TSW's newest writer Declan Terry on fans' recent frustrations
After a recent halt in winning performances many people have been slating Garry Monk's men rather prematurely. Granted we haven't been playing well in the last month or so now but we're sitting comfortably in 9th place and 12 points from the relegation zone - there's nothing to get heavyhearted about is there? Well I'd be lying if I said I wasn't frustrated along with many of the Swans fans and I know where the frustration is coming from, losing to the likes of Blackburn Rovers, red cards, the lacklustre displays and of course, probably the most talked about man in South Wales...Bafétimbi Gomis.
Losses
This negative spell of form extends from late December, just after our last home win against Aston Villa. We got thrashed 4-1 at Anfield on the 28th of December and since then we've descended. Including the Liverpool loss the Swans have lost four games since with an aggregate score of 14-2! When its broken down to that, it does question the defensive qualities in the side although countless people have expressed that its the attack that's the downfall of the side.
The 5-0 Chelsea loss was an annoying loss in my opinion, we could of easily prevented a hammering but we got one alright. The Swans shouldn't of give the likes of Oscar and Costa so much room as they did. From the start, Tom Carroll cheaply give the ball to Oscar who found himself in acres of room and scored with ease in the 2nd minute. This was the story of the game, give possession away cheaply and with a inexperienced centre midfielder in Tom Carroll and Sigurdsson playing out of position almost as an defensive midfielder, Chelsea would always surmount the Swans.
Then there's the Blackburn loss as another FA Cup campaign was ended untimely. The 3-1 loss at Ewood Park was as bad as I've seen the Swans play all season and to add insult to injury, Bartley and Sigurdsson receiving red cards in a period in which we need all available players. In defence we were taught a lesson by the young Josh King and Rudy Gestede and there was no attacking penetration with Gomis and Dyer having absolute shockers. Wednesday night's loss at The Hawthorns was also discouraging as Brown Ideye and Saido Berahino scored in a typical Tony Pulis win, with the Swans displaying a very lacklustre performance and ultimately seemed no threat for West Brom.
Ill-Discipline
The whopping total of 8 red cards this season is a real worrying sign. Although many have been harsh, like Fabianski's red against West Ham and Wayne Routledge's dismissal at QPR, which was rescinded, as was Federico Fernandez's after another clueless decision in the 2-1 loss at Liverpool in October's Capital One Cup game. Some of the Swans' dismissals are debatable like Bony's two yellow cards against Southampton in September, but some were preventable with a show of better discipline.
In September Angel Rangel picked up two yellow cards against Sunderland, with the first yellow shown was after the right back threw the ball away in anger and in a similar occurrence, Jonjo Shelvey kicked the ball away in frustration at Everton earlier in the season which concluded in him also getting sent off. The two red cards at Blackburn recently were preventable too, Josh King got on the wrong side of Bartley but did he really need to put his arm across the striker? Bartley's red is more arguable than the terrible Sigurdsson challenge on the man of the match Chris Taylor. Sigurdsson's rash tackle was purely out of frustration and it showed a real lack of discipline, it was in the 90th minute and the game was lost; what was the point in lashing out and getting suspended for three games? In his three match suspension we have missed the Icelander dearly.
Performances
The traditional 'Swansea way' of playing has left the Liberty Stadium and hasn't to be seen of late. The passing has been sloppy, there's no finishing product and there appears to be no motivation whatsoever. Maybe the lack of motivation is because we are comfortably away from the relegation zone, not challenging for Europe now that's beyond our reach and also there's no cups to compete in. So in all aspects, what is there to play for? And I know it's not the right attitude but unfortunately that is the attitude of some professional footballers who have sights set on their holidays by now.
We've seen this type of problem happen in the 2012-13 season where we won the Capital One Cup and we were pretty much safe from relegation. Michael Laudrup's men then only managed two wins in the league from February 2013, losing a disappointing six games in the progress too.
The passing hasn't been free flowing of late and the sloppiness is becoming into a bad habit. Although in January we've been without Ki and Britton who are instrumental in our passing game, both boasting a high 90% passing accuracy statistic. With Ki back against Sunderland, there was a clear change though as he held the midfield strong and seemed to shape us up with Jack Cork also impressing.
The other downfall in recent performances are the wingers, in particularly Nathan Dyer and Wayne Routledge who have been ever so frustrating watching from the stands. Last season the pair of wingers were tipping towards an England call up with some superb displays. However, for the majority of this season they've been ineffective and have no insight while on the ball, they often pass back to the full back now than rather take on an opposition and get a ball in the box like they thrived on last season.
Some say it's the England snub that has completely demoralised the pair but whatever it is, we need to see a change.
Gomis
The speculation over the Frenchman's performances and future seem never-ending. Gomis hasn't played overly convincing now given the chance of first team football as he's only scored one league goal in 21 total appearances and a shot accuracy of just 26%. Gomis is definitely testing the Jack Army's patience and there seems to be a split between "give him a couple more games" and "sell him, he's s***!", although through every passing week I'm hearing the 2nd phrase more.
His controversial interviews with French TV haven't helped his cause either. So is there hope for him? I want Gomis to get his head in the right place now, get into the thick of it and grab a goal or more. Maybe we can look at West Brom's Brown Ideye for a little hope or reassurance. Ideye has been rather abysmal before last week's rare appearance where he scored his first goal for the Baggies against Burnley.
Since then he opened the scoring for West Brom against the Swans mid-week and netted a brace in Saturday's demolition of West Ham where quite frankly Ideye was astonishing. So maybe just one goal for Bafé will boost confidence and then who knows, he could treat us with a spree of goals if I'm totally optimistic.
With a tough game against 3rd placed Manchester United on Saturday, we will look to get a long awaited home win but against Van Gaal's United side it'll be tough as always against any Manchester outfit. This is as close to a full side Garry Monk can choose from now with Sigurdsson, Montero, Routledge and Ki able to play and with our resourceful new signings Naughton and Cork we will hope for a change in fortune and start grabbing the three points again. A win is necessary if we want to stay in the top half of the table after not descending to the bottom half this season as yet.
Thanks to Declan as usual - follow him on Twitter @DeclanTerry_