It would be all too easy to blame the officials for dropped points, but the Swans' problems were once again evident against Valencia
Flat. That is a word that could accurately be used to describe the first seventy minutes of Swansea's performance last night, and if we're being honest the problems in evidence last night have been apparent for a while, and I'm starting to think there are aspects to our game which simply aren't working.
Im firmly in the "don't forget where we've come from" camp, and I know that a 1-0 home loss to Valencia really is lightyears away from anything approaching a crisis point, however what is frustrating is we're clearly capable of performing to a higher standard than we have been for a while now. Yesterday's result only serves to emphasise that point.
Under Laudrup, we've definitely gone away from the tika-taka approach we've seen in SA1 over the last few years. Gone are the days when our central midfield trio are charged with dictating the pace of the game, and we now operate with only one "holding" midfielder alongside two more attacking minded players - the problem is we're not making the most of what this system should offer.
Previously, control of the centre of the park was key. With Joey Allen alongside Leon, for example, we knew that under serious pressure from any opposition we'd still be able to play our way up the field - but crucially we'd be able to do it by involving the attacking midfielder in neat triangles through the centre of the park. This hasn't been happening for a while now, as all too often the only option for Leon is a sideways or backwards pass. There's simply no forward option on too many an occasion, and this needs to be addressed before our form returns.
There are numerous reasons why this is happening, in my opinion. For a start, as mentioned, I think it's partly due to selection. Without a steady partner for Leon it's hard to build any kind of continuity, however I've said until I'm blue in the face that we could go a long way to addressing this by pairing Jose Canas with the Swansea stalwart. That would give a dependable, footballing base off which to build attacks, and anyone deployed ahead of that duo would receive plenty of ball into feet, which would then give our wingers more space by removing some of the creative pressure from the flanks.
As for the wingers (and whether this is due to the aforementioned issue I can't say), I feel that while we have enjoyed success from the "inside forward" system, all too often it simply ends up crowding Bony, or whoever else is playing up top. If the wingers stuck on the touchline more often, it would stretch opposition defences and give more time and space to the central midfielders. In the second half against Valencia you could see that when Dyer, Lamah and Pablo (when he came on) stuck out on the touchline and received a pass to feet, it gave them a lot of options because the defence will always be scampering to cover in those positions.
Our two best chances (disallowed goal and clearance off the line) also came from crosses, which shows that when utilised correctly we can get joy out of the wings. It's just about finding the balance which works for the Swans. I feel bad criticising, but I'm not singling out anyone in particular and I don't think we're playing inherently badly, but as one tweet succinctly put it last night "we've improved technically under Laudrup but regressed tactically". There's definitely more to come from this squad, and when it comes it could lead to some really great things, because as I say we're not playing badly, we're just not playing as well as we could or perhaps should be.
As for last night, the problems mentioned above were out in full force. Leon struggled against a midfield which played with more cohesion than the home side's, and as such Valencia enjoyed large periods of the game without being seriously tested. Aside from the disallowed goal (I'll save that rant for another time) and the clearance off the line we rarely threatened, and Valencia spurned their own glorious chance to make it 2-0 late on when we were chasing a leveller. We can gesticulate and claim we deserved a point on the balance of play, which can definitely be argued, but we can also have no complaints about the loss as at the end of the day, Valencia took one of their chances. We had one harshly and incorrectly ruled out, but that counts for nothing come 90 minutes and we had enough time to get something out of the match.
Next up we've got Man City who are an even tougher opponent than the recently departed Spaniards. We're playing away at the Etihad, where City have been, frankly, imperious. The Liberty Stadium has seen the second most goals scored of any ground, with eleven for and eleven against the Swans. The Etihad is the only stadium which has seen more, with twenty-eight in total - of which twenty-six (TWENTY-SIX!) have been in favour of the hosts. They're "six and O" as an American would put it, which gives them an average of 4.3 goals per home game thus far.
It should be pretty easy, then...