, so slow and ponderous with and without the ball.

 

Gerrard can't play 3 games every week with the same intensity. He and Henderson are having to be the legs to cover for Lucas.

 

Our centre midfield is the weakest area of the side now. Strength and composure in this department sets the tone and we just cede possession to the opposition because we're not good enough to control the ball under pressure.

[Section_31]

Can't really be arsed moaning about the game as we're top of the league and probably would have lost that game last season, but I'm surprised people are bemoaning our lack of grit and ability to boss the game in the middle of the park, as this is the road we've chosen, was saying it last season when we drew with Arse and people were creaming over the result, the fact we had nobody in the centre of the park for large periods of the game shit me up good and proper.

 

Rodgers is the anti-Houllier, there'll be no controlling of football matches here. What we'll get is heart-attack football, bang a goal in one minuet and concede one the next, we'll do okay in the league I reckon, probably just outside the top four again as the majority of the teams we come up against won't be able to handle that kind of quick tempo play, but against anyone decent and - good forbid we found ourselves up against a class European team which has a coach with a firm grasp of tactics, we'll get our trousers pulled over our heads and kicked down the stairs.

[Batigol]

Dreadful performance, lucked out with escaping with a point.  We made Swansea look like Barca for most of the second half, and worse still seemed more than happy to sit so deep playing for the draw.

 

Sakho can only get better after that horror show.  Really surprised it was Wisdom that was hooked instead of him.

 

Start of the season has been excellent still points wise but results like tonight, and ones were we don't hold on to a draw will become very frequent if we continue to  let shit teams dominate us right upto the edge of our area.

[Caramac]

Tough game for Sakho to make his debut. No need for all the bashing.

 

Went from a game that l thought we would win to being grateful we got a point. Laudrup obviously said the right things at half time and we were poor.

 

But good to be looking down on everyone.

[Jonjo Baldy]

Its kind of funny how we had too much in midfield before now we dont have enough options, we could certainly do with one midfielder who has presence, Lucas needs competition too. Our options on the bench for attack is weak aswell, I'm afraid I still see Aspas as a player who is not cut out for the premier league, we would of been better off keeping Borini. As much as I dislike Suarez after his prostitution during the summer, I can't wait to have him back, as good as Sturridge is, he isn't as good outside the box, can't wait for the magic from the biting man. Still not a bad start but our 2nd half performances are shocking and we have rode our luck 4 games running, seems like the players get tired after a 1 first half of flippy flappy football.

[Red House]

Not sure if you lot are still watching, but carra just said these poor 2nd half performances won't be because of rodgers changing tactics. 

 

So its down to the players not follow his instruction of ''defending with the ball''.

 

Are we mentally weak and don't have enough strong personalities to keep this possession football going for 90mins?

For me, the issue is that Rodgers is basically shooting himself in the foot in that particular instance by bringing in too many direct players. There's nothing wrong with such a player, in fact I myself generally prefer these to the sideway passing type, but the problem is we have far too many of them. Coutinho, Moses, Sterling, Aspas, Sturridge, Gerrard etc... are all players who are always keen to make something happen everytime they are on the ball but are reluctant on slowly passing it around patiently. Once again, nothing wrong with that but if you "want to defend with the ball", then you clearly need players who are willing to recycle possession slowly without much purpose. So, to answer your question, yes the players are one reason why we fail to apply this possession football ideology, but the blame should also be at the manager's door for bringing in such players that are unsuitable to his own philosophy, or at least defensive philosophy.

 

On another note, City are also having a similar problem currently but at the other end of the spectrum. Far too many slow possession recycling players but with little penetration. The reality is you need a nice mix of both type of players, a bit like we had when we came second under Rafa. We had direct players like Gerrard and Torres who were always trying to make something happen, and others like Alonso and Kuyt who were capable of slowing it down to keep possession when required.

[Guest Numero Veinticinco]

Can't really be arsed moaning about the game as we're top of the league and probably would have lost that game last season, but I'm surprised people are bemoaning our lack of grit and ability to boss the game in the middle of the park, as this is the road we've chosen, was saying it last season when we drew with Arse and people were creaming over the result, the fact we had nobody in the centre of the park for large periods of the game shit me up good and proper.

 

Rodgers is the anti-Houllier, there'll be no controlling of football matches here. What we'll get is heart-attack football, bang a goal in one minuet and concede one the next, we'll do okay in the league I reckon, probably just outside the top four again as the majority of the teams we come up against won't be able to handle that kind of quick tempo play, but against anyone decent and - good forbid we found ourselves up against a class European team which has a coach with a firm grasp of tactics, we'll get our trousers pulled over our heads and kicked down the stairs.

What gets me is that when we were totally outplaying City and United at the start of last season, but not getting the points, it was all 'performances don't matter, points do'. Fine. Now performances seem to matter a whole lot more. I mean, just what are people expecting?

[sir roger]

As an old centre half myself I felt a bit sorry for the defence tonight as they have no cover whatsoever ( Henderson excepted on the right ) and the opposition just appear unmarked thirty yards out forcing them to make constant decisions as to whether to come towards the ball or follow their markers. In light of this I thought Skrtel was excellent & while Sakho had some dodgy moments he at least looks like he likes a tackle which sets him apart from most of his teammates & his tackle on MIchu in injury time was brilliant.

 

A bit worrying that our central midfield went a whole half without winning a 50;50 ball.

 

I think we will be OK at home this season when opposition teams aren't too offensive but will have some poor away days when we will be relying on Luis & Daniel for any points.

[kalasoma]

Just how bad was Sakho?

This bad (DanKennett on twitter) :

15 clearances

40/42 passes

2 tackles

1 interception

 

I thought he went to ground one too many times and came out to challenge for a ball that he didn't need to. Did any of this lead to their goals? I don't think so. For his first game in the squad against an attacking side like Swansea, his stats really aren't that bad. So I wouldn't be quick to pillory him just yet.

[Gym Beglin]

When you think about it, our first choice right back and our first choice centre backs were all missing, and our best player.

 

Even if we'd won that game I'd be a bit disappointed because nothing looked fluid, but then again I think the two week break just piled a load of pressure on this game, which is a tough place to come and get a point, Swansea were up for this.

 

We might really appreciate this point in May.

[Mathewbet1]

Sakho made 15 clearances today, 3 key ones in the last 10 mins. Improved after shaky start. Im excited by him.

[MLB]

Pretty good result but another mixed performance. I'm happy enough with a point given that we were without Johnson and Agger. We only really went to shit when Coutinho went off, but it was still alarming how poor we were at keeping possession. We will definitely need to work on that. Aspas was poor when he came on I thought. Alberto would have been better.

[md1892]

I'll take a draw away to Swansea when you look at our record against them (1 in 5 i think ?)

 

Still worth enduring that game for Carra's abuse of Gary Neville before hand.

 

"Full backs are failed centre halves or wingers"

 

"No kid grows up wanting to be Gary Neville"

 

Superb. 

[Captain]

I'm happy with a point here. This was going to be a difficult game.

 

Sakho needs more games, but I like him. He could turn into a really good cb for us.

 

I thought we played well. I especially liked the way we avoided free-kicks just outside the area. Keep up the good work, Brendan.

[kalasoma]

Skrtel got my man of the match though. To be out the side for as long as he has; to not even be favoured (seemingly) by the manager last season and then to be boss against Utd; to marshal the back line with 2 new defensive partners, I'd say he should get the top honours tonight.

[FrenchEyeGlass]

People writing off Sakho are proper fucking mad in the head. Seriously complete retards, I reckon the margarine in my fridge would have more sense than somebody questioning Sakho after tonight.