New TSW contributor Barney Lloyd-Wood looks at a famous Jonjo Shelvey-inspired win for Garry Monk's Swansea City
There were contrasting build-ups to this game from the respective camps. Louis Van Gaal’s United team have been labelled anything from ‘lucky’ to ‘long ball United’, while Garry Monk had said he wanted to be ‘excited’ by his side for the remainder of the season. The home manager did not have to wait long, with a frenetic start to today’s match.
With the Swans looking threatening from set pieces, it was much scrutinised striker Bafetimbi Gomis who almost opened the scoring four minutes in, with his header towards the far post being blocked off the line by Ander Herrera.
Monk himself had an almost full strength squad at his disposal, something of a rarity in recent weeks. The main talking point, however, was the change of formation to a 4-4-1-1, with a midfield diamond to counteract United’s sharp, skilful midfield. Fittingly, the new midfield diamond was sharp and showed a lot of brightness early on, putting all the pressure on the 20 time Premier League champions.
Pundit Garry Neville said recently his former side are not lucky. They may not be the most exciting of United teams in recent years, but the ability to grind out results and score even when not playing their best is a sign of a top team. This was proved on 27 minutes when, with little seemingly, a fine passing move involving Rooney and Di Maria finished with Herrera, who had previously prevented his team from conceding early on, slotting into the bottom right hand corner to put the visitors ahead.
The general consensus in the ground seemed to be not to get too downbeat, as there was little wrong with the home side’s display so far, and perseverance would lead to an equaliser. Few would’ve predicted how soon this would come though, when two minutes later Jonjo Shelvey whipped in a cross from the left hand side, finding Ki Sung Yeung who volleyed past De Gea from close range.
Often, Monk’s men have been accused of letting chances go begging, when the bigger teams gain second half momentum. This seemed evident with United adopting a single tactic of spreading the home side, exploiting their lack of width and crossing in for the threatening target men. Monk’s men struggled despite some strong defending and tenacious work from holding midfielder Jack Cork.
The exploitation of the flanks led to corner after corner for the away side, who were looking more and more likely to regain their lead. Yet against the run of play and perhaps against all the odds, the home side struck again.
On the break, Shelvey was picked out 25 yards out, before he lashed in a thumping shot. It initially looked like it took a deflection, and on closer inspection it appeared the final touch came off Gomis. There will be arguments between the two over the goal scorer, but with the big Frenchman’s goal vs West Ham being taken off him, he will feel vindicated by the final call on the scorer.
Monk then brought on Montero to revert to a more wing orientated system and despite some late scares, the Swans held on to claim a historic double over United. A huge result reflected by the fantastic support at the Liberty Stadium on a day where we had rain, sun and seemingly everything in between. Most importantly though, we got the three points.
You can follow Barney on Twitter @Barneylloydwood