EPL Earth Flight | Swansea vs Norwich

Sitting pretty in the top half of the table, the two promoted sides are having an excellent debut season in the Premier League. Swansea had played well in the away fixture but could not recover from a Norwich goal blitz at the start of the game. In that game they had 60.2% possession, where as here at home they were only afforded 55.3% of the ball.

Setting The Scene

Once again Norwich got into the game quickly, high pressure from the start meant that swansea found it difficult to dictate the tempo. I felt the general pace of the game was higher than that at which Swansea usually play. The flow of the game was disjointed for large periods, mainly due to the tenacity of the Norwich players. When either team did manage to get a hold of the ball, quick, free flowing, open football seemed to be the order of the day; a typically English fixture.
Danny Graham’s form in front of goal continued as he scored a fantastic goal to take his tally to 9 For the season. The ball was crossed in, Graham controlled it and finished expertly into the top corner.  Incidentally that was Graham’s first finish into the top half of the goal this season (Graham goal placement image below).

In the 40th minute Ward made a last ditch clearance, taking the ball off Graham’s toes as he lined up to tap into an open net. Swansea learned to cope with Norwich’s style of play and finished the half as the stronger team. The odds for a Norwich win were around 12/1 at half time, with Swansea odds on at 1/5.

Canaries Flying Above Swans

Norwich stormed out of the blocks in the second half as Swansea failed to capitalise on their lead. Holt restored parity within 2 minutes of the restart. Having saved a goal just before half time, Ward saved the ball from going out of play and lobbed it back into the box for Holt to head it home. Four minutes later Pilkington’s strike deflected off Taylor and put Norwich ahead as the Swans couldn’t get back into their rhythm. This was like the beginning of the reverse fixture.
Swansea went hunting for an equaliser and were hit on the counter with Bennet feeding in holt who rifled his shot under Vorm. Even after that goal swansea couldn’t really get a hold of the ball and control the game.
The penetration for Swansea came from an unexpected source in Caulker, he strode out of defence and won a free kick 25 yards out. Sigurdsson’s attempt was heading for the top corner but Ruddy palmed it away for a corner. Williams was fouled in the box by Holt as the corner came in, and Graham calmly slotted the ball home from the penalty spot in the 87th minute.
In injury time Swansea had a string of chances; Sigurdsson received the ball in the right hand side of the box and passed it into Graham’s who steered the ball wide of the left upright. Caulker’s bullet header was saved and many penalty area scrambles did not amount to a clear chance.

Venomous Movement

Norwich were able to hit Swansea on the counter with their expansive style, often attacking with free flowing football. Physically Norwich looked like they were the better team, and were able to attack Swansea with a venom that the home side lacked. The pace, flow and movement in the final third from Norwich was excellent. They were able to attack before Swansea got organised and they kept the defending players out of position by exploiting the space that had been created.

Home Entertainment

However, it is worth mentioning that Swansea played a more expansive game than they normally do. Not often will they score two goals and yet concede three at home. The full backs and defensive midfielders were very much involved going forward. This allowed Norwich the space to counter attack, and they did it with great efficiency. Being at home Swansea must have felt the need to attack their rivals and please the fans. Had this been any other top ten side I am not sure this would be the case. Both teams provided brilliant entertainment and credit must go to Norwich for a very good win.

(stats via www.eplindex.com)

WBA vs Swansea Stats | Sig-nificant Victory

Roy Hodgson has got West Bromich Albion playing some good football but they're also battling to stay in the league, so this was a tricky tie. However, for the first time in many games there was an expectancy for Swansea to take all three points.

Cold As Ice


With arctic conditions hitting the midlands, the weather could have hindered Swansea's style of play. But the game plan did not change and the team was functioning as per usual. Sigurdsson had the first decent chance of the game from a corner, but his volley was blocked as was Rangel's follow up strike. Swansea created most of the better chances, but West Brom could have been ahead at half time if Sigurdsson had not been there to header Olsson's attempt off the line. Vorm also made a very good reflex save from another close range Olsson strike to keep the scores level into half time. Swansea kept an amazing 73.5% of the possession in the first half. They play in this manner every week, but statistics like these never fail to amaze me.

Scorching Second


The second half was set ablaze for a short period like a rocket launch, with after burners keeping the match going until the end. WBA took the lead in the 54th minute, as Fortune drove the ball back across Vorm after a corner from the left.
The Swans hit back almost immediately, slicing through the snow and the WBA defence. Sinclair played a through ball into the box up the inside left channel for the overlapping Taylor; who played a perfectly weighted pass to the edge of the six yard box. Sigurdsson made a late driving run, opened up his body and stroked the ball into the goal.
Swansea took the lead five minutes after Fortune had scored, with a fantastic team goal. BBC's Match of The Day programme broke it down and showed in full the 19 passes that lead to the shot. Sigurdsson's right side cross from the corner of the box was met by Graham. Graham made a great little movement away then towards the front post across the defender and slid in to tuck away the winning goal.

Swansea's Second Goal (Excuse the quality)

Hitting The Target
Swansea continued to pose a threat and Graham created a great chance for Dyer, but the shot was deflected past the upright. Dyer then failed to connect with a lovely throught ball from Rangel, with Foster making a half clearance. The ball dropped to Sigurdsson who's volley was blocked. Sandwiched between the Swansea chances was a guilt-edged chance that Odemwingie hit over the bar from six yards.  West Brom were pushing for the equaliser towards the end of the game and Fortune's shot crept under Vorm but he somehow squeezed it wide of the post.

WBA vs Swansea

Surprisingly Swansea only actually hit the target twice. Although a lot of the shots that were going towards goal did get blocked. Upon reflection, West Brom did have enough good opportunities to earn a draw or even win. But in terms of how the game went overall, even Roy Hodgson admitted to Swansea being the better side.

To The Right, To The Right

WBA vs Swansea

Both teams played more passes to the right than the left, with Swansea having a much higher percentage going backwards and to the right.

West Brom still managed more final third entries, and a much higher percentage in attacking half passes. While Swansea had a higher percentage of defensive half passes.
Swansea favoured the right wing, while WBA seemed to favour the left in equal measure.

Swansea Season Stats

Some interesting stats too keep an eye on there I think. Swansea play significantly more passes to the right than to the left. I will let the reader think of any possible reasons/tactics as to why this may be.

(All stats from opta and www.eplindex.com)

Ask Questions or Give Answers?

The basics and fundamentals need to be coached, taught and demonstrated. But building upon those basic elements, we are able to produce complex answers. For example, you teach a child to count and then how to add numbers. The concept of numbers and addition is taught, so that the child understands how 1+1 = 2 and how 2+3 = 5. Eventually you will not need to teach the child that 5+5 = 10 because they will have found a way to figure it out.

If you tell the child to learn that 5+5 = 10, they will learn it. But they will not know why, if they do not understand the concept of addition. You could just as easily tell them to learn 5+5 = 15.

In school did your teachers ask you questions, did you practice past papers; or were you just given all the answers?

You know the answer to the question above, without me having to tell you. Now I want football coaches to focus on that question and think about what they are doing when they coach. Do you tell your players what to do all the time? Is that a good way for them to learn? Do they understand why they did something, or was it just because they were told to do it?

Check Understanding

Even when praising something a player does that was positive, ask questions first to check their understanding, and then praise their understanding - not the singular event. This shows they have attained the necessary knowledge and that the player is developing his/her game sense.

Be careful to praise hard work more than intelligence/talent as this will help condition players towards working hard/taking risks and not being lazy in thinking they have a superior ability and therefore do not need to try as hard.

Recommended reading: The Talent Code (Daniel Coyle), Mindset (Carol Dweck) and Developing Decision Makers (Lynn Kidman).

Let Them Play

Children enjoy trying to figure out how things work: how to open things, how to turn the TV on and change it to their favourite channel, how to open the door, how to a score a goal they saw on TV or how to play a new computer game, these are just a few common examples. 

If you keep unlocking the door for children, they may never learn to unlock it themselves! 

Children can end up taking some things for granted and feel no need to learn how to do them. Therefore they do not develop the problem solving abilities required to find solutions. In football there is always a problem, a solution to be found and a decision to be made, finding the correct solution BY THEMSELVES is key to the child’s development and understanding.

The Swans Drop Two Points

Chelsea travelled to the Liberty Stadium with both teams in a good run of form, results wise. However Chelsea had not looked convincing of late, while Swansea were going from strength to strength in the league, especially at home.

Chelsea took kick off and lost the ball soon after. Swansea had 88% possession in the first four minutes, which dropped to 78% after 11 minutes. Swansea looked in control as they usually do at home.

In the seventh minute Swansea were awarded a free kick on the right wing and Sigurdsson delivered a dangerous ball into the box. Caulker was first to the ball but his header was blocked instantly, the ball fell to Graham seven yards out. He needed a touch to bring it down, which allowed Ivanovic to get a foot in and Graham’s follow through shot went wide.

Swansea had a golden chance to take the lead when Rangel over-hit a pass intended for Graham. Cech spilled the ball and went to ground outside the box, while Sigurdsson waltzed around him, and saw his shot blocked on the six yard line. The ball fell to Graham who went across goal with his left foot from 12 yards out. The ball was blocked on the line, but Graham had so much time to shift the ball onto his right foot and maybe he should have done better. Allen then followed up from 25 yards but Cech recovered to save with his legs. A ten second spell saw three swans trying their luck but failing to find a way through the Chelsea ranks.

Swansea broke the deadlock with Sinclair scoring in the 37th minute, against his former club. Chelsea failed to clear another great set piece delivery from Sigurdsson. Sinclair kept his eye on the bouncing ball and sent a curling left footed volley into Cech’s top right hand corner from 17 yards out. The game did not ignite straight away in the second half, with Swansea taking the sting out of the game and slowing the pace down.

However, by the 80th minute Chelsea had become completely dominant although Swansea managed to keep them at a comfortable distance and see out the last ten minutes.
Maybe a wave of expectancy went over the Swansea team as two minutes of injury time had gone by without any real threat. But then with 92.25 minutes played, Bosingwa cut in from the right wing with no one closing him down, and was allowed to cross the ball. Of the 43 crosses Chelsea put in, this one took the cruelest deflection off Taylor and spun past a diving Vorm.

In the end Swansea had conceded too much possession, ending the game with 46.2%, and failing to get a hold of the ball after Chelsea had Cole sent off in the 85th minute. Chelsea managed to attempt and complete more passes than Swansea, with better accuracy – a rare occurrence (413/491 vs 360/443).

Chelsea created many chances throughout the game with the better ones falling to an eager looking Sturridge. But they could not find the net, and Torres looked as though he had completely lost his strikers instinct.

It can not be denied that Chelsea deserved a draw over the 95 minutes and before the game Swansea would have taken a point. But to draw in that manner after being ahead for so long would have felt like a defeat for Swansea.

Never-the-less Swansea can once again take many positives from the game and then look at what they need to do better, so that they can convert positives into wins.

(Stats via opta and www.eplindex.com)