Distinctly sub-par Norwich brushed aside by resurgent Swansea
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| Swansea's players congratulate Wayne Routledge on his (and Swansea's third) goal. |
It appears Garry Monk only wins matches three nil. The last time Swansea tasted victory in any competition was in Monk's first game in charge against Cardiff back at the beginning of February, and on that occasion too we struck three goals whilst keeping a clean sheet.
In between the two wins we've seen plenty of good performances but sadly we haven't got the results to match; thankfully yesterday we got both a good display and the three points. Norwich rolled in to town off the back of five straight away defeats, and while the early exchanges demonstrated just why the Canaries have struggled on the road so much their opposition did not look like a side who'd only won four times in their last twenty outings at the Liberty Stadium.
From the off the Swans attacked with intent, with Wayne Routledge and Jonathan De Guzman in particular looking to get at their fullbacks. Wilfried Bony, too, looked like he was on a mission and throughout the match I don't remember him losing possession once - bar the last in a succession of (until that point successful) backheels. Norwich though were simply awful. How were they above us in the league until yesterday? Their home form must be spectacular because on the evidence of yesterday I'm amazed they've even got a chance of staying up.
Routledge was the first player I remember testing John Ruddy in the Norwich goal, getting in around the back on the left and seeing his dinked effort across goal pawed out and away by the 'keeper before Hoolahan completed the clearance. Michu had a couple of half-chances too but he couldn't really connect with them, however the Spaniard's link play did look better. He played the one-two to free Routledge for his shot, while there were signs of promise in terms of his partnership with Wilfried Bony - on a few occasions they exchanged quick passes and it's quite remarkable neither scored given how we played.
Onto the goals then. Norwich completely fell apart any time we pressed them, and with the Swans regaining possession De Guzman spotted Shelvey, who had made a run into space down the right channel. The Dutchman picked out his teammate with a nice chipped through ball, before continuing his run towards the box - Shelvey hit a half-volleyed cross into the box which Michu came nearest to connecting with, but the ball came off the Spaniard and fell into the path of the arriving De Guzman who swept home with his left foot. A great finish, and Jono wasn't finished there!
Bony looked like he really enjoyed himself yesterday. I lost count of the amount of flashy backheels, stepovers and flicks that came off, but the best of the lot had to be the assist for De Guzman's second, which came in the 38th minute - eight minutes after his opener. He played a ball into Bony's feet, ran beyond him, and the Ivorian produced a rollover followed by a backheel which left the Norwich defence floundering, and saw Jono clean through. He still had a lot to do, and boy did he do it with aplomb - clipping a left-footed finish over the advancing Ruddy and in off the far post. Great goal.
So, we actually managed to take a two goal lead into half time at home for a change, after threatening (but sadly failing) to against West Brom and Crystal Palace, and it could have proved handy given how we started the second half - we could well have found ourselves pegged back a goal with Norwich asking questions of the home defence. Something that seemed peculiar (well, two things) was that, firstly, for the entire time we were experiencing opposition pressure Rangel and Ben Davies tucked in as third and fourth centre-backs, with Routledge and De Guzman seeming to drop in at wing back. That seemed overly defensive given we were 2-0 up, and seemed to compound our (albeit brief) stresses.
Secondly, when we were under the cosh we brought everyone back to defend corners. Now, we're at home and we're 2-0 up - in my opinion we should leave at least one guy upfield to occupy a Norwich defender. As it was, they were able to send pretty much everyone forward, with their deepest player roaming between our penalty area and the centre-circle. To me that seems to put unnecessary pressure on ourselves - thankfully we managed to see out a frenetic period of opposition pressure but it could have been very different had Vorm not saved from Elmander and Van Wolfswinkel, and Ash not cleared off the line excellently from Snodgrass's effort.
Norwich were made to rue their missed chances not too long later when Wayne Routledge made it three in the seventy-fourth minute. Again, Bony started the move by holding the ball up brilliantly. Jinking past his man, he slipped it to Jonjo Shelvey who delayed, and delayed, and finally slipped a little reverse pass to Routledge, who cut a left-footed finish back across Ruddy and into the far corner. Three nil, and game over.
Excluding the short period of time after half time, we completely bossed proceedings and Norwich looked thoroughly second best. They looked bereft of ideas, and it makes me wonder how they've picked up so many points this season - for seventy minutes they played dire hoofball before deciding - at 3-0 down - that they were going to try and pass it about. Neither really worked for them, and as Monk said post-match we have played better than that without even getting a point over the last couple of weeks - the key still seems to be addressing the period of time directly after the break. Do that and it'll be a good team that beats us, at home at least.
Yesterday also saw us return to a 4-2-3-1 formation, even if prematch it appeared we'd be going with a diamond formation again. Davies for Taylor was the only change, but instead of a non-Swansea four man midfield we reverted to Leon & Shelvey in the middle with Michu ahead, and Routledge and De Guzman out wide. It's the first time I can remember Jono playing out wide, and two goals (plus a goal for his mate on the other flank) seem to indicate that there's definitely legs in the Canadian/Dutch/Filipino Jack playing out wide. Bony thoroughly enjoyed himself playing between those two, and De Guzman out wide gives us more of a goal threat than Dyer, or even Pablo provides.
The win serves as a timely confidence boost ahead of next weekend's trip to a beleaguered Hull side whose performance has dropped off partly due to injuries to key defensive players. Win that one, and we'll be on thirty-six points which I believe will be enough to keep us in the Premier Division for another season. When it's put like that, it's hard to see what we were worried about?