Swansea edge to draw against Allardyce's "continental 4-6-0" formation
Cometh the rain, cometh the...clean sheet. That's about as big a positive as I could draw from yesterday's performance, as to be honest I felt that once again we didn't perform to anywhere near our maximum level.
We lined up without Wilfried Bony spearheading our attack, and he was replaced with Alvaro Vazquez. Against a known physical side who were always going to park the bus that could be deemed a strange decision, but I'm sure there was some logic behind it. Ashley Williams returned to the starting lineup too, while Leon returned to the team in the middle of the park, and both the Swansea stalwarts were amongst our best performers yesterday.
We struggled to create anything for the entire match if I'm being truthful, and that isn't the first time I've said that this season. Apparently we had 67% of the ball, but West Ham mustered fifteen shots to our ten (although we both had five on target), and those maths don't add up. If we're retaining that much possession without creating anything meaningful then I'm afraid something's wrong with the system.
Throughout the first fourty-five minutes we were under severe pressure from set-pieces and appeared unable to cope with the onslaught. Quite worrying, and Vorm flapped at numerous high balls which, from where I sat, seemed destined to end in away goals. Thankfully the ball somehow didn't end up in the back of the net and we made it in at half time with the scores even, before we did improve in the second period.
The arrival of Pablo from the bench did rouse the team somewhat, and he injected some much needed pace and directness to the affair. His calibre was clear to see and hopefully he can now stay fit for a while and make his mark on the team. I thought we improved after Bony entered the fray too, and anyone knocking his performances thus far needs to look at how anonymous Vazquez was before his departure. As I've said before, it really isn't easy playing ahead of Michu.
Our standout performer for me was probably Angel Rangel. I thought he was busy and looked to get forward as often as possible, without allowing himself to be caught out in defence, but I thought he was let down by Nathan Dyer who frustrated throughout. It's been so long since I've seen Dyer properly take his man on at pace and look to get in behind, and he needs to stop automatically knocking the ball back to his mate Rangel. I know retaining possession is important, but playing that far forward in our team means you need to have your hand in a fair share of the goals we score.
There were positives to be taken from yesterday's match. A clean sheet, as previously mentioned, is no mean feat against an Allardyce side, and that's the kind of game where in the past we'd have turned off and been punished by a late goal from a corner, so the squad deserve credit for mucking in and earning a point. We've also now got the same points tally as we had obtained at this stage last season, and given our run of fixtures up to this point that's quite the achievement indeed. I can't help but feel though that we're under-performing dramatically and that there's a lot more to come from this Swansea side.
One theory I have is that Laudrup started Vazquez in a bid to see whether it's Michu or Bony who is more to blame for a disjointed forward line thus far this season. With Michu at his wandery avant-garde best yesterday, I think there's now a clear argument for going with Bony up top, two defensive midfielders (Leon/Canas/De Guzman) with another orthodox midfielder ahead of them. When Michu plays well, he'll score and we'll probably win. When he doesn't play well, the team doesn't play well. We can't afford that.
I do love Michu, but we need to get the team playing to the best of it's ability, and if Michu dropping to the bench in a bid to restore fluency to the Swansea midfield solves that then that's the way it's got to be.
So, Cardiff away next then. Oo-er.