Swansea return to winning ways in front of their own fans
Barring a home win over Sunderland (which no doubt last night's opponents enjoyed at the time), the last time I remember coming away from a match at the Liberty thinking a) that we played well and b) that we thoroughly deserved the three points was also against Newcastle - way back on March the 2nd in the aftermath of our League Cup win. That those two wins were also our only two home wins in the same period shows how much we've struggled in front of our own fans, but last night went a long way in allaying concerns over our home form as the Toon were comprehensively outplayed, and the win was thoroughly deserved.
The game kicked off with the Swans having opted for Jose, JDG & Shelvey in midfield, with Alvaro leading the line. Dwight Tiendalli replaced Rangel (out with a calf injury) while the only other change saw Vorm come back into the team at the expense of Gerhard Tremmel. Newcastle, as predicted, turned out in a 4-4-2 which, given we'd managed to dominate possession at the Etihad (how many teams can say that?) seemed a little foolhardy.
So it proved to be, that the match kicked off and Newcastle adopted a deep position, seemingly happy to let us play football. If you are going to stand off and allow us possession, you can't play 4-4-2 - it's just mental. By the time Pardew figured this out it was too late - Remy shifted out wide but by then the Swans were playing with a pomp and verve we haven't been seeing too often of late. There was a zip to our play, and the ball stuck in the middle of the park far more often than has been the case in recent matches - and it duly showed with the control we exuded over our opponents.
That being said, the best chance to occur in the early stages fell to Loic Remy. Debuchy swung in a cross from the right and Remy got up well, steering his header back across goal to Vorm's left. Thankfully for the Swansea 'keeper his header lacked the force required to see it hit the net, but that shouldn't take away from the Dutchman's reflex save. It seemed the header was destined to open the scoring, but at the last second Vorm stuck out his left hand and parried it away.
Aside from that, the Swans' pressure was building. Alvaro, Jonjo & Chico all had efforts and no matter how hard Newcastle tried there were long periods of time where they simply couldn't clear their ranks. The departure of Alvaro through injury threatened to derail the Swansea train, however if anything it seemed to confuse Newcastle. They didn't seem sure which runner to pick up bursting from midfield, and that created indecision in their ranks which ultimately paid dividends for the home side.
The opener came from Nathan Dyer - excellent after he replaced Alvaro on the half hour mark. De Guzman swung in a free kick from the right which almost missed everyone, but a Newcastle head deflected it up in the air and when it came down Pablo was waiting. He flicked it to Pozuelo, who drove a cross at the six yard box - Krul flapped at it and it looped up before dropping in the penalty area with Nathan Dyer lurking. The winger watched it all the way before smashing a shot into the ground, which flew past the despairing defence and into the net. The goal came just before half-time, and was no more than the home side deserved.
The second half started in much the same way as the first - Newcastle watching the Swans playing. The next goal came amidst a whiff of controversy, however. Remy tricked his way into the box and his shot clearly hit Ben Davies' arm, but Howard Webb waved protests away. Given the run of luck we've had with refs, it's about time we got something going in our favour. Swansea then went straight down the other end and scored - Pozuelo fed Shelvey who burst clean through on goal, and despite fluffing his lines the ball rebounded off Krul, then Debuchy, and nestled in the net.
So, 2-0 and surely a case of simply holding on? Not so - the Swans continued to press upfield and we did look occasionally vulnerable at the back. Game management isn't something we're famous for, and it's still something that needs work, but we are definitely improving in that regard.
Jonjo clearly fancied it last night. He'd had a bit of a set-to with Debuchy (though I think describing that as a headbutt is akin to describing Stoke City as a footballing team), but he's playing with fire in his belly at the moment and drew a fine save out of Krul after stepping away from his man and unleashing a shot at goal. He didn't have long to wait though - a neat passing move saw De Guzman feed the ex-Liverpool man just outside the box, and he curled a first-time effort up, over Tim Krul and into the Newcastle net. 3-0, and game over. Pardew may have protested that Shelvey shouldn't have been on the field, but his protagonist shouldn't have been by that point either so it's a bit of "pot kettle black" if you ask me.
All in all, a much better performance from the Swans. I thoroughly enjoyed watching the team play, and the shapes and movements we were making were working throughout the 90 minutes. Hopefully we can now go on to claim further points against Hull and put some distance between ourselves and the relegation zone.
Onwards and upwards.