Have we been expecting too much from our managers?
They say that you sometimes have to step back to truly appreciate what you have, and at Swansea City that may be especially true. You only have to look at the litany of players to have departed for "greener pastures"(read: more money) only to find that, unsurprisingly, the grass was indeed greenest in South Wales to see that some have perhaps taken for granted what they had here in Swansea - and I'm starting to think the same can be said for the majority of our support - myself included.
I know everyone will be thinking "Well I appreciate what we've got" and I don't dispute that you do! What I'm getting at is that, as long-term fans of the club, it's a lot easier for us to see problems that need addressing on the pitch as we now have years of watching a tika-taka Swansea City to draw on when making observations about the club we love. I reference Jason Scotland a lot, for example, but it's likely his name meant little to sod all to Michael Laudrup.
Since Martinez started a footballing revolution at the Liberty we've enjoyed an almost unparalleled rise through the divisions, and along the way we've had a succession of managers who've stamped (or attempted to) their particular style on our brand of football, with - depending on who you ask - vastly differing levels of success, and this has meant that as fans looking on we've had an outstanding education in terms of tweaking a disciplined footballing system. Well, assuming we were paying attention, anyway. While the coaching staff, playing staff and general stature of the club have changed markedly in the last few years, there have been constants off the field; namely the board and the fans.,
I know everyone will be thinking "Well I appreciate what we've got" and I don't dispute that you do! What I'm getting at is that, as long-term fans of the club, it's a lot easier for us to see problems that need addressing on the pitch as we now have years of watching a tika-taka Swansea City to draw on when making observations about the club we love. I reference Jason Scotland a lot, for example, but it's likely his name meant little to sod all to Michael Laudrup.
Since Martinez started a footballing revolution at the Liberty we've enjoyed an almost unparalleled rise through the divisions, and along the way we've had a succession of managers who've stamped (or attempted to) their particular style on our brand of football, with - depending on who you ask - vastly differing levels of success, and this has meant that as fans looking on we've had an outstanding education in terms of tweaking a disciplined footballing system. Well, assuming we were paying attention, anyway. While the coaching staff, playing staff and general stature of the club have changed markedly in the last few years, there have been constants off the field; namely the board and the fans.,
You can see that when Laudrup was sacked the players who are more thoroughly indoctrinated in the Swansea way found it easier to change tack, or revert back, to a more Rodgers-esque tika-taka system, and the changes lots have been calling for (myself included) for a long time were quickly enacted by Garry Monk. Ok, they haven't exactly seen us rocket up the league, but I do think there's reason to be positive and Monk, like us but more so as he's been directly involved, can draw on all the differing experiences and variations on a theme he's seen during his time in SA1.
For me personally, the massively frustrating thing about Laudrup's time in charge (though that's not to say it was all frustrating - winning the League Cup was alright...) was that to me, the problems we were experiencing were just so blindingly obvious, and I was consistently incredulous that Laudrup couldn't see, for example, that we'd benefit from spreading our wingers wider, or that reverting to a more structured central midfield pairing would ultimately bring results.
At the time I ranted long and hard about the need to enact these kinds of changes, but recently I've been thinking that perhaps the reason we as fans, and Garry Monk since he's come in, are able to see these necessities is exactly because we've seen all the differing systems that have been put in place since Martinez first reinvented our football in League One. Knowledge is power, and we've had plenty of opportunity to study the passing game that we've adopted - actually being able to make positive changes to the way a football club plays is obviously a much tougher ask though.
When Bobby was appointed at Everton (via his stopoff at Wigan) and Rodgers was appointed at Liverpool, I'm sure there were numerous Swansea fans - myself included - who were dubious as to whether a) they'd be given the time to enact their vision of positive change and b) that even if they were given the time they'd be unable to control a squad full of world-class players. Any such talk is now firmly forgotten, as they've both proven themselves to be truly top, top class coaches, and this has me thinking that perhaps we were expecting too much from Laudrup and similarly, perhaps Monk is now being expected to perform above the level we should actually be expecting from him.
Most managers go into clubs with the intention of forging a team in their own image, and Rodgers & Martinez are perfect examples of how, with clever coaching and belief in your system, you can stamp your image all over any football team, but I think that's the thing; they really are excellent coaches - who will probably go on to make massively successful careers for themselves in management. Given what we're now seeing Rodgers & Martinez do at the two Merseyside clubs, can we honestly have expected Laudrup (and now Monk) to maintain that kind of performance level?
For what it's worth, I think Michael Laudrup could be an excellent coach and I think his tactics actually suit clubs at a higher level than the Swans. I got the impression towards the end of his time here he was frustrated with the limitations of his players - especially in the final third. I think if he had a really dangerous attacking line to work with, and an excellent playmaker, he could get a team really firing - sadly though I'd say from around the time of our League Cup win our overall level of performance dropped and continued to do so until Garry Monk came in.
Since then we've obviously not set the world alight but I do still think the improvement in work-rate, desire and adherence to the Swansea system we've seen of late proves he's having a positive impact. We've genuinely been unlucky not to pick up wins on a few occasions, and this weekend is a massive opportunity for us to claim the three points which will almost definitely keep us safe in the Premier League for another season. If we show the same commitment and passion we did against Chelsea I can definitely see us getting a result against what I view as a poor Newcastle side.
My very rambly and convoluted point is that while I, you, and most readers of this blog aren't cut out to be football managers we can still point out failures in a system we know very well. It is, however, unfair to expect someone who's only been at the club for a year to know how to revert back to a style of play we hadn't really used since 2009/2010. I doubt Laudrup had even heard of us at that point!
This is also why I still think Garry Monk is the right man for Swansea City. Not everything he has done since coming in has been perfect but then, who is? He's shown he appreciates the subtleties of the system, and that he can motivate the team, so given his tender years (in management terms, at least) I'm pretty confident he can go on to be an excellent manager of Swansea City. What's more though, he, like anyone who has watched us regularly for the last seven or eight years has a massive bank of Swansea City tika-taka data to draw on.
Let's hope he uses it wisely.
Most managers go into clubs with the intention of forging a team in their own image, and Rodgers & Martinez are perfect examples of how, with clever coaching and belief in your system, you can stamp your image all over any football team, but I think that's the thing; they really are excellent coaches - who will probably go on to make massively successful careers for themselves in management. Given what we're now seeing Rodgers & Martinez do at the two Merseyside clubs, can we honestly have expected Laudrup (and now Monk) to maintain that kind of performance level?
For what it's worth, I think Michael Laudrup could be an excellent coach and I think his tactics actually suit clubs at a higher level than the Swans. I got the impression towards the end of his time here he was frustrated with the limitations of his players - especially in the final third. I think if he had a really dangerous attacking line to work with, and an excellent playmaker, he could get a team really firing - sadly though I'd say from around the time of our League Cup win our overall level of performance dropped and continued to do so until Garry Monk came in.
Since then we've obviously not set the world alight but I do still think the improvement in work-rate, desire and adherence to the Swansea system we've seen of late proves he's having a positive impact. We've genuinely been unlucky not to pick up wins on a few occasions, and this weekend is a massive opportunity for us to claim the three points which will almost definitely keep us safe in the Premier League for another season. If we show the same commitment and passion we did against Chelsea I can definitely see us getting a result against what I view as a poor Newcastle side.
My very rambly and convoluted point is that while I, you, and most readers of this blog aren't cut out to be football managers we can still point out failures in a system we know very well. It is, however, unfair to expect someone who's only been at the club for a year to know how to revert back to a style of play we hadn't really used since 2009/2010. I doubt Laudrup had even heard of us at that point!
This is also why I still think Garry Monk is the right man for Swansea City. Not everything he has done since coming in has been perfect but then, who is? He's shown he appreciates the subtleties of the system, and that he can motivate the team, so given his tender years (in management terms, at least) I'm pretty confident he can go on to be an excellent manager of Swansea City. What's more though, he, like anyone who has watched us regularly for the last seven or eight years has a massive bank of Swansea City tika-taka data to draw on.
Let's hope he uses it wisely.