Two horrible second half displays in a row - but what more could Monk have done?
Well, now I'm worried. I try to occupy the role of the eternal optimist, but two poor second half performances in a row have got me seriously concerned as we're now firmly involved in a relegation scrap. I still think we've got more than enough to pull clear but bigger and better teams than us have been sent down in the past, and we need to be more consistent than we have been in the last two outings if we are to secure our Premier League status for another year any time soon.
Yesterday saw us fly out of the blocks once again, and (as against Crystal Palace) we should have been out of sight within half an hour. The tempo we started at was excellent and with only two minutes on the clock Lamah latched onto a brilliant Bony through ball and cut inside, before curling one across goal and into the far corner of Ben Foster's net. The Liberty erupted and for the next twenty minutes or so the atmosphere in the stadium was as good as anything I've heard in recent times. The football wasn't bad either!
First Bony looked to be through from a Canas through ball but he was flagged offside, then he connected with Lamah's cross but his shot from point blank range was straight at Foster. Anywhere else, and it would have been 2-0 and things may well have turned out differently. West Brom weren't overawed by any means though - by that point Anichebe had already stung Vorm's hands and not long after Foster saved from Bony Sessegnon sliced one high and wide. The warning signs were there, but the Swans didn't heed them. Before half-time Lamah & Ashley Williams would head just wide and over from corners, De Guzman would fail to hit the target from another Lamah cross while Bony skied an effort that had sat up awkwardly. Even Canas had a pop but his volley was very ambitious - he did well but couldn't quite keep it down enough.
So it was that half time came and it was 1-0 to the Swans, but if I'm honest by the time the ref's whistle blew to halt proceedings I was already quite worried. West Brom had looked dangerous on the break, and as the half had gone on we'd lost control of the centre of the park. Albion's high pressing game saw us drop deeper and deeper, and we'd reverted to trying to break out down the flanks. We'd started so well but given how the first half had ended I felt we needed to up the tempo after the break - sadly something that we failed to do but our opponents did with relish.
Straight from the off Swansea were second best, and second to everything. Sessegnon capitalised on the Swans going to sleep and found space to unleash a pearler into the bottom left corner of Vorm's net, and not long afterwards Michu came on to much acclaim for Jose Canas. De Guzman dropped in alongside Leon and for about five minutes this had the effect that was desired - we managed to push up the field slightly and De Guzman's more offensive leanings meant we were able to shift the ball through the gears without getting bogged down in defensive midfield.
Sadly though, this didn't last. For me we lost all fluency around this point and hardly retained possession after it. It was a combination of things - West Brom's excellent pressing game, De Guzman's natural inclinations not reflecting those of a natural central midfielder, and Michu's preference to want to latch on to a final ball. We saw the Spaniard trying to orchestrate play in order to arrive at a point where he could strike an effort on goal, but all too often he should have just showed for the ball. He has been out for a long, long time though so it'll take him a while to get up to speed, as well as to familiarise himself with the changes to the way we play that have taken hold since Monk's appointment.
Mulumbu's goal was really, really disappointing. He got to a loose ball in midfield first and drifted past Michu's half-hearted attempt to get to him, before waltzing...actually, it was more like jogging through the Swansea midfield. Leon and De Guzman had drifted apart and he was able to run straight through the middle of them before passing the ball into Vorm's bottom right corner. Great finish, but defensively that goal was horrible. Nobody pressed him, and we're supposed to have three central midfielders! How can a defensive midfielder, nay, THE most defensive midfielder I've seen in the Premier League in years drift through our entire midfield without a challenge being made? That's what Monk will be asking his team in training tomorrow, and he'll no doubt be pretty miffed at the nature of his side's collapse in the second half.
As for Monk though - what more could he have done? Against Palace it could be argued he could have tweaked things a bit more before they ultimately got their equaliser but yesterday I couldn't see much more that he could have done. We were being pressed back onto our own eighteen yard line, so I think taking Canas off for Michu was probably the best move. It's possible bringing Pablo on there would have helped us retain possession (as we simply didn't for the majority of the second half) but with West Brom pressing and getting stuck into us I can one-hundred percent see why Monk brought Michu on. Plus, if he had only brought him on with ten minutes to go after the Swans had conceded in the fifty-second minute fans would have been questioning why he wasn't brought on sooner.
Lamah picked up a bit of an injury and had to be replaced by Pablo Hernandez late on, while the other sub was Emnes on for Leon once the Swans had gone 2-1 down. I think Monk set the team out right and I don't think he can be blamed for the performance yesterday where we faded consistently from around the twenty-five minute mark on. You could tell by the crowd's reaction that we'd taken our foot off the gas - the first part of the opening period had a real party atmosphere but by half time there had been long periods of almost complete silence in the stadium. I assume the only thing stopping WBA fans mocking this was the fact that they were currently 1-0 down. With hindsight they could have been a bit more confident!
Garry Monk had no managerial experience when he was given the role by the Swans, and the board knew that. He's said, correctly, that all he can do is his best and no-one can doubt that isn't the case. I still believe that he has the ability to steer us away from the relegation zone, but it has slowly become a much more pressing concern. No blame can be apportioned to Monk though. If you get asked to take over at the club you love when they're potentially in crisis, and the people in a position to do so put you in charge because they have confidence in you...well, they're the ones who are supposed to know whether a manager is the right appointment or not, not the applicant.
It's a massive ask being given a job in such circumstances, and I think aside from the second half against Palace (where we were clearly knackered) and a weird sub or two against Napoli he's done remarkably well. Ok, the results haven't improved since Laudrup's tenure but I still feel we're on the brink of turning a corner. The key now is bouncing back and making sure that the positive changes that were made aren't forgotten, and that the level of performance returns to where we were against Napoli at home, for example. Crucially though, we need to do it for ninety minutes.
We need a good result or two and soon, and hopefully results elsewhere will be kind to us - unlike this weekend. We've got Norwich and Villa to come at home, plus Newcastle, Sunderland & Hull away (as well as games against Everton (A), Arsenal (A), Chelsea (H) & Southampton (H)) and while you might feel we could target some points in the latter four the former definitely need to be the ones we're targeting.
Having said that, next up is Everton away this coming Saturday before we go to Arsenal on the Tuesday and I've got a good feeling we can sneak a point. It'd be just like the Swans to lose and draw the games we should be winning before toppling a supposedly mighty opponent on their patch, but that's definitely the optimist in me speaking again.