How did the Swans fare in terms of numbers compared to the previous season?
The Swansea Way's resident tactics expert Jon Trew casts a detailed eye over some interesting statistics
Goals scored
2012/2013
2013/2014
The Swans scored 7 more goals last season compared to the previous. Towards the end of the season under Monk the goals seemed to be flowing, which could reflect the rise in goals for. I expect monk to continue with this trend and bring back some free flowing attacking football in the style of Martinez and Laudrup. Interestingly, headed goals rose last season from 7 to 10 due to some aerial dominance of Bony. The return of the wingers hugging the touchline and attacking full backs should see our headed goal tally rise next year, especially if Michu stays and remains fit. His late runs into the box coupled with Bony’s general aerial prowess should see us bag an extra couple of headed goals.
Also, it’s great to see a rise in shots scored from outside the area. Shelvey scored 6 goals last year with 5 of them outside the area. He seems to be a specialist in this department and is capable of pulling off something from range. He settled into the team more towards the end of the season and needs to keep a calm head when in possession of the ball. He has bags of potential but needs to tunnel his passion and cut out the hollywood passes. Next year I fully expect him to be fighting for a place in the team with De Guzman (if we sign him) and KI to name but two. His best position (in my humble opinion) is just in front of Britton and can be the glue between the defence and attack. Please no back passes a la Liverpool at home though JonJo!
Goals conceded
2012/2013
2013/2014
As much as we have criticised the defence this year, we actually only conceded 3 extra goals. This was a lot to do with individual errors as I will look at in part two of this article. Worryingly though we conceded 11 goals from outside the area last season compared to 5 in the 2012/13 season. Garry Monk should be looking to make the defence and midfield work as a unit in the defensive transition. The defence were often left exposed last season by mistakes in midfield and a central midfielder needs to drop in alongside Leon Britton when the opposition is attacking. On a positive note we conceded 5 less goals from headers last year! I wouldn’t say we are particularly skilled in the air but this makes for good reading.
Set Pieces
2012/13
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| (the values shown here are in the same format as in the corresponding image below) |
2013/14
Another positive point to take from last season was the huge increase in set pieces scored. We scored a paltry 5 goals in the 2012/13 season and nearly managed to treble it last season, ending with 13 goals scored. We managed to score 4 penalties but didn’t score any direct goals from free kicks. Not since the days of Andy Robinson have we had a consistent set piece specialist. It may be something Garry Monk is thinking about whilst he goes about his transfer business.
Shot Accuracy
2012/13
2013/14
There’s not a major difference in stats for the seasons 2012/13 and 2013/14 when comparing shot accuracy. The only point that sticks out is that we had less shots inside the area and more from outside the area. Rather than looking to score the perfect goal we seemed to be taking more of a gamble and were prepared to have a go from further out than usual.
Possession and passing
2012/13
2013/14
Swansea have been notorious for possession based football over the past 7 or so seasons and have consistently every year been at or around the top of the top of the table in the possession stats. Last season was no different. Swansea finished the season having had an average of 54% possession, 1% up on the previous year. We also managed to fit in an extra 1,000+ passes during the season. This increase in passes could arguably be attributed to Garry Monk after he took over. The Swans sought to control the games like under previous managers Brendan Rodgers and Roberto Martinez. Interestingly, Both Liverpool and Everton finished below Swansea on the possession stats. A return to ‘the Swansea way’ seems inevitable with a few extra surprises from Garry Monk thrown in.
You can read my previous article on ‘what to expect next season from Garry Monk’ here and look out for ‘Part 2’ of Seasons 2012/13 - 2013/14 - A Statistical Comparison.
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