Swansea 1 - 2 Tottenham - Manager's reaction & analysis

Gareth Bale single handedly engineers win for Londoners in South Wales.

After watching highlights of this game, my opinion of it has changed somewhat. I came away from the stadium with very much the same feeling that I had after the Arsenal game - that it was too little, too late for the Swans who are yet to win a match they've fallen behind in this season, but in truth it seems that Gareth Bale was instrumental in securing three points for Spurs. 

AVB celebrates with Bale & Holtby

The first goal seemed a little soft from where I was sitting (as the crow flies about as far away from it as you can get, in the corner of North and East), but after watching it back it really is an exquisite ball from Bale. Vertonghen is proving himself a very, very tidy footballer, as evidenced by a goal and an assist, and he simply continued his run from deep at pace, playing essentially an extended one-two with his Welsh team-mate, took an outrageously cool touch to pluck Bale's pass out of the sky, and prodded the ball past a wrong-footed Michel Vorm. One criticism could be that Chico was very static, and it would be fair to say it took the hirsute Spaniard a good twenty-five to thirty minutes to get into that game. Unfortunately, the Swans were already 2-0 down by that point. 

Thanks to a "discussion" between a chap who spends a large portion of his time in the Liberty with his shirt off, and an officious steward, I completely missed Gareth Bale's goal. A chap standing next to me used some choice words in the direction of the Spurs fans, and the steward took offence - with me. Cheers. He started giving me and everyone else a telling off about foul language, and that's where the shirtless dude got involved (although he'd donned a hoodie for the occasion). Thanks to the ensuing chaos I didn't see the second Spurs goal at all, but replays show it to be an absolutely incredible piece of control from Bale. Again, you could possibly say that the defence had left Bale in a lot of space in front of the back four - not an ideal situation - but you can't really blame the defence when the finish is of that kind of standard. Controlling the ball before dispatching it almost instantly with his mercurial left boot, Bale saw his shot drift away from Michel Vorm into the top corner from 20 yards. Spurs boss Andre Villas-Boas acknowledged Bale's influence in his post match comments:

AVB demonstrating the old "Invisible Chair Gag"

"It was very important to bounce back after what happened in the last two games. It's a difficult ground to come to but a great win for us, and a great winning mentality from the boys. The team was impressive from the start. We reached the 2-0 lead very early and at half-time we spoke about getting the third goal, it didn't happen but I think the boys showed great mentality to hold on. 

"It shows how ambitious they are to reach our objectives. I have to compliment everybody for their work rate defensively and offensively. When there are so many things that go well for the team it is hard to single out individuals but Gareth Bale is a world class player offensively and defensively, as he showed when he made the block at the end to prevent Swansea getting a draw." 

"The team was impressive from the start. We reached the 2-0 lead very early and at half-time we spoke about getting the third goal, it didn't happen but I think the boys showed great mentality to hold on. It shows how ambitious they are to reach our objectives. I have to compliment everybody for their work rate defensively and offensively."

 Aaron Lennon via Twitter "Great to be back
 but more importantly back to winning
ways, boys worked their socks
off against a good Swansea side
#Buzzing #COYS."

It seems the Swans are lacking confidence in attack at the moment - hopefully Michu's goal will end what was threatening to become a bit of a drought for the floppy haired frontman. He planted one header wide before Ki's corner found his bonce and he flicked the ball across goal and in off the far post. In truth, the Swans were a lot better in the second half, but I always feel it's almost irrelevant how you play when you're behind, until you get level. The Swans once again lacked a spark in attack - and looked very disjointed. Nathan Dyer seemed very static and throughout I felt Tiendalli offered more of an attacking threat, while Pablo Hernandez was once again very weak. He's been poor for a while now and seems to play with his head down, surely it's time now for him to be benched. Routledge though, was once again obviously committed to the cause. Sure, he gave possession away once or twice but his work rate was exemplary, matched only by Leon in the Swansea midfield. 

Michael Laudrup clearly saw this as a missed opportunity given Spurs' players recent international exploits:

"They had the better start, especially Gareth Bale - he made the difference. We came out after half-time and dominated the second half. 

"I'm a little disappointed, not with the performance or attitude of the team, but this game was a perfect opportunity to beat Tottenham. After an international break, you won't get a better opportunity. It's important for us now, we have seven games to go and we should go for the points, we won't get ninth or 10th with 40 points that's for sure."

For me certain players have now held their hands up for weeks in a row, asking to be dropped - in particular Hernandez & De Guzman. I thought De Guzman was very wasteful in possession, and I can't remember him making many successful forward passes. He drifts into positions which should be occupied by Nathan Dyer a lot too, causing congestion in the midfield, and I'd much rather see Ki in the team in place of him. In fact, I'd rather have seen the Swans line up with a midfield trio of Ki, Leon and JDG - Spurs have a wealth of talent in midfield and lining up with only two recognised central midfielders was always going to be a big ask against a team which includes a rampant Gareth Bale. We could really have done with the extra control playing with three central midfielders brings, but I'm sure Laudrup has plans for how to address this issue.

As stated, you can't argue with the nature of the goals conceded, however Swansea's confidence in attack needs to improve. Once again they looked bereft of ideas and something needs to change as if we play like we have done in the last two games for the rest of the season, we won't accrue many more points. Next up is Norwich away and Laudrup will no doubt be looking to secure maximum points, so until then it's back to the drawing board for the Swans, as they look to arrest a run of three straight defeats. Whether we see big changes in personnel for this match remains to be seen, but there's definitely work to be done. 

Swansea vs Tottenham Match preview, analysis, team news, stats & more

                         

     Swansea City vs Tottenham Hotspur

Barclays Premier League

Saturday 30/03/13

15:00pm K.O.

The Liberty Stadium

Referee: Anthony Taylor

The Match

Swansea will set out looking for their first win against Tottenham Hotspur since 1991. This has been a much reported statistic, but what has often been overlooked is that the Swans 1-0 win over Spurs back at the Vetch was actually the first leg of a 2nd round League Cup tie. The counterpart fixture ended 5-1 with Vinny Samways and Gary Lineker getting on the scoresheet, and an owl goal from Derek Brazil (who was on loan from Manchester United at the time) compounded their woes. To find a win over Spurs that meant something you have to go back to October 1982, although the Swans got relegated that season so ultimately that one didn't mean much either. Remarkably, Swansea didn't win a single away game that season; thankfully the Swans haven't retained that trait as they threatened to do last year. Aside from that, two losses on the bounce will leave Laudrup's squad determined to make amends in front of a home crowd who will have spent the last week baying for football.

Tottenham head over the Severn Bridge (surely they don't fly to Cardiff...) on the back of three straight defeats, although one of those defeats actually saw them advance to the Quarter-Finals of the Europa League on away goals. They'll be looking at Swansea as a side they should, on paper, beat if they are serious about gaining an automatic Champions League spot. Last time these two sides met Jan Vertonghen scored the winner in what was, in truth, a bit of a whitewash at White Hart Lane. Spurs had 16 shots on target, and the Swans had none, so it's likely we'll see a very different match this time around.

Prior Form (most recent at top)

Premier League                Swansea       0-2   Arsenal        

Premier League                West Brom     2-1  Swansea

Premier League                Swansea       1-0  Newcastle
League Cup Final               Bradford        0-5  Swansea
Premier League                  Liverpool       5-0  Swansea                


Premier League                  Tottenham  0-1   Fulham
Europa League                    Inter            4 -1  Tottenham (agg 4-4)
Premier League                  Liverpool      3 -2  Tottenham   
Europa League                   Tottenham  3 -0   Inter      
Premier League                  Tottenham  2-1   Arsenal          

Odds: Swansea 21-10, Tottenham 21-20, Draw 9-4. 

Team News

Swansea look set to welcome back Chico Flores who's spent a good few weeks out now after an ankle injury sustained in the 5-0 win over QPR. Kemy Augustien is apparently fit again, but Neil Taylor is still continuing his recovery so won't feature. He is penciled in for an appearance for the Swans u-21 side on Tuesday though, so good luck to him as he looks to regain full fitness.

Tottenham look set to have both Michael Dawson and Aaron Lennon available for selection, but Younes Kaboul remains out with a knee injury.

Trivia - "Courtesy" of Opta, the BBC and various other sites;

• Tottenham have won three and drawn one of their last four competitive meetings with Swansea. 
• Swansea failed to register a shot on target against Arsenal - only the third time that's happened this season
• No player has scored more goals from outside the area in the top five European Leagues this season than Gareth Bale (six - level with Messi). 
• The Swans have not won any of the 16 Premier League games that they have fallen behind in this season (D6 L10).
• No player has scored more Premier League goals in home games this season than Michu (10), although he has netted just twice in his last five games at the Liberty Stadium.
• Only Manchester United (32) have won more points away from home in the Premier League this season than Tottenham Hotspur (26). 
• Spurs have netted 69% of their goals in the second half of Premier League matches this season; a league-high proportion. 
• Swansea City have scored just four goals from set-piece situations in the Premier League this season; a league-low.
• The Swans have, however, conceded the highest number of goals from set-piece situations this season (18).
• Tottenham have conceded more goals in the 90th minute or later than any other Premier League side this season (6).

Completely guessed lineups

Straight from the "horse's mouth";

Michael Laudrup seems to think Spurs international players could be affected by their midweek exploits; 

"In Spain they call it the Fifa virus. The big teams suffer, especially the first game after the break because they haven't been together for two weeks. 

"We have had players away but it's not like 15 players, like some of the big clubs, but for Tottenham, it's not the same because they have more international players than we have. 

"You never know after an international break. Some of the big clubs, they always hate it. Everybody is away and some of the players come back on the Thursday or the Friday and have to travel on a Friday and play on a Saturday."

Nathan Dyer thinks it would be daft to focus exclusively on Gareth Bale, given the capabilities of his Spurs team-mates:

“They are a great side with plenty of power and pace, but we can’t focus on stopping them – it’s about playing our game. I obviously know Gareth very well because of our days together at Southampton. He is the total footballer. He is a massive threat, of course, but if we concentrate too much on one player then other players in the team would hurt us.  

“When you look at Spurs you can see they have a number of top players who can cause you a lot of problems, so there’s no use just concentrating on one particular player – you have to try and stop them all.” 

Andre Villas-Boas is looking to secure a result in SA1:

“We had an excellent game against them at home and hopefully we’ll do the same at Swansea, although we recognise it will be more difficult. It will be different because they’ve also come off a defeat and everyone wants to get back to winning ways. 

“We’re normally good away from home and we’ll try to set out a performance like we had at Liverpool (March 10), but with a positive result.  We feel down for the results we had recently, but we can’t forget that it was the players’ ambition that put us in the position we’re enjoying. We were in a situation of pressure before that but we handled it well. 

“The lads showed tremendous commitment to do things right, so that leaves us confident for the eight matches remaining."

Analysis

There's an elephant in the room, hinted at by Nathan Dyer, in the form of Gareth Bale, so let's get that over and done with. Exceptional in recent times, he's struggled with an ankle injury and had to come off at half time in the first of Wales' recent international fixtures. He did play a full ninety minutes in the second match against Croatia though, and can't be 100% fit.

If Bale plays, and isn't on his game, Tottenham must surely be liable to fall into the trap of looking to base their game around the talisman of their season. If that is the case, the Swans have a real possibility of getting at Tottenham, as in truth Spurs performances have dipped and they aren't the marauding force they threatened to be at one point this season. They are, however, formidable opponents away from home, having scored in 93% of their away games - couple that with the fact that the Swans have conceded (on average) 1.4 goals per game at home, then any of you who fancy a flutter should be betting on lots of goals.

That being said, before the Newcastle game I was walking around the East Stand with a friend, talking about how both sides had been scoring for fun and how the statistics pointed to lots of goals - and for that reason I called it 0-0. It turned out that we won 1-0, but it always seems the way that when everything points to a deluge of goals, the complete opposite occurs, and to be honest I'd take a 0-0 against a Spurs side very much still fighting for Champions League qualification. It won't be lost on the Spurs players that their North London rivals came away from the Liberty with all three points only 2 weeks ago, and they'll be looking to repeat that feat, but I can see the Swans sneaking a point here.

How the teams line up will be absolutely crucial in deciding what goes on afterwards. Away at Everton, Laudrup pulled a tactical rabbit from his continentally styled hat by playing both right backs, Angel Rangel and Dwight Tiendalli, in an attempt to stifle the the combination play of Leighton Baines and Steven Pienaar. It worked a treat, especially considering the thorough job Everton did of dismantling the Swans a couple of months prior to that, and it's more than possible he's contemplating a similar move this time out against Spurs, but the obvious danger is that if we set up expecting Bale to play in one position, and in fact he's given a different role in the team, then we could be in big trouble from the off.

As Dyer has stated, the Swans need to play their own game, and if they want it enough, they'll get the result. As mentioned, all the statistics point to goals galore, but I'm not so sure. Both managers, and both teams, want this result very badly and in similar circumstances that normally makes for a cagey affair, so if it is a win either way I can see it coming by the odd goal. Michu is due a goal, and Pablo is due a good performance, so maybe one of the Spanish lads will steal the limelight once again.

Here's hoping for a good game, full of expansive attacking football. Both teams have been excellent on the counter-attack this season, and it's possible that this particular match-up  could develop into an end-to-end festival of goals and excellent football.

Then again, it could well be 0-0. Such is football.

Iechyd Da.