Swansea outmatched by Martinez's men
Another game against Everton, another defeat. This weekend's victory stretched the Liverpudlian's unbeaten record against Swansea to seventeen games, but they had to work hard for the three points and despite the result having a distinct air of predictability about it, to describe the outcome as a foregone conclusion would be unfair on the Swans.
I actually started this blog on the train up to London as I'm off to Thailand (I know, lucky me...) today, but the intracacies of using my new-fangled smartphone meant instead I spent the trip ruminating over the match, trying to piece together a decent report, and that's how I've found myself using pay-per-minute internet in the departure lounge of Heathrow typing this up. I almost feel like a journalist...
For what it's worth, I thought for long periods of the match we were excellent. Given Everton's run of form in the buildup to the game (god knows how many unbeaten, best defence in the league, lost the least amount of games of any UK team), you would have been forgiven for expecting an Everton whitewash. Not so. We harrassed and harried their midfield throughout, and I thought that Shelvey and Canas were excellent. De Guzman faded as the game wore on, but he still put in more of a shift than normal. One action in the first half summed him up for me - he bust a gut sprinting to close down the Everton left-back (or at least he was where you'd expect the left-back to be), and I remarked how impressive this was given his usual work-rate. He then proceeded to amble back with Everton advancing forward at speed. Not good enough Jon, you need to work harder than that.
Aside from that, it seemed a case of Everton just wearing us down. We tried our best, but couldn't match the quality and clinicality of their play in the final third, and in Lukaku they had a more or less unplayable, unmoveable object with which to base their attacks off. As much as I love Bony, Lukaku gave a masterclass in "big man up topism", and for a while everything played to him seemed to stick in one form or another. Later we did manage to press him and cause him to make a few errors, but overall he was excellent. Bony, contrastingly, had a quiet game but did show signs that he'll (once fully accustomed to life in these climes) be able to operate in a similar manner.
In defence, and this may seem harsh given I only watched it online and could well be wrong here, I thought that Ben Davies put in a bit of a Jekyll & Hyde performance. Generally, he was excellent. Everton's opener, however, did come from his side (though whether you'd attribute that to the winger leaving him exposed I don't know) while their winner (Barkley's free kick) came as a result of a foul by Davies, which he was cautioned for. He's been out of position for a couple of goals already this term, and as much as I love him he does still have a lot of learning to do. Possibly time for Taylor to get a little run in the team? I don't think that would do Ben any harm, and given Davies seems almost assured of his first team place at the moment it could inspire improved performances off the back of a little added competition for the left-back spot.
Another talking point seems to be whether Tremmel could do anything about either goal. Most seem to think he should have got to the first while Barkley's free-kick was unsaveable, but I see it the other way around. Coleman absolutely creamed the opener, but their second goal finished it's arc quite central to Tremmel's goal, and I do wonder whether he could have got to that. I saw a tweet regarding the German's organisation of his defensive wall which stated "if he keeps building walls like that he'll end up working for <insert building firm> Homes". Ha.
Overall, I thought we did ok. Hell, it could have been a lot, lot worse. Despite again not playing to the best of our abilities, we held a great team for much of the match until a moment of individual brilliance won it for our opponents. Far from the end of the world, and reports of booing at the final whistle are quite alarming if truth be told. I've got my reservations about a couple of things going on at SA1, but losing to Everton shouldn't be a booable offence. Especially not when we only lost 2-1 and pushed them close for the majority of the match.
One look at the fixture list tells me we've got Chelsea (away), Man City (home) and United (away in the FA Cup) in our next four games. Play like we did against Everton, and learn from our mistakes, and we should be just fine.
For what it's worth, I thought for long periods of the match we were excellent. Given Everton's run of form in the buildup to the game (god knows how many unbeaten, best defence in the league, lost the least amount of games of any UK team), you would have been forgiven for expecting an Everton whitewash. Not so. We harrassed and harried their midfield throughout, and I thought that Shelvey and Canas were excellent. De Guzman faded as the game wore on, but he still put in more of a shift than normal. One action in the first half summed him up for me - he bust a gut sprinting to close down the Everton left-back (or at least he was where you'd expect the left-back to be), and I remarked how impressive this was given his usual work-rate. He then proceeded to amble back with Everton advancing forward at speed. Not good enough Jon, you need to work harder than that.
Aside from that, it seemed a case of Everton just wearing us down. We tried our best, but couldn't match the quality and clinicality of their play in the final third, and in Lukaku they had a more or less unplayable, unmoveable object with which to base their attacks off. As much as I love Bony, Lukaku gave a masterclass in "big man up topism", and for a while everything played to him seemed to stick in one form or another. Later we did manage to press him and cause him to make a few errors, but overall he was excellent. Bony, contrastingly, had a quiet game but did show signs that he'll (once fully accustomed to life in these climes) be able to operate in a similar manner.
In defence, and this may seem harsh given I only watched it online and could well be wrong here, I thought that Ben Davies put in a bit of a Jekyll & Hyde performance. Generally, he was excellent. Everton's opener, however, did come from his side (though whether you'd attribute that to the winger leaving him exposed I don't know) while their winner (Barkley's free kick) came as a result of a foul by Davies, which he was cautioned for. He's been out of position for a couple of goals already this term, and as much as I love him he does still have a lot of learning to do. Possibly time for Taylor to get a little run in the team? I don't think that would do Ben any harm, and given Davies seems almost assured of his first team place at the moment it could inspire improved performances off the back of a little added competition for the left-back spot.
Another talking point seems to be whether Tremmel could do anything about either goal. Most seem to think he should have got to the first while Barkley's free-kick was unsaveable, but I see it the other way around. Coleman absolutely creamed the opener, but their second goal finished it's arc quite central to Tremmel's goal, and I do wonder whether he could have got to that. I saw a tweet regarding the German's organisation of his defensive wall which stated "if he keeps building walls like that he'll end up working for <insert building firm> Homes". Ha.
Overall, I thought we did ok. Hell, it could have been a lot, lot worse. Despite again not playing to the best of our abilities, we held a great team for much of the match until a moment of individual brilliance won it for our opponents. Far from the end of the world, and reports of booing at the final whistle are quite alarming if truth be told. I've got my reservations about a couple of things going on at SA1, but losing to Everton shouldn't be a booable offence. Especially not when we only lost 2-1 and pushed them close for the majority of the match.
One look at the fixture list tells me we've got Chelsea (away), Man City (home) and United (away in the FA Cup) in our next four games. Play like we did against Everton, and learn from our mistakes, and we should be just fine.