Bore draw in the North East sees sides share the points
Swansea fans aren't afraid to be vocal when when they feel their match has been harshly bumped to the end of the Match Of The Day playlist. Yesterday there were no such complaints, and rightly so. Gary Lineker even commented on MOTD that this week they'd taken no abuse from either club's fans about the running order, after a 0-0 draw which was defined by a lack of punch in the final third for both teams.
Monk retained Gomis up top but otherwise the lineup was as expected really. With Bony & Jeff on the bench it was Bafi, Dyer & Routledge up top with midfield trio Jonjo, Ki & Sigurdsson once again attempting to boss the midfield. Ash, Fede, Tayls, Rangel & Fabianski completed the lineup, and I thought in the first half, while both teams struggled to create clearcut chances, we were the better team. Home fans booing their own team at the interval would seem to echo that sentiment.
That said, I don't remember too many chances. Ki & Dyer both shot waywardly when in decent positions, but they'd only really qualify as half chances and neither side created anything of note. Adam Johnson stole in at the other end and forced a good stop from Fabianski at his near post, but that was probably the closest anyone came to scoring for the entire match..
The main talking point of the game seems to be Angel Rangel's red card ten minutes from time. A yellow for throwing the ball away was followed by a harsh yellow for being run into by Will Buckley. He'd just been warned and had perhaps been lucky to not get his second yellow moments before, so while a yellow for the incident seemed harsh he could have few complaints, much like Bony the week before.
Once he'd seen red Sunderland rose into the ascendancy. Connor Wickham missed a good chance and Steven Fletcher - on from the bench and holding a good track record of goals against the Swans - headed just wide with time running out. Really though the way the game had gone 0-0 was a fair result as both teams struggled to create throughout.
I thought that Gomis had a tough time of it up front for the Swans. It'd be easy to say - and I do believe this - that Wilf would have been much more suited to the game (Gomis lost possession with his back to goal on numerous occasions), but we didn't look to play to his strengths. What's becoming apparent is that while they share some physical characteristics Gomis plays facing goal, and is always looking to run into space. That contrasts markedly from Wilf, who is the ultimate 4-2-3-1 striker, capable of holding off anyone and laying the ball off to an advancing midfielder.
Yesterday we attempted to use Gomis like we used Wilf, and it didn't work. Without adjusting to cater for his differences we might as well have played Wilf instead, though there is perhaps something in a player being benched after a red card, to send a message out about discipline. When the Ivorian did arrive off the bench his impact was immediate - he drilled an absolute cannon of a shot not too far wide and then performed some fleet-footed trickery to get the Swans out of trouble on the right wing, when we were attempting to clear after a set piece. This prompted me to tweet "I love Wilfried Bony" - this occurred in the 90th minute and I swiftly realised this was quite misleading, as I took a fair bit of abuse from people thinking we'd scored! Apologies for that. I do love Wilf.
One final note is that Rangel's dismissal saw Jazz Richards get some Premier League game time. Again, he let no-one down and did well, and with Rangel suspended for our next game against Newcastle it seems nailed on he'll start that this coming weekend. Good luck to him, it's no less than he deserves, and if he performs as he's done in the League Cup so far Rangel may find himself having to bide his time, and having to force his way back into the team.
A point away at Sunderland is a good result, especially when we played fourteen minutes with ten men. As against Southampton, our defence looked solid when under the cosh and this bodes very well if our attack can click. We've kept clean sheets in five of eight games this season, and only conceded once against a talented Southampton team who played the majority of the match a man to the good. Also, neither Bony nor Gomis has found the net so far this season and once goals come for our forwards we'll be a very potent proposition indeed.
Would you bet against Bony or Gomis scoring against Newcastle? I wouldn't. I expect Wilf to be restored to the starting lineup, and I'm confident of a result. Monk's Swansea look solid at the back, and we're obviously building to something in attack. If and when it clicks, we could have lots of fun this season.