The Swansea Way welcomes it's newest contributor - long time Swans fan and all round football fanatic Jon Trew. Here he runs his analytical eye over the 2-1 defeat to West Brom.
‘The Swansea Way’
Definition
1. A slick tiki taka style of play, pleasing on the eye
2. To do things in a difficult manner
The second definition definitely applies to the performance against West Brom. Swansea are now in a dog fight and for the first time this season fans are genuinely concerned. In the past two home games the Swans have been coasting at half time, only to undo all the good work with second half performances which were awful and, quite frankly, embarrassing. To throw away five points at home against two teams we are in a relegation battle with could prove to be costly come the final game of the season - but then again, the Swans never do things the easy way...
After the game against Palace it was widely accepted that the players were fatigued and we could understand why we played so poorly in the second half, but that does not apply to the game against West Brom. The players had plenty of rest time and an opportunity to work on the training field to further implement the ideas that Monk wants to put across. I’ve analysed the stats yesterday from the first and second half to see how we lost the game.
Work Rate
A quick look at the heat maps shows a drop in work rate during the second half - it’s concerning that it was the same story versus Crystal Palace. Since Laudrup left the club training has been increased and intensified - as much of a fan as I am of Garry Monk, it could be that this has led to more tiredness in matches and on a similar note players have been picking up niggling injuries which could also be attributed to this.
Defence
The Swans bossed the defence and played from the back in the first half, and this is an extremely important part of the possession style of play. Looking at the action areas of Ashley Williams in the first half, the defence played deeper and were able to pass the ball about with ease and without pressure. 18.18% of the play in the first half was around the penalty area. Bizarrely the second half was only 6.25%. It appears that the defence pushed up and played a high line which meant the space in between the defence and midfield was decreased leading to Swansea losing control of the play. I’ll come back to this later.
Possession
|
|
1st half |
2nd half |
|
Possession
|
62%
|
54%
|
|
Passes
|
376
|
267
|
|
%
of completed passes
|
90%
|
81%
|
As mentioned previously, the defence played a high line in the second half which reduced the space in midfield. This made the central midfield more compact with less room to move and pass the ball - especially as Monk had gone with two defensive midfielders in Britton and Canas. Swansea had 62% possession first half compared to 54% in the second half. This is further backed up by the passes stat that 90% of passes were completed in the first half as opposed to 81% in the second. WBA pressed the team quicker which led to the players panicking and losing possession. If the defence had played deeper as in the first half this pressure could have been alleviated as they would have had more room to pass the ball and dictate rather than playing into West Broms hands. Uncharacteristically, the team played hurried long balls up to the attackers.
Midfield
Leon Britton is a crucial member of the team and essential to our possession based style. In the second half the Swans lost control of the midfield and we were unable to get him on the ball, with only a total of thirty-five passes completed compared to fifty-two in the first half - one of the reasons being the lack of space in the middle of the park. I would prefer to see Swansea play with Leon as the pivot in front of the defence and then a box to box midfielder just in front of him with an attacking midfielder. As good as Canas is, I don’t believe that he brings enough quality to the team to play alongside Leon and similarly De Guzman is better at running in from a deep position as he was anonymous in the attacking position behind Bony against WBA. It seemed to me that it was a rather negative tactic to play two defensive midfielders when we need two attack minded players to bring creativity in the final third, especially as De Guzman’s goals have come from him playing in the box to box role.
Wilfried Bony
I’ve been very impressed with the way Bony has adapted his game for the better since Monk was appointed. He has been working harder for the team and he had a great first half against West Brom. The second half though he was incredibly poor. First of all, if you look at the heat maps below, Bony worked hard defensively and played deeper allowing his team mates to get in behind him. The second half he was quite static and remained too central. He only won 1 of 6 aerial duals in the second half compared to 4 of 6 in the first. He was unable to hold the ball up which put pressure on the defence as Swansea could just not keep possession.
Attacking play
In all honesty, the Swans should have been 3-0 up within the first 10/15 minutes but they failed to convert the other nine attempts they had in the first half. The wingers and full backs were a constant thorn in West Brom's sides but they were unable to supply the perfect ball. Below are the positions of the crosses in both halves.
The first half the crosses were consistent from the wings just outside the area and were more dangerous. The second half was a different story. The crosses were from much deeper positions as the wingers and wing backs weren’t as effective. For me the team plays best as they did in the first half, with constant balls in between the oppositions full back and central defender. Rangel was playing this type of ball for fun to Routledge against WBA in the first half, but for some reason they didn’t attempt as much in the second half
As fans we can’t kid ourselves anymore. There is no such thing as ‘too good to go down’. The players have to take responsibility. Scoring one of ten attempts in the first half when dominating the match is simply not good enough. I do have faith in Monk but I do think he needs a hardened number two like Roberto Martinez had in Graeme Jones. Someone with experience to shout at the players and someone who has no affiliation to the club. We all want Monk to do well but the club need to help him by bringing in someone of his choice to be a ‘bad cop’ to his ‘good cop’.
I have every faith that come the final whistle against Sunderland on the last game of the season, Swansea will still be a Premiership team. Let’s get fully behind the team and believe! Who are we?! JACK ARMY!
You can follow me on twitter - @jon_inspire
If you are a budding football coach or are interested in football education then please feel free to take a look at my coach education company - www.inspirefootballcoaching.com - We have a conference in London on the 8th of June - see website for details.
Stats from this article are taken from squawka.com