Josh Kilmister gives his take on our FA Cup exit at Ewood Park
It’s days like this that make me think, ‘do I take football too seriously?’ After being promised a reaction to the 5-0 thumping at home to Chelsea, this is what we get. Not only did the players leave the pitch without a result, but they also left without two teammates. Another two red cards with their respective match bans make it difficult to think of any possible positives to take out of Saturday’s match.
Starting XI
Lukasz Fabianski – 6
Fabianski done what he does best and commanded the box, dealing with any ball posed a threat to our defence. He made a good save from the free-kick to prevent Blackburn taking the lead immediately after Bartley’s sending off, but couldn’t get down quick enough to save a late Conway effort. Certainly not his worst game in a Swans shirt, but he’ll kick himself for letting in that third goal.
Dwight Tiendalli – 5
Tiendalli isn’t great on his stronger right side, so it still confuses me why we play him on the left. Saying that, Tiendalli wasn’t half as bad today as he was against Chelsea, but that would have been difficult. Apart from offering himself further up the field Tiendalli was poor. His defensive positioning was as bad as ever while he was beaten in the air in the lead up to Chris Taylor’s goal. With Naughton now signed and strong rumours of another fullback on his way in, it’s hard to see Tiendalli fighting for a place come February, even with Jazz joining Fulham on loan.
Jordi Amat – 5
We all know how good Amat can be, but today certainly wasn’t his day. Even before Bartley got sent off he looked nervous struggled to play even the simplest of passes. It was evident that he hadn’t had much playing time, and this was only made clearer with the introduction of Fernandez. A clear lack of communication between the two made matters worse, while Amat trying to play the ball out of defence when a simple ‘hoof’ would’ve worked didn’t help things either.
Kyle Bartley – 4
There really isn’t much to judge him on, but getting sent off after just seven minutes isn’t a great way to stake a claim for first team football. That early in the game all you really need to do is stay alert, but he couldn’t even do that. Caught half asleep, Josh King found his way around the big Englishman only to be bundled over. As much as some fans might argue, the laws of the game will tell you that the red card was very much justifiable.
Angel Rangel – 6
The signing of a Kyle Naughton means that Rangel has to fight for his place for – unless I’m forgetting someone – the first time since joining us. He definitely didn’t disappoint too much, though there was little reason to sing his name. I expect him to still have a fair bit of game time, even with Naughton’s arrival.
Tom Carroll – 6
Unfortunately for him, Bartley’s early sending off meant Carroll’s game lasted just eight minutes, so again he there isn’t much to judge him by. However he didn’t get sent off, so I guess it’s not all bad.
Jonjo Shelvey – 5
After a four game ban, you’d think Jonjo would be raring to go; this didn’t seem to be the case as he failed to make any sort of impact on the game. Maybe after being out of action for so long it’s tough for a player to regain form immediately, but it was a similar story to his games prior to his ban as Shelvey looked off the pace and, at times, uninterested.
Nathan Dyer – 5
One thing I will say is that Dyer actually looked like he wanted to win, but he just couldn’t make a big enough impact for it to happen. His first touch was poor and when he got into the right positions, so was his final product. Playing on the left, though tended to drift across leaving Tiendalli open. With Routledge out, it is now looking unlikely that he’ll lose his spot to the less experienced options we have in the squad .
Gyfli Sigurdsson – 6.5 (Man of the match)
When Gylfi put us ahead with what can only be described as a screamer, all looked well; hat was until Blackburn equalised just ninety seconds later. Realistically he was our only chance of getting back into the tie and, although it’s disappointing to see, his red card late on showed that he at least cared. Likely to be out for three games, somebody has some big boots to fill.
Modou Barrow – 6
He tried his best to make an impact when he could, but Barrow wasn’t involved enough to really put his stamp on the game. There were glimpses of what he could be on the wing, but despite looking promising, he was replaced by Montero.
Bafetimbi Gomis – 3
“Has claimed some big names want to sign him from Swansea. Can only assume he means Inverness Caledonian Thistle on this evidence”. Chris Wathan of Wales Online summed up Bafe’s performance perfectly. I’m struggling to see how Gomis expects to play Champions League football when Shane Duffy dominated him for ninety minutes. If this is the final straw for the Frenchman then so be it, because his lack of commitment is making me wonder how seriously Monk is taking this whole saga. Doesn’t deserve to start at Southampton next week and I’m sure many Swans fans would be happy to see the back of him. Boos echoed around the away stand as Bafe made his exit, and although I don’t condone it, until he gets his head out of his arse, I’m done fighting his corner.
Substitutes
Federico Fernandez – 6 (for Carroll, 8')
Calmed things down a bit after an awful first ten minutes, but seemed to be carrying the defence by himself. He did get us out of trouble a few times, but equally slipped up a few times too.
Jefferson Montero – 6 (for Barrow, 62')
Jeff tried to use his lightning pace and quick feet, but even he couldn’t break through the Blackburn defence. For the short time he was on he was marked heavily, but just having him back from injury is promising in itself.
Nelson Oliveira – 6 (for Gomis, 77')
In the short time Oliveira was on, he looked more threatening than Gomis had all game. In a similar fashion to his performance against Chelsea the Portuguese international looked to get shots away whenever possible, but his only real chance was hit right at the ‘keeper. Perhaps it would be worth giving him a chance up front against Southampton.
Referee: Craig Pawson – 6
Monk said he was quick to give both red cards, but the fact that he said we wouldn’t be appealing shows that perhaps he isn’t as against the decisions as he makes out. There were a few moments where the yellow card should probably have been shown to a Rovers player, but inconsistent refereeing is almost expected now, though still not acceptable.
Summary
A crazy day of FA Cup football with Man City and Chelsea both being knocked out by Middlesbrough and Bradford respectively, but that doesn’t make me feel any better. Last week’s performance was poor but somewhat acceptable, considering that an in form Chelsea side would beat any team in the world, but we shouldn’t be being dominated by lower league opposition.
I said last February that it would only take a string of poor results for people to start calling for Monk to lose his job, and that’s exactly what’s happening now. Only a minority of fans, but that’s enough to get the ball rolling. Comparisons to Laudrup are absurd, and I still very much think Monk is the man to take us forward. As for next week, I’d love to be positive about a trip to St. Marys but I’m struggling. I’m looking forward to the possibility of Naughton making his debut, and we can only hope that he and the rest of the defence are up for it.
Thanks to Josh as usual - it's painful picking through the bones of the performance today so I'm glad it was him and not me! Give him a follow on Twitter @JoshKilmister