Despite defeat at Everton, if Swansea keep playing like they have in the last three games relegation worries will be a thing of the past
Well, that was a change team wasn't it? I won't have been alone in expecting a raft of replacements for the Everton game but I don't think anyone was expecting us to change more or less our entire team! Monk made eight changes, with only Canas, Routledge & Hernandez being retained, and if we're honest it's distinctly possible they'd have been rotated too had the squad allowed it.
The talk on Twitter and other social media prior to kick off was a mix of consternation and acceptance. Some fans thought the team presented a much weaker proposition for Everton, while others (myself included) were glad to see fringe players given a game - and it also can't be forgotten that Everton's midweek game was postponed allowing them the luxury of a completely first choice eleven. Couple that with the fact that we (unlike Martinez's team) are again playing midweek and pundit's assertions that the disparity in "first team players" on Sunday indicated we weren't taking the FA Cup as seriously as Everton is quite simply hogwash.
Monk pointed out after the defeat at Goodison that we're in the middle of a run of seven games in twenty-one days - the way the ITV punditry team of Roy Keane, Lee Dixon & Peter Reid were talking though you'd swear they felt they'd have been able to play every minute of every game in such a run without their performance level dropping. That's probably why they're not successful managers though, and instead find themselves featuring on arguably the most teeth-grindingly excruciating football coverage currently available to football fans.
On to the game itself. With a completely changed back four (plus Tremmel replacing Vorm) Swansea fans could have been forgiven for expecting a slightly lack of organisation, and so it proved to be that the opener came from a bit of a scramble in the Swansea box. With the marking looking a little loose, Distin found space following a free kick and squared to debutant Lacina Traore who flicked the ball home with the outside of his foot. A good finish, but it did all seem a bit too easy. Thankfully though, the goal seemed to spark the Swans into life and we didn't have to wait too long for our equaliser.
In fairness to the Swans, we could have opened the scoring even before Traore stabbed home in the fourth minute. Pablo played a delicious pass for Alvaro Vazquez but...well... it was played to Alvaro Vazquez. Despite his run being excellent, finding himself through on goal, and his first touch taking him past the Everton keeper, he managed to dawdle a moment too long. His touch was a little wide, and by the time he squared for the supporting Lamah the defence had got back and blocked the Belgian's effort. Ultimately it cost us as Everton went down the other end and scored, but we did drag ourselves back into before ultimately shooting ourselves in the foot.
A mention for Jonathan De Guzman. I thought that again against Everton he was a much, much improved player to the one we've become used to over recent months, and he's continued on from an excellent cameo at Stoke. Late on at Goodison you could hear Garry Monk willing his team on constantly, and the player who seemed to be receiving most of the attention was De Guzman. Maybe he needs that kind of encouragement, but over time the need for vocal stimulus will dissipate as players come to understand what is expected of them - until then though it's likely we'll hear more of Garry bellowing "Jono! Jono! Go! Go! Run!". I have to be honest, I did thoroughly enjoy hearing that.
As for his contribution to our most recent fixture, well...he only went and scored a header! He's since stated his last headed goal was for Feyenoord, so it's a bit of a collectors item anyway, but in fairness it was an excellent header - timing his run perfectly to arrive between the Everton centre-backs just as Neil Taylor's delicious cross was starting to drop, and thumping a header across goal into the corner. 1-1, and Everton did not see that coming.
The game then developed a competitive edge, much to the surprise of the ITV punditry team, and I thought that Jazz Richards & Kyle Bartley (until his injury) both looked very solid. I'm a big fan of Jazz, and would love for him to become a squad player for us - for me he's shown enough up until now that we can have faith he's a useful squad player to have kicking around. Sadly, once Neil Taylor had gifted Everton their second goal (giving the ball straight to Steven Naismith who had the simple task of beating Gerhard Tremmel), Richards blotted his copybook somewhat by bringing down Naismith for a penalty which would ultimately put the game beyond the Swans, but until we went 2-1 down we were very much in this match. Considering the reservations about the "second string" nature to the team, the Swans performed admirably and can take great pride from their performance.
One other thing worth mentioning was the introduction of Leroy Lita from the bench. As one tweet put it: "Leroy Lita comes on like a surprise Royal Rumble entrant". Genius. He hadn't played for the Swans in about two years and the only thing he did of note was almost snap Steven Naismith in half, earning himself a yellow card. Good work Leroy - that'll keep you in the team...
So, we go on to our Europa League tie having lost out most recent match, but with confidence in the way we play slowly being restored. The team once again looks like they believe their system can bring them results, and with the entire first team (more or less) rested we'll have no excuses for a sub-par performance on Thursday. Hopefully Benitez will struggle to analyse our possible team given the wildcard nature of Garry Monk's appointment, and if we play with the commitment and tenacity we've displayed in the last three games we're more than capable of a result.