Tuesday 30 September 2014

Swansea vs Newcastle: Key Players - Shelvey vs Colback

Key Players

 
A new feature in the preview this year, I'll be using statistical radars to show two of the key attacking threats on display

This week I thought I'd break up the preview normally released later in the week, and give us all some information to contemplate in the buildup to the match. First up, let's have a look at player radars! If you haven't seen these before, it's a way of graphically representing a player's statistical performance, in a way which makes it very easy to see who's performed well. A "full" radar - ie. one which is entirely red - is, statistically, a perfect player in that position. A tiny dot in the centre is... you get the idea.

So who will be the key performers this weekend? Resisting the urge to just look at centre-forwards, the battle is likely to be in the centre of the park, so I thought we'd look at Jonjo Shelvey and compare him with Jack Colback. This had nothing to do with the fact I'd already produced radars for both players. Honest. There are two different templates you can use to produce these radars - one for defensive contribution and one for attacking. As Shelvey & Colback are players expected to provide a contribution in both areas, we'll look at both sets of radars.

First up are their radars for defensive contribution. 
 

Jonjo Shelvey vs Jack Colback - Defensive contribution (2013/14)












As you can see, the only notable spikes on Colback's radar are for not losing possession and passing the ball accurately. He gives away lots of fouls, doesn't make many tackles, and (contrastingly with Jonjo) he isn't making up for defensive frailties with attacking output. Ok, he makes slightly more tackles and interceptions than Jonjo but given how few he makes in the grand scheme of things, it's hardly something to write home about.

On to attacking output, then.
 

Jonjo Shelvey vs Jack Colback - Attacking contribution (2013/14)

 

 
As you can see, Shelvey once again comes across as a much more rounded player. The only spikes on Colback's radar are (again) not being dispossessed and passing the ball accurately, while the amount of tackles and interceptions he makes comes across more favourably when plotted on the attacking radar. What's noticeable though is that his attacking output is essentially not there - ok, when he does actually take a shot his shooting and conversion are very good, but he gets into shooting positions so infrequently that it doesn't warrant writing about further.

Shelvey, on the other hand, fares rather better. His dribbling, goals, shots per game, assists, key passes and through balls are all a lot better than Colback's, and at this point I'm wondering just how much irony the "Ginger Pirlo" nickname came loaded with. 

To me, and it isn't just stats which lead me to believe this, I think it's ludicrous Colback was called up for England while Shelvey's good form last season has clearly gone unnoticed. Proof the England setup pick players at "big teams" over more unfashionable sides? I don't think proof is needed any more, to be honest.
 
Back to midfielders, and I think Shelvey will get the better of Colback this weekend. Not least because of the midfield unit he'll find himself in. I'm confident of a Swansea win, and if Newcastle play anything like they did at Stoke on Monday night our midfield will tear theirs to pieces. Try as he might, and assuming there isn't a drastic improvement in Newcastle's fortunes, there won't be anything Colback can do about it. 

Stay tuned for the rest of the in-depth preview later in the week!

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Who should be our two starting wingers this Saturday?

Six games played, ten points gained and we’re sitting comfortably in fifth place. Surely, there can’t be any problems for Garry Monk? Wrong. Though the problem he has isn’t necessarily a bad one. Josh Kilmister explains...





It’s no secret that both Dyer and Routledge have both had outstanding starts to the season. Dyer has four goals in eight games in all competitions, and is the second top scorer out of all of the Englishmen in the Premier League (behind West Brom’s Saido Berahino). Routledge has had an equally impressive start, scoring one and assisting one, though that doesn’t give his performances any justice. It seems this hasn’t gone unnoticed either, as it seems that he is on the verge of his first England call up.

So we have Nath and Routs in fine form, but here’s the problem. We have an Ecuadorian World Cup star watching on, waiting for his chance to prove that he can outshine both of our Englishmen. With all due respect to our English pair, who have served us well in the years they’ve been here, I think he can. Montero (or ‘Jeff’ as he’s commonly known by Swans fans) is the youngest of the three, recently turning 25 - he's a year younger than Dyer and four younger than Routledge - and is the one out of the three to have gained a full international cap. Fourty-three of them, to be precise! 

All three wingers are capable of playing on both the left and the right hand side of midfield, though you could say that Dyer is probably at his most comfortable on the right, meaning that Monk has many options. Montero is without a doubt the fastest player I’ve ever seen in a Swans shirt, closely followed by Dyer, and I know I’ve said this before but I have never seen a harder working, more consistent and technically sound player than Wayne Routledge.

Obviously, having three players for two positions is expected for a team like us [I'd argue even four! - Ed], and being able to rotate your squad without having to worry is something that we haven’t been able to do before now. In terms of our attack we’ve got Bafe Gomis in to challenge Bony for a place in the starting eleven, and the depth in our midfield is something that will be admired by many Premier League clubs. Ki, Shelvey, Gylfi, Carroll and when he’s fit, Leon Britton...we really do have some quality options to pick from.

In defence we’ve got four centre-backs that can do a job in both the cup and the league in Ash, Fede Fernandez, Jordi Amat and Kyle Bartley while in the full-back position we have Rangel, Jazz, Taylor, Tiendalli and if needed, the young Scotsman Stephen Kingsley. Finally, we’ve got Gerhard Tremmel to back up Fabianski, who’s had a fantastic start to the season.

Back to wingers, and in my opinion Dyer & Montero should start this weekend. Jeff has done enough during his cameos and cup starts to warrant a start, while Dyer's goalscoring form means he's undroppable. While that's harsh on Wayne, someone has to miss out and it's about time Jeff got the nod in the league.

We’ve got plenty of options available, and I know for a fact that Monk has got a managerial headache with Newcastle at home fast approaching this Saturday. As the subtitle alludes to though, it's the type of problem managers love to have.

Who do you think should start on the wing? Or anywhere else for that matter! Get in touch using the comment section below, and you can follow Josh on Twitter @JoshKilmister

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Surely Jazz Richards will start against Newcastle?

Swansea youngster (is twenty-three still young?) almost certain to start given Rangel's suspension & Tiendalli's recent injury



Last week I wrote about how Jazz Richards could realistically look to challenge Angel Rangel for a spot in the first team, based on his excellent showings in the Capital One Cup so far this season. It now seems that he's set to get his shot following Rangel's red card against Sunderland.

I was very impressed, in particular, by his showing against Everton, and he'll have no more to fear from Newcastle than he did Roberto Martinez's Toffees. Rangel had already been exposed on a number of occasions this season before he was sent off last weekend, so if Jazz is selected and performs well, there's no reason to believe Rangel would come straight back into the team. Especially considering Monk has spoken in the past about how, if a player is given a chance and performs, he should keep his place in the team.

As to Richards in particular, Monk seems to have been as impressed by Jazz as I was last Tuesday:

"You saw Jazz against Everton, a Premier League team with very good players, and I thought he was brilliant. Along with Jeff Montero he was probably man of the match, and I have full confidence in him. 
"When he's at his confident best he's a very good full-back and he's one we will look at. He hasn't had many chances and it's been difficult for him — I remember going through that sort of thing myself, but he's stuck in there, he's a great lad with a great attitude and a lot going for him. 
"The performance against Everton will give him a lot of confidence. He had a few minutes to help us dig in at Sunderland and if he's called upon next weekend I'm sure he'll be ready." 
http://www.southwales-eveningpost.co.uk/Swansea-City-s-Jazz-Richards-job-Newcastle-United/story-23018356-detail/story.html?#ixzz3EmBGaYZ3 

While he obviously hasn't come out and said "he's starting" that's as good as for me. Tiendalli has only just returned to training following a minor groin injury, and it seems pointless risking him considering how well Jazz has played so far this season. And that, in my opinion, Tiendalli didn't have the best of games at right-back in the League Cup against Rotherham.

The more competition for places in every position the better, and I for one can't wait to see Jazz playing for us in the Premier League some three years since Rodgers handed him his last start. While people may have had their doubts in the past, he's more than earned his chance. I for one wouldn't bet against him taking it. 

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Routledge rumoured to be set for England callup

Tabloid media reporting that winger will get the nod ahead of teammates Nathan Dyer & Jonjo Shelvey




One of two "EXCLUSIVE" articles (link) published by the Daily Star late last night/early this morning (the other being a list of one sentence snippets like "Leon Britton is out for another six weeks" with no substantiation) claims that following Rod Hodgson's trip to the Liberty Wayne Routledge is set to receive a callup to the England squad for the qualifiers against San Marino & Estonia.

I've made my feelings on this matter clear in the past - notably that Andros Townsend is a liability who should be nowhere near international football - and if this rumour is true it's no more than Wayne deserves. It just seems a shame that Dyer & Shelvey may miss out. 

Hopefully if we maintain our current level of performance and keep picking up points it won't be long before our other English hopefuls get the recognition they deserve.

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Monday 29 September 2014

Sunderland's "grass too long"? Don't mower the tone, Garry...

Eric Imhof wants no talk of how long the grass is...or anything other than the football, for that matter





“There’s a regulation maximum length but that was probably at the highest level. It’s no excuse though. We’ve had much worse, we’ve trained on cow fields in the past and still played good football.” Garry Monk

That’s an actual quote from Garry Monk following the 0-0 stalemate (stale being the operative syllable) at the Stadium of Light yesterday.

So that’s what it’s come to, eh? It was only four months ago that the Swans gaffer said, after being asked if it was annoying to lose the way they did against Southampton (via the cartoonish Ricky Lambert looper) in a “meaningless” match, i.e. after having already secured safety, that “no match is meaningless; we want to win every game.” I guess that quote should’ve come with a qualifier: “...and by every game I mean every game where the grass is cut to the exact length we have at The Liberty.”

Honestly, when I first read the phrase “long-grass gamesmanship” in the headline, I thought it was some kind of regionalism, or else a euphemism for nicking, fouling, stalling, etc. in order to not let a football match break out: as in, “they were pulling our shirts so much that it was as if they didn’t even cut the grass.” But no, Monk’s actually talking about the grass! I can’t wait until the next away game now, to see if Garry is out there with a ruler and a cylinder mower at half time.

It was fitting, too, that Ki had kind words to say about his former co-Black-Cats, considering that A) they seemed to be passing just fine through the undergrowth, and B) he was chasing players around like a confused child who’s lost his parents in a supermarket. I love that Ki is back, but I’m not sure if he just needs to play deeper or if he should come in for Gylfi later in games and let Shelvey (or Britton, hopefully soon) bolster the defense. Remember that Southampton’s goal a week ago was set up by Ki losing a step on his “mark”, if you can call it that, since Ki was completely turned around by a simple angular pass, as if an offensive player arriving on the flank was an unthinkable and miraculous fluke. 

That’s all I’ll write about tactics for now, though, since I don’t want my analysis to get stuck in the weeds (sorry, had to). But bear with me, lest you think I’m turning into one of those overly critical grumps: I’d like to clarify that I only mention my eye roll over long-grass-gate because such excuses should seem slightly troubling to us highly reasonable Swansea supporters, if only because the headline gives the impression that the Swans are becoming a bit fastidious - if not downright petty (er, dare I write, barmy?), as if their early fifth-place position is going to their heads. 

As an American trying to get others to even recognise my belovèd squad’s existence - let alone watch a match with me - media coverage is crucial in building the case, and the headlines from yesterday aren’t exactly helpful. Again, fittingly, Ki summed up yesterday’s slugfest well: 

“A bit boring to be honest.” Ki

See, I love that about him: no excuses needed.

Furthermore, and more importantly, such equivocations bely everything endearing about the Swans: their dedication, their teamwork, their commitment to doing the little things right - in short, their humility. I don’t think Monk will ever approach Mourinho levels of theatrics, but why even get anywhere close? Just shake the other guy’s hand, say a point’s a point’s a point, and look ahead to the next match. 

In this sense, Jonjo hit the nail on the head: 

“I think on Tuesday night we performed really well against Everton and got a point today and we’ll just look to get three points next weekend against Newcastle.” Jonjo Shelvey

Who'd have thought Jonjo Shelvey would be the one imparting sage advice? Thanks to Eric for his latest piece - he runs @AustinJackArmy (a Twitter feed for fans of the Swans in Austin, Texas) - give them a follow!

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Two minutes - that's all I waited for a pint against Southampton!

Following criticism last season, the bar service in the Riverside has improved dramatically





Swansea City. The club that listens. Following an exasperated rant last season (after our win over Aston Villa - link) about the speed of service in the food and drink outlets, it seemed I struck a nerve amongst fans who got in touch to say that they too had grown disillusioned with trying to get a pint at half time, and had long since stopped bothering. What happened next I didn't expect though - I received an email inviting me to the stadium to discuss the issues - an offer I was all too happy to accept.

It was explained to me that logistically and legally, it is very hard to improve the situation with the current layout in the East Stand concourse. Nevertheless, the company in charge of running the bars in the stadium were very, very keen to improve the situation and asked if I'd organise a Q&A with fans to answer their most-repeated questions. This took place over the summer and here was their response to that: link.

I'm writing this now because against Southampton I didn't leave my seat early to get a pint, and despite that I waited no more than two minutes for a pint of Doombar in the Riverside Bar. That's a great effort by the barstaff, and they must now be pre-pouring a large number of pints, as well as going about their business in a more brisk manner. What's more, I kept an eye on the bar (in the interests of science, obviously), and I can honestly say that at no point did any kind of "throng" develop, which as anyone who frequents the Riverside regularly will attest truly is a rare occurrence. 

I write this because I criticised the service in the bar and they've responded. If and when expansion happens facilities will improve so that'd further help congestion, but for now I think it was worth mentioning the improvement in service at the stadium in what is, realistically, a short space of time. Southampton was only the fifth home game to take place following my rant, so it really has turned around very quickly. 

As I said at the time, I can't imagine many Premier League clubs would invite some random blogger into the fold if he was annoyed about not being able to get a pint. I'll be in the West Stand this weekend so I won't be able to get to the Riverside myself but if you've stopped going because of the wait to get a pint it's worth another look. You may be quenching your thirst sooner than you think.

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Another Swan to follow Tancock to Newport?

Swansea U21 captain Scott Tancock made his loan debut for The Exiles on Saturday, and it seems he's set to be joined by another young Swan





A player who's had to bide his time as he progresses through the Swansea youth system, Scott Tancock got some competitive action this weekend following his loan move to Newport. They're currently seven games unbeaten in League Two, and personally I find it very pleasing to see The Exiles back in the league system, as when I was growing up and getting into football they'd not long fallen out of the professional system. 

Tancock found himself being loaned to the east as County boss Justin Edinburgh is currently completing his UEFA Pro License, with Swans boss Garry Monk also on the same course. Edinburgh has revealed how he's been discussing loan deals with Monk, and that Tancock may not be the only player heading to Rodney Parade:

“Scott was immense, in terms of having only just walked into the dressing room, he was assured and accomplished and I’m looking forward to having him here,” he said. 
“It was one that I discussed with Garry at Dragon Park along with another player we will look to bring in next week, which should boost our numbers. That is great, because we are light at the moment. 
“We want to forge close links with Swansea and once Russell Slade gets his feet under the table at Cardiff that’s another phone call to be made as well.” 
http://www.southwalesargus.co.uk/sport/11501382._/?

We can only speculate as to who the second potential loanee may be, but it's good that Tancock has made such a positive impact already. Hopefully he can use the experience gained by playing first-team football to come back a better player, and try to force his way into the team.

Why Edinburgh would want to borrow players from that lot up the road though is beyond me...

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Sunday 28 September 2014

Sunderland 0 - 0 Swansea - Let's just move on shall we?

Bore draw in the North East sees sides share the points





Swansea fans aren't afraid to be vocal when when they feel their match has been harshly bumped to the end of the Match Of The Day playlist. Yesterday there were no such complaints, and rightly so. Gary Lineker even commented on MOTD that this week they'd taken no abuse from either club's fans about the running order, after a 0-0 draw which was defined by a lack of punch in the final third for both teams. 

Monk retained Gomis up top but otherwise the lineup was as expected really. With Bony & Jeff on the bench it was Bafi, Dyer & Routledge up top with midfield trio Jonjo, Ki & Sigurdsson once again attempting to boss the midfield. Ash, Fede, Tayls, Rangel & Fabianski completed the lineup, and I thought in the first half, while both teams struggled to create clearcut chances, we were the better team. Home fans booing their own team at the interval would seem to echo that sentiment. 

That said, I don't remember too many chances. Ki & Dyer both shot waywardly when in decent positions, but they'd only really qualify as half chances and neither side created anything of note. Adam Johnson stole in at the other end and forced a good stop from Fabianski at his near post, but that was probably the closest anyone came to scoring for the entire match.. 

The main talking point of the game seems to be Angel Rangel's red card ten minutes from time. A yellow for throwing the ball away was followed by a harsh yellow for being run into by Will Buckley. He'd just been warned and had perhaps been lucky to not get his second yellow moments before, so while a yellow for the incident seemed harsh he could have few complaints, much like Bony the week before. 

Once he'd seen red Sunderland rose into the ascendancy. Connor Wickham missed a good chance and Steven Fletcher - on from the bench and holding a good track record of goals against the Swans - headed just wide with time running out. Really though the way the game had gone 0-0 was a fair result as both teams struggled to create throughout. 

I thought that Gomis had a tough time of it up front for the Swans. It'd be easy to say  - and I do believe this - that Wilf would have been much more suited to the game (Gomis lost possession with his back to goal on numerous occasions), but we didn't look to play to his strengths. What's becoming apparent is that while they share some physical characteristics Gomis plays facing goal, and is always looking to run into space. That contrasts markedly from Wilf, who is the ultimate 4-2-3-1 striker, capable of holding off anyone and laying the ball off to an advancing midfielder. 

Yesterday we attempted to use Gomis like we used Wilf, and it didn't work. Without adjusting to cater for his differences we might as well have played Wilf instead, though there is perhaps something in a player being benched after a red card, to send a message out about discipline. When the Ivorian did arrive off the bench his impact was immediate - he drilled an absolute cannon of a shot not too far wide and then performed some fleet-footed trickery to get the Swans out of trouble on the right wing, when we were attempting to clear after a set piece. This prompted me to tweet "I love Wilfried Bony" - this occurred in the 90th minute and I swiftly realised this was quite misleading, as I took a fair bit of abuse from people thinking we'd scored! Apologies for that. I do love Wilf.

One final note is that Rangel's dismissal saw Jazz Richards get some Premier League game time. Again, he let no-one down and did well, and with Rangel suspended for our next game against Newcastle it seems nailed on he'll start that this coming weekend. Good luck to him, it's no less than he deserves, and if he performs as he's done in the League Cup so far Rangel may find himself having to bide his time, and having to force his way back into the team.

A point away at Sunderland is a good result, especially when we played fourteen minutes with ten men. As against Southampton, our defence looked solid when under the cosh and this bodes very well if our attack can click. We've kept clean sheets in five of eight games this season, and only conceded once against a talented Southampton team who played the majority of the match a man to the good. Also, neither Bony nor Gomis has found the net so far this season and once goals come for our forwards we'll be a very potent proposition indeed. 

Would you bet against Bony or Gomis scoring against Newcastle? I wouldn't. I expect Wilf to be restored to the starting lineup, and I'm confident of a result. Monk's Swansea look solid at the back, and we're obviously building to something in attack. If and when it clicks, we could have lots of fun this season. 

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Saturday 27 September 2014

Sunderland v Swansea - Expert team news

Injury guru Ben Dinnery gives his weekly update ahead of today's match





Garry Monk will welcome back Wilfried Bony for the trip to the Stadium of Light after the Ivorian striker was sent-off last weekend during the defeat to Southampton. Leon Britton [knee – stress fracture] and Jordi Amat [LCL] are still around a month away while Rory Donnelly continues his recovery following ankle surgery. Dwight Tiendalli [minor groin strain] has a chance but the Swans starting eleven could remain unchanged despite their midweek win over Everton in the Capital One cup. 

Gus Poyet has been particularly cagey regarding the availability of his players ahead of the game on Saturday with doubts regarding “a couple [who still] have a few problems, I don’t want to give too much information away but we need to wait for one of them until tomorrow morning [to make a decision].” The Black Cats have concerns over Emanuele Giaccherini [ankle], Connor Wickham [back], Wes Brown and Steven Fletcher [both calf] – but in my opinion the Italian midfielder could be the one to miss out after hobbling off at Turf Moor last weekend. However full-back Jones and Buckley will feature after their impressive performance against Stoke “Will [Buckley] is going to play & Billy [Jones] as well, for sure,” confirmed Poyet. On-loan defender Seb Coates has been ruled out with a thigh injury.

Thanks as usual to Ben for providing us with up-to-date team news. You can follow him on Twitter @BenDinnery, and you can also find him on Talksport, ESPN & PremierInjuries.com

Chek out our in-depth preview of the Sunderland v Swansea here (link)

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Friday 26 September 2014

Sunderland v Swansea - Preview, predicted lineups, team news, statistics, prior form, key players, quotes & analysis





The Match


Sunderland have started the season in indifferent form, and have only managed one win in six games so far. That came in the League Cup second round, though they now find themselves out of the competition after losing at home midweek to Stoke, so they're still looking for their first win of the season in the Premier League. They should fancy their chances against a Swansea side many had tipped to struggle this season, and with Steven Fletcher & Connor "Wickaldinho" Wickham potentially available they've got players who can make a difference up top.

Swansea got back to winning ways last time out against Everton in the League Cup, which will have been a relief after tasting defeat in their two prior matches against Chelsea & Southampton. Impressively, we claimed victory over Roberto Martinez's side without coming close to playing anywhere near our best, so the big positive would be there's still lots of scope for improvement. With Bony likely to come back into the starting eleven keen to prove a point following a one-match suspension, the Swans most definitely have a chance of bringing all three points home from the North East.

Prior Form (Most recent at top)


League CupSwansea3-0Everton
Premier LeagueSwansea0-1Southampton
Premier LeagueChelsea4-2Swansea
Premier LeagueSwansea3-0West Brom
League CupSwansea1-0Rotherham




League CupSunderland1-2Stoke
Premier LeagueBurnley0-0Sunderland
Premier LeagueSunderland2-2Tottenham
Premier LeagueQPR1-0Sunderland
League CupBirmingham0-3Sunderland

 

Team News - Provided by injury guru @BenDinnery


Displaying Premier Injuries.jpg
Garry Monk will welcome back Wilfried Bony for the trip to the Stadium of Light after the Ivorian striker was sent-off last weekend during the defeat to Southampton. Leon Britton [knee – stress fracture] and Jordi Amat [LCL] are still around a month away while Rory Donnelly continues his recovery following ankle surgery. Dwight Tiendalli [minor groin strain] has a chance but the Swans starting eleven could remain unchanged despite their midweek win over Everton in the Capital One cup. 

 Gus Poyet has been particularly cagey regarding the availability of his players ahead of the game on Saturday with doubts regarding “a couple [who still] have a few problems, I don’t want to give too much information away but we need to wait for one of them until tomorrow morning [to make a decision].” 

 The Black Cats have concerns over Emanuele Giaccherini [ankle], Connor Wickham [back], Wes Brown and Steven Fletcher [both calf] – but in my opinion the Italian midfielder could be the one to miss out after hobbling off at Turf Moor last weekend. However full-back Jones and Buckley will feature after their impressive performance against Stoke “Will [Buckley] is going to play & Billy [Jones] as well, for sure,” confirmed Poyet. On-loan defender Seb Coates has been ruled out with a thigh injury.

Thanks as usual to Ben for providing us with up-to-date team news. You can follow him on Twitter @BenDinnery, and you can also find him on Talksport, ESPN & PremierInjuries.com


Completely guessed lineups





Key Players


A new feature in the preview this year, I'll be using statistical radars to show two of the key attacking threats on display

This week I thought we'd compare Connor Wickham vs Wilfried Bony. As you can see from the radars, Wickham is all about the goals and not a lot else, whereas Bony is a bit more rounded. Wickham did only play the equivalent of 9.43 games for Sunderland last season, but when he played his stats were impressive. Let's hope Ash & Freddy can keep a close watch on him throughout.

Connor Wickham vs Wilfried Bony ( Stats from 2013/14)



Statistics & Trivia


  • Sunderland conceded seven goals to Swansea last season, only Arsenal and Tottenham scored as many against the Black Cats. 
  • Along with Liverpool, Swansea are one of two teams yet to draw this season. Sunderland have drawn a league-high four times this term. 
  • After winning four games in a row in April/May, Sunderland have now gone six games without a victory (L2 D4). 
  • Sunderland have kept three clean sheets in four Premier League home games against Welsh sides. 
  • Swansea have kept only three clean sheets in their last 18 Premier League games.
  • Swansea have won just eight corners in five league games this season.
  • Gylfi Sigurdsson has assisted four Premier League goals this season; he has never recorded more than four in a single campaign in England.
  • Garry Monk's Premier League win percentage of 42% is better than Brendan Rodgers (32%) or Michael Laudrup (27%) recorded for the Swans. 
  • Gus Poyet's win percentage of 28% at Sunderland is level with former Black Cats managers Steve Bruce and Roy Keane. Peter Reid (33%) and Martin O'Neill (29%) are the only bosses with a higher rate. 

Straight from the horse's mouth

  

Garry Monk has revealed the lengths he's going to to ensure his players have the best support possible:

"We won it a couple of years ago. It would be nice to go on a cup run and we also want to bounce back because we lost to Southampton. It would be nice to try to make sure we don't lose the next one.

 "We'll go to win the game. We'll assess the players and see how they all are and then we'll make a judgement from there. 
"It's always great to see Roberto. I know him very well and I know he will want to win the game like I will want to win the game. It will be a good cup tie, it will be an interesting one. We are at home, I am sure the fans will be right up for it and hopefully we can get the right result."

 http://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/personal-touch-garry-monk-details-7835683

Gus Poyet is looking for his players to stand up and be counted:

“The biggest problem is I need all the players to stand up – the big, big players. The ones who have played at the highest level or cost a lot of money, not the one we brought from Brighton [Buckley].

“I think it’s close to a moment when I’m going to have to make a bit stronger decisions and go with what I think will get victory and not what is expected. Against Spurs, I was honest and said that’s why you pay £30m for a player – for someone who is better technically than you, quicker than you and stronger than you, but at Burnley, it should have been the opposite way around.

“I didn’t see that and it’s happened too many times. I’m responsible. I make the changes and then the players need to take responsibility individually first and as a team afterwards.

“There are things we all need to improve. It’s not as simple as people think. It’s not just a case of ‘he is better than someone else’. The team might perform better with the ones who are not as good individually.

“You need to find the right balance.”
http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/gus-poyet-ready-drop-sunderlands-7835116


Analysis


The games are certainly coming thick and fast now, and the international break seems like a very distant memory. Following on from our win in the League Cup the Swans should be confident, and given we didn't even play to our best (far from it, in fact), there's reason to be confident we can get a positive result here.

I think the key battle will be in midfield. Lee Cattermole is an excellent destroyer and he's capable, on his day, of upsetting any midfield. We'll have to be clever to retain possession, and if we can move the ball quickly there's every chance Cattermole will pick up a yellow card given his combative nature - this would then put an entirely different complexion on the battle in the centre of the park.

Since doing the image for the teamsheet I've been told by Gavin from Roker Report (an excellent Sunderland website) that Wes Brown isn't available, and that Vergini is likely to replace him. The jury is still out on him - I can't say I know too much about him but it'll be interesting to see how he gets on with Wilfried Bony, and the same is true for John O'Shea. Bony enjoyed a wonderful time of it the last time these two sides met and I'm sure he'll be firmly aware of that, as will the Sunderland defence.

Sunderland potentially have both Connor Wickham and Steven Fletcher available again, though whether one or either feature is up for debate. I'm personally a big fan of both players, and I think that Fletcher in particularly is absolutely deadly on his day. Hopefully Ash & Freddy Fernandez can snuff out any prospective Sunderland attacks, and keep the ball away from Lukasz Fabianski's goal.

I'm confident of a Swansea win to be honest. Against Everton we won without playing that well, and if we can improve our level of confidence I think we'll have too much for Everton. As usual my prediction is tinged by massive amounts of bias and locally-skewed logic, but I do think we can get a result here. We've looked solid at the back, and good in attack. If we can boss midfield for ninety minutes, we've got a great chance of three points.

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Sunderland vs Swansea - Pre Match Q&A

This week's interview with an opposing fan saw me catch up with Gavin Henderson from Sunderland site RokerReport, who was kind enough to answer my questions


Your start hasn't really set the world alight, and you're yet to win this season - what's the general feeling so far amongst Sunderland fans? Are you confident things will improve?

We’ve certainly started better than we did last season under Paolo Di Canio which can only be viewed as a positive, and traditionally we never do well against newly promoted sides, so it was inevitable that we’d only pick up one point from a possible six away to Burnley and QPR. Aside from that, we’ve come from behind in the games against West Brom, Spurs and Manchester United to earn hard fought draws.

The main worry from my point of view is that we’ve not really clicked yet as a side and, as a result, we’re not scoring goals. We seem to be fairly difficult to beat but just don’t have enough about us to dominate a game in the final third and really attack. There’s a minority of fans that are seriously worried that things won’t improve but I’m confident it will come together eventually. It was a massive mistake not buying a new striker, though.

Have you noticed any changes in the playing style this season?

Not really. It’s been more of a continuation of the style that Poyet was starting to implement last season. We tend to build up from the back slowly, which is all well and good, but we don’t have the players at the top end of the pitch to shift the ball quickly, meaning it often comes to nothing. That said, Gus has yet to throw Billy Jones and Will Buckley in to a Premier League game together and it seems as though we’ll be going with that at the weekend, hopefully adding more pace to our attack.

You can see what Gus is trying to do, and it will come together eventually, but Sunderland fans are traditionally impatient and it’s got to be accepted that in the long run we’ll have the foundations laid to compete in the top half of this league again. Short term, though, we need to be less cautious in possession because it’s a results business and we can’t afford to start poorly. Last season, for all the highs we enjoyed, was something I’d prefer we never replicate again.

Are there any players we should watch out for in particular this weekend?

Lee Cattermole is in the form of his life and it’ll be his job to prevent your midfield from dictating the play, as I expect they will attempt to. If we can prevent the Swansea midfield from creating space, winning it back quickly, it’ll be much easier for us to get the ball forward.

Will Buckley has been very impressive since arriving from Brighton and his pace down the right hand side is something we’ve lacked over the last few weeks in the Premier League. He was handed a debut against Manchester United and was arguably our best player, exploiting the space left by their midfielders in order to cause problems. Since then, though, he’s been limited to appearances from the bench but Gus has confirmed he’ll be starting on Saturday. Neil Taylor needs to be wary of pushing too high up the pitch as Buckley will relish receiving the ball in behind him. [Personally I find that quite worrying! - Ed].

As for ourselves, is there anyone in particular you think your team will need to be wary of?

Where do I start? I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t jealous of the armoury Swansea seem to have these days. Bony’s performance on the last day of last season was mesmeric and he’s the type of forward that defenders just hate playing against. He seems to find pockets of space all over the pitch and rarely loses the ball, making him incredibly difficult to defend against.

Also, Gylfi Sigurdsson worries me immensely. He’s constantly a threat around the box and if we don’t limit the amount of space he seems to get when receiving the ball he can be destructive. That said, are Gylfi and Bony not due a bad performance?!

How do you think you'll fare in general this season?

Both Gus Poyet and Lee Congerton (our Sporting Director) made it clear at the end of last season that the main aim going forward would be to establish a style and take small steps rather than large ones, which may not necessarily be what the Sunderland fans want to hear but is exactly what is needed after years and years of rebuilding, having failed to establish both an identity and continuity within the club.

The transfer business this summer reflects this point – in the main we’ve targeted players who have top flight experience and the hope is that, after years of fighting relegation, we need to have a far more comfortable experience this time around. I’ll take that.

Do you think you'll be looking to keep things similar to how you've played so far this season, or will Poyet make changes against the Swans?

As I aluded to earlier we’ll definitely be changing our shape, especially down the right hand side. Unfortunately Wes Brown is carrying a knock so it means Gus has had his hand forced and must make changes. Santiago Vergini will likely partner John O’Shea in the centre, with Billy Jones slotting into right back for his Premier League debut. Will Buckley will get his opportunity on the right, likely replacing the injured Emmanuele Giaccherini, but the rest of the team should pick itself.

Has any player surpassed expectations so far this season?

I really like the look of Patrick Van Aanholt. When you sign a player for £1.5m they don’t tend to come with a weight of expectation but Paddy is a unique case as he’s the first proper left back we’ve actually owned in about five years. He works hard up and down the line, is quick, and seems to be improving with every game.

You signed (amongst others) Jordi Gomez this summer, and Danny Graham is already on the books. How are they both faring? Are you happy with your transfer business this summer?

They’re both a bit…. Meh. Gomez started against Stoke on Tuesday night and was far too slow on the ball, which didn't help things when we went behind and needed to play with more urgency. I spoke to Wigan fans about him when he signed for us and they were far from complimentary about him, which worries me slightly. That said, I don’t believe he’s been signed to play regularly, but more as an option from the bench later in games. Aside from that, he’s got plenty of experience which always helps.

Lastly, what's your prediction for this match?

We usually do better at home against sides which play better football than us so I really can’t decide which way this is going. Swansea have obviously lost their last two games so will view this as a chance to get back on track but, on the other side, we’ve yet to win a game, despite being relatively hard to beat.

I can see this being a close 2-1 win for the Swans, unfortunately.  

I'd certainly take that! Thanks again to Gavin for taking the time to answer our questions - I answered questions for a companion piece on Roker Report which you can see here - check it out here: link

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Thursday 25 September 2014

3 things we learned from Swansea's demolition job of Everton

Huw Richards looks at three things we can take from our Capital One Cup win over Everton



1. Jazz is classy.

With Angel Rangel's legs slowing down, and Dwight Tiendalli injured with a minor groin strain, the right-back slot was handed to Ashley 'Jazz' Richards. And boy did he do well. He was calm, collected, and if he did make a mistake (which was rarely) he rectified it immediately. Superb.

2. Federico Fernandez is good enough.

After signing from Napoli for £8,000,000, a lot of pressure was placed on Fede Fernandez's shoulders, but the former Estudiantes man delivered against the Toffees. He had Eto'o in his pocket for the whole of the first half and had Lukaku in it second half. Even when he got booked early on, he did exactly the right things to avoid a second. Like Jazz, he was superb.

3. Emnes is a threat.

Marvin Emnes returned to the club for a fee around the £1,500,000 mark, and he was brought here to inject pace and score a few goals when needed. Based on his awesome five minute display on Tuesday night (and last season's cameos) he can certainly do that.

Thanks to Huw as usual for his latest piece - give him a follow on Twitter @HuwRichards21
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#FlashbackFour - Sunderland v Swansea

Nathan Lewis takes his weekly look at our last four fixtures versus this weekend's opponent


Our opponents this Saturday lie just outside the relegation places, while we sit in fifth. An easy win, surely? Let’s take a look at this week’s #FlashbackFour!


 
1st September 2012 - Premier League

Swansea 2-2 Sunderland

After a perfect start to the season against QPR and West Ham, the Swans came into this game searching for a third win in three games. It was not to be however, as we met a strong Sunderland side with debutant Steven Fletcher leading the line for Martin O’Neill’s men. Fletcher twice gave the Black Cats the lead after sloppy defensive errors allowed him two easy chances - firstly when Ash misplaced a backpass allowing Fletcher to stroll in and curl his shot past the onrushing Vorm, then (following a neat equaliser that showed off our free-flowing passing game) Vorm failed to deal with a cross (classic Michel...) and Fletcher forced past Chico to tap in.

After half-time, we were much, much more impressive, and Michu continued his fine form with a strong header from de Guzman’s cross. It was in this game that we saw the first signs of Chico’s madness - having impressed in the first two games, the flamboyant Spaniard decided to leave his foot somewhere near Louis Saha’s skull and get himself sent off. Little did we know this was only the beginning of the maverick centre-back’s antics. This game will always be remembered for the sad injury to Neil Taylor, who suffered a broken and dislocated ankle, leaving him out for a big chunk of the season.

29 January 2013 - Premier League
 
Sunderland 0-0 Swansea

This match was characterised by first half domination, great passing, and a complete inability to create real chances. Sound familiar? You may notice a slight pattern in matches under Michael Laudrup. Danny Graham’s poor relationship with, well, everyone saw him sat on the bench while Itay Shechter valiantly [are you sure?! - Ed] led the line, and Michu failed to provide the spark that we needed to create chances. The best that can be said about this ninety minutes is that we completely stopped Sunderland from providing any form of threat, with the Swans looking like the only team in with a chance of taking all three points. All in all, nothing too much to shout about.

19th October 2013 - Premier League
 
Swansea 4-0 Sunderland

Welcome to the Premier League, Gus! After Paulo Di Canio’s chaotic regime was brought to an end Poyet’s first game was at the Liberty Stadium, and it’s probably fair to say that this was not the welcome in the hillside he was hoping for. Phil Bardsley endured a terrible game: having skied a fantastic chance to give Sunderland the lead, he then diverted the ball into his own net from a Rangel corner. 

We were then witness to a sumptuous goal - Jonathan de Guzman let the ball roll across his body, took one touch and curled a beautiful effort into the top corner. Lovely stuff. After Britton was brought down by Craig Gardner, Bony slotted home from the sport to score Swansea’s third goal in seven minutes. The Swans were in total control in the second-half, and the result was completely wrapped up by Chico heading home a corner, via a Steven Fletcher deflection.

11th May 2014 - Premier League

Sunderland 1-3 Swansea

Both teams would’ve been forgiven for being mentally on the beach at this stage, having wrapped up safety before the last game of the season. Poyet’s men were on a great run, having dragged themselves up from the bottom of the table, while the Swans were buzzing after The Monk was confirmed as our permanent manager. Nathan Dyer showed a glimpse of his current excellent form, reaching a threaded through ball from Wayne Routledge and clipping home to give us the lead after just seven minutes. 

Our second came seven minutes later, as Emnes channeled his famous goal against Cardiff, holding the ball, turning, and walloping the ball into the net. My love for Marvin grew exponentially. Sunderland battled to get back into the game, but couldn’t provide much danger before half-time - that changed however after the break as Borini scored against his former club to bring The Black Cats back within a goal. Thankfully, Emnes turned provider to set up Bony for his 26th goal in all competitions. A great way to finish off Monk’s first 3 months as manager.

Overall record last four games vs Sunderland 

Games Played: 4
Wins: 2
Draws: 2
Losses: 0
Goals scored: 9
Goals Conceded: 3

Easily the most positive #FlashbackFour we’ve seen so far, with the Swans unbeaten against Sunderland since our rise to the Premiership, and the ease with which we've dispatched the Black Cats (until now, anyway) can only be encouraging - especially now that we've strengthened our attacking options. The goals scored by Sunderland in these matches have been largely due to our defensive lapses, and if we can keep them out of our game, it should all look good for Saturday.

My prediction: Sunderland 0-2 Swansea

Thanks to Nathan as usual for this week's #FlashbackFour - what're your predictions? Get in touch using the comment section below, and you can follow Nathan on Twitter @NathDavidLewis

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Are Swansea fast becoming everyone's second team?

Andrew McGlashan looks at how, over the last few seasons, the Swans have been attracting admirers worldwide



Tuesday saw the Swans finally achieve their first win against the Toffee's. A sweet victory made sweeter as it's always nice to get one over on Roberto.

I must say however that as time has gone on the anger I had towards Roberto following his painful exit to Wigan has turned to respect for what he did for us. This was helped further when I sat myself down in the most intimate cinema screen I've ever been in to watch Jack to a King - twenty-five Jacks in Leicester Square all laughing, applauding and tearing up together on a Monday evening that I'll never forget. My friends and I even had to go get a pint afterwards to settle ourselves down!

I'm sure the majority of you have now watched this visual masterpiece - if you haven't then get yourself down the cinema - but what is interesting to note is that the film's run has been extended for a second time. Now that's probably not surprising in Swansea and South Wales given the fan base. What is surprising though is that the film's run has also been extended for a second time in London.

I grant you that there are a number of Jacks in London and anyone who's been to the Hercules' Pillars can testify to that. I don't think, however, there are enough to justify a second extension of the film's run. Therefore, there must be a number of other football fans going to watch our story following the film's rave reviews.

Last season the Cardiff home win drew the highest TV ratings in the US for a Premier League game. This is a clear sign that the profile of the club is growing and is an incredible statistic given we were playing Doncaster away only four years ago. Seven months on people are flocking to pay the outrageous cinema prices in London (don't get me started on the food prices) to watch our story. Our story! Could we fast be becoming everyone's second team? 

The indications are that we are starting to win fans all over, both home and abroad. I'm sure you, like me, normally get a positive response from football fans (other than those fans of the Championship relegation battlers up the M4) when I say I'm a Swansea fan. There genuinely seems to be a lot of respect for us in the football world and this can only continue to grow as people watch our story on the big screen.

I wrote previously (link) about how proud I was to be a Jack given that a film was even being made about us. Now I'm writing with even more pride given the response to the film. Let's keep the story going and we can all look forward to the sequel!

Thanks to Andrew as usual for this latest piece. You can follow him on Twitter @AJMcGlashan - have you seen the film? What do you think of it? If you want to write a review for The Swansea Way or have anything else you'd like to get off your chest get in touch!

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A winning mentality - and only four games from Wembley

What a difference a prior cup win makes


With the dust settling around our recent win over Everton in the third round of the Capital One Cup, we're now just four games from Wembley. In the past our only potential sojourns to London came in the form of playoff and lower league cup finals, but I noticed that this year, I'm far, far more confident than I've ever been that we can make a good fist of a major cup competition.

The reason? Quite simple really - we've won it before. I know that sounds a very rudimentary argument, but it works for me - if only in terms of confidence. When I saw the draw last night for the fourth round (where we've been drawn away to Liverpool) my first thought was "Nice, this is history repeating itself!", but that was closely followed by the realisation that, strangely, I fancy our chances of going all the way.

I often talk about the effect psychology can have on footballers, and this is a prime example. There are numerous players in our squad who have now won a major cup. With us. This, coupled with the fact that our squad is undoubtedly stronger than it was two seasons ago, means that instead of hoping for a cup run where we give a good showing of ourselves I'm instead hoping we can once again go all the way and claim the League Cup at Wembley. 

That's the difference a prior cup win makes. Until you've done something you don't know if you're good enough. Sure, you can work as hard as possible and you can possess unlimited self-belief, but these surely pale in comparison to the knowledge that you've been there before, done it before, and got the t-shirt. Surely nothing can create the level of confidence that a prior win in the same competition does, because realistically if you've won it once you can win it again. 

Perhaps I'm just excited because we had to beat Liverpool at Anfield on the way to our first ever major cup win, and it's all too easy to hope history will repeat itself, but it's really not that much of an ask. We can beat Liverpool, and if we do we'll then be two matches (and three games) from Wembley. With the quality of players at our disposal there is no reason we can't realistically hope to progress in this competition.

Obviously there's a long way to go yet, but if we beat Liverpool and get a kind draw for the fifth round then the final is that much closer. I've never been more confident of our chances in a major cup, and I love the fact that I'm saying that with irrefutable honesty. It's entirely borne of our continued progression, and thankfully that's something which doesn't show any sign of slowing just yet.

Swansea for a second major trophy? Stranger things have happened.

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