Eric Imhof was looking for something to cheer him up after the Liverpool debacle...and by jove he found it
Hell hath no fury like Twitter after a loss such as our defeat at Liverpool. While Monk himself called the result “sickening,” I was, even in my own vexed state, shocked at just how quickly many people were imploring the guillotine. Jazz out. Bony out. (Yes, Bony out.) Monk out. Shelvey out. (Okay that one kind of makes sense.)
I guess people often forget that soccer is an entirely capricious affair, where “luck” - or the “footballing gods” as it’s often personified - is usually hard to come by. Not that Swansea didn’t play poorly in every position, which they did, but sometimes it’s just not your night, especially at Anfield. Liverpool likes to position itself as a scrappy underdog, and the narrative-hungry pundits are all-too happy to oblige, but the reality is that the Reds are Premier League royalty, and as such they have enough in the treasure chest to make Solomon blush. Imagine if Monk had 60 million pounds to throw around.
Anyway, while Monk now has many questions to answer following arguably the worst performance since Laudrup’s waterloo at Upton Park, there’s still no reason to hit the reset button.
Call me crazy, but I thought supporting a team meant rooting for the players and manager to improve, not demanding that they all be replaced after one terrible (and, yes, it was terrible) performance. I could’ve opened up the fixture list last summer and told you that Swansea would lose at Anfield after a hectic Christmas run, and that’s without the foresight that they would be without Jefferson Montero, a winger perfectly suited to exploiting Liverpool’s weaknesses at the back.
Alas, it wasn’t to be, but let’s not become lugubrious Arsenal fans, people!
In that spirit of lightening the mood, I’ve put together a Swans BINGO card, so that you can follow along at home in good cheer. Even when Monk puts his shortest defender on the other team’s tallest striker, or when Bony scores a goal in 15 minutes and then they park the bus as if they’re playing Chelsea, there should be something here to keep an eye out for!
Thanks to Eric for taking the time to put together this Swans bingo card, which most definitely gave me a giggle! I'll definitely be playing tomorrow, will you?
If you have any suggestions for other things which could have made the list, feel free to send them in!