Respected But Beaten

Swansea City faced a well organised Sunderland side with a new lease of life. They had only lost one game in the last five and beaten league leaders Manchester City in that time. Sunderland were also unbeaten at home under Martin O’neill, and with Swansea’s poor away form this was going to be a tough ask.

The Most Important Statistic

Statistically this was an incredible game. Swansea completed a staggering 592 out of 676 passes, while Sunderland completed a meagre 202 out of 287. Swansea took 16 shots while Sunderland had 15, from which both sides had 6 shots blocked. Swansea ended the game with 69.1% possession, seemingly a dominant performance.

However, statistics do not tell the whole story of this game and it was Sunderland that created the clearer chances. Sunderland began on the front foot, pinning Swansea back and making them work hard just to keep the ball, while doing well to close the angles for passes through to the wings or directly into Graham’s feet.

Sunderland were well organised, worked hard, tactically they seemed to have identified Swansea’s main threats, and tried to shut them out of the game. It took a good ten minutes before Swansea resembled the team that everyone had been lauding for the last week. They eased themselves into the game after another slow start and Sigurdsson put Dyer through on the right hand edge of Sunderland’s box. Dyer delivered a low fizzing cross which managed to find its way through to Sinclair at the back post. Somehow what seemed to be a simple tap in was sent way over the bar from the corner of the six yard box. A minute later Sunderland sliced through the Swansea defence with Sessegnon playing a one two with McClean, before caressing the ball into Vorm’s top left hand corner from a tight angle. Fourteen minutes into the game and Sunderland had the upper hand.

The half was played out with Swansea banging on the door, but left out in the cold by an unwelcoming and stubborn Sunderland team. The Swans had an astounding 73.2% of the ball by the end of the first half. But lacked the most important statistic of them all – goals.

Fresh Out Of Ideas 

Things did not improve in the second half for Swansea with inceptions of creativity difficult to manufacture and that is all it took for Sunderland to double their lead. No sooner had the thought occurred to Gardner that a 25 yard volley was looping on the diagonal over a dumbfounded Michael Vorm.

Bardsley was brilliant in keeping out Sinclair who maybe didn’t attack him enough, and then keeping Routledge at bay. Sunderland’s wide midfield players were quick to double up on the likes of Sinclair and Dyer, with the centre mids offering protection to the centre backs. This was highlighted by the fact that Graham was only able to complete 11 out of a total of 15 passes he attempted in this game. McEachran joined Swansea on loan from Chelsea this week, he was brought on to help change the game, but could not make his mark on the game. Although 24/25 passes on your away debut isn’t a bad start when looking to play regularly with the Swans.

Respect 

This was an exceptional, tactically astute, performance by Sunderland and more teams will look to emulate this against Swansea in the future. Sunderland gave Swansea the respect they had earned from their previous games. They remained compact in defence, recovering quickly and mainly looked to play on the counter attack.

So I would not be surprised if Rodgers watches this game a fair few times. Also I expect the whole backroom staff will enjoy analysing the game and making comparisons with previous examples. In order to find ways of improving further, and breaking down teams that set up to defend deep against a very good passing side.

The Proof Is In The Pudding (15/01/2012)

Swansea City FC welcomed Arsenal FC to the liberty stadium for a mouth watering, ‘total football’ encounter. Ninety four minutes of passing football did not disappoint. 

Flowing First

Arsenal started off on the front foot creating the early openings and broke the deadlock in the fifth minute. The most lethal striker in England over the whole of 2011 was left totally unmarked by Caulker. Arshavin found Van Persie, standing alone in the inside right channel, who drove into the box and crashed the ball inside the near post to put Arsenal ahead. It took a short while for Swansea to settle down, but after that they dominated the game. Dyer collected the ball in the 18 yard box and was deemed to have been fouled by Ramsey. Sinclair dispatched the penalty with precision to level the scores with sixteen minutes gone. 

While analysing I checked the possession stats and Swansea had an incredible 64%, while my colleague doing Arsenal mentioned 67% at one point, during the first 30 minutes or so. He was shocked that for the first time in many Arsenal games, he had some time on his hands to recheck some of his analysis; Swansea ended the half with 61.2% possession.

Spectacular Second

Swansea took the lead in the second half and the goal was initiated by Allen, stealing the ball off Ramsey – another mistake by the Arsenal midfielder. Allen was then allowed to run at the goal, just left of centre, and at the edge of the box he played the ball into Dyer on the right. Dyer took a touch and smashed the ball through the smallest of gaps between the Arsenal players. Arsenal brought the game level in the sixty-ninth minute with Djourou playing a through ball from deep for Walcott, who dinked the ball over Vorm. 

Almost straight from the kick off Swansea regained possession and Sigurdsson slid a 40 yard through ball up the right hand side. Graham timed his run to perfection, and curled the ball across Szczesney’s body into the bottom corner. Swansea relinquished possession and defended as a unit towards the end of the game, but still managed 55.3% over 94 minutes.

Global Glorification

I have watched Swansea City and analysed them every week, and I am forever singing their praises, telling people at work and elsewhere, what an incredible outfit they really are. The appraisals are usually shrugged off as, 'yes they are good, but not THAT good'. 

This was the chance for Swansea to show the world how good they really are and increase their status as a side to be reckoned with. By all accounts and stats they out-shone Arsenal, beating them at their own game. 

Special Statistics

Swansea completed 424 out of 527 passes while Arsenal completed 337 out of 428 passes (Swansea completed almost as many passes as Arsenal attempted in the whole game). This means that Swansea attempted 6 passes a minute and 10 passes for every minute they were in possession. The ball was actually in play for an incredible 69 minutes, normally this is around the 50 minute mark, rarely going above 60 minutes. Therefore Swansea had the ball for 39 minutes and attempted 13 passes per minute (over 1 pass every 5 seconds). Also the ground passes completed by Swansea, excluding headers, high passes and throw-ins, totalled 380.

Nine years to this weekend, Swansea City were five points behind Exeter City at the bottom of the Football League. Now they are the 4^th highest ranked team in the Premier League possession charts, and the 6^th most accurately passing side in Europe (ahead of Manchester United and Arsenal); whilst sitting 10^th in the Premier League. 

Every week I tell people they have to watch Swansea play, and now they know why that is!

Swansea City FC New Year's Round Up

Swansea City FC vs Queens Park Rangers FC (27/12/2011)

The first of three games in seven days for Swansea. Both teams have just been promoted to the EPL and are holding their own against the more established clubs. This was a big game for both teams to gain points and bragging rights.

QPR started well, but Swansea were first to break the deadlock in the 14th minute, with a well taken goal from Graham. Routledge played a difficult ball from deep on the inside right channel. Graham controlled it with his mid-rift (and an unintentional touch with the arm) in the centre of the 18 yard 'D', and curled the ball past the keeper's left hand into the bottom corner.

After a long clearance by QPR was flicked back by Britton, mid-way in his own half; the ball went through the defence and Mackie slotted it past Vorm for the equaliser. The draw for QPR was not totally undeserved.

Swansea had more possession (55.7%) than QPR as expected and were generally the better team throughout the ninety minutes, but again failed to create enough opportunities. QPR had 14 Shots and 4 on target, while Swansea had 8 Shots and 3 on target. This had also been a stand out stat in Swansea's previous games, along with a lack of crosses. Swansea were unlucky to conceded in that fashion, but with fewer opportunities created, they reduce the probability of winning any game. 

Swansea City FC vs Tottenham Hotspur FC (31/12/2011)

New Year's Eve brought Tottenham Hotspur to the Liberty stadium. Both teams had been playing a beautiful brand of football, so this was expected to be a game for lovers of 'total football'; what followed was ninety minutes of joy.

Both teams kept the ball well; building up attacks with patience, flow, support, movement and accurate passes, brilliant to watch. Dyer set the tone for the game with a rasping shot in the 5th minute, well saved by Friedel.

Tottenham opened the scoring as Ekotto attacked Richards at right back; cutting inside then beating him on the outside to deliver a low cross, which was deflected into Van Der Vaart's path for a volley. The ball was heading straight at Vorm but another deflection off Williams sent it into the bottom right corner of the goal. A sucker punch by Spurs at the end of the first half.

Swansea were arguably the better side in the first half. During the second half they came out and piled on the pressure to grab the equaliser in the 83rd Minute. Once again it was a full back, Rangel, who put in a speculative low cross from the corner of the 18 yard box. A mix up between Friedel and his defence allowed Sinclair to tap in from close range and the city of Swansea exploded. You could feel the jubilation in the stadium and imagine the euphoria in pubs, sports bars, and living rooms.

Many would have expected Spurs to pin Swansea back and go for the winner, however the jacks were doing all the attacking and could have taken all three points.

By the end of the game Swansea, once again, had more Possession (55.8%). But what impressed me the most was that Swansea took 13 shots with 4 on target, while spurs had 10 shots with 5 on target. A big improvement against a big side; and Swansea kept the danger men, Bale and Modric, pretty quiet throughout the game.

The performance received high praise from Harry Redknapp who admitted that Swansea deserved their goal ''the last 25 I have to say they deserved a goal and they played very well'' and that he "would be surprised if they went down".

 
 
Aston Villa FC vs Swansea City FC (02/01/2012)

The final league game in this batch of fixtures came against Aston Villa at Villa Park. Villa hadn't been in great form during the first half of the season, but came into this game off the back of a 3-1 win at Chelsea. Swansea had not registered a win in the last four games but after the performance against Spurs they were full of confidence. You could feel that they had the momentum going into this game.

It wasn't long before that momentum materialised into a positive release of energy. An error from Warnock in the 4th minute, allowed Dyer to sweep the ball away in the Aston Villa half and drive towards the goal. Dyer hit a low fizzing shot from just inside the penalty area; it deflected off Dunne and went past the keeper's right hand.

Swansea completely outplayed Villa in the first half, and a segment of beautiful possession football from 43 to 44.20 minutes was magnificent to watch.

Swansea doubled their lead shortly after the interval, with Routledge tearing up the left wing and leaving Cuellar for dead. Routledge played the ball into Graham who appeared to slip as he took his shot; the ball came back off the near post for Routledge to follow up and drill it into the far corner. Despite playing for five Premier League sides in the past, this was Routledge's first ever top flight goal. Another wonderful move by Swansea from 75.53 to 77.05 minutes ended with an offside which could so easily have been a one on one against Kuzan. 

Swansea conceded possession but defended very well towards the end of the game. Aston Villa could only manage one shot on target, compared to Swansea's five.

Orlandi made his first Premier League start and showed himself to be a good option and a good squad player. Agustien was outstanding; he showed brilliant passing throughout the game as well as breaking up attacks and giving options to his team mates. Were it not for Dyer's incredible exploits on the right wing, Agustien would have been man of the match for me (a view supported by the user ratings on the Skysports ratings page.

The New Year

This year has started perfectly for Swansea with a win over Aston Villa and a 4-2 win at Barnsley in the FA cup 3rd round.

During the January Transfer window I felt Swansea needed to prioritise in looking for a dynamic attacking midfielder and a striker. 

Rodgers has now brought in a 19 year old striker in Rory Donnelly, a defender from France called Darnel Situ and Gylfi Sigurdsson has joined on loan from Hoffenheim to bolster the midfield. Josh McEachran will join on loan from Chelsea on Monday 16th January. He is expected to go onto achieve big things, after having a very impressive career coming through the youth ranks, wikipedia - Josh McEachran. Rodgers might be on the look out for one more striker with the possibility of an attacking squad player going the other way. 

Overall the options look good for Swansea and most people expect them to stay up. In half a season they have gained many admirers and will be looking to consolidate their position in the top flight during the second half.

Arsenal FC visit Swansea on 15th January, for what could be the best game of football the Premier League has seen for some time. Pre-match build up, half time stats and full time stats will be tweeted live by me on @Footy_Mad_Manuk. During the game I will be punching in live Swansea stats for Opta Sports, slightly more high-tech than it sounds.