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.

Christmas is now about analysing Football

As well as Swansea in the premierleague, there are extra fixtures from another league to do, so working almost every day from Christmas to the end of first week in January. One of the lucky ones to get Boxing day and New Year's day off.

Swansea were unlucky to draw against QPR in my opinion; I mean how unlucky was Britton's header that set up the QPR goal, and also Graham should have had a penalty. I will give a more in depth analysis after the next two Swansea games against Tottenham and Aston Villa. With some analysis on things that could improve in January, in terms of transfers and hence tactics.

As for today, pulled off a sharp move to get onto the tube to make sure I got the early train back home. A short burst of speed to get my foot in the door of the tube, it opened up straight away, 'That was a cool move' was the appraisal from a few lads on the tube. It was more to do with how fast I ran to the door and slowed down instantly to stick my foot perfectly between the doors - Agility, Balance and Co-ordination (doesn't just have to be in a football session).

Swansea City Fc vs Newcastle and Everton (Away games)

Smart Swans

There have been many comparisons made this season between Swansea City this year and Blackpool FC last year. But one thing is for sure, Swansea know how to defend, and do a better job of it.

Newcastle Away

Newcastle United dominated the game on 17/12/2011, in the attacking sense having 22 shots compared to 3 for Swansea. But Brendan Rodgers went there with a game plan, and it worked. Newcastle are doing very well this year and to come away with a point was a good result. Swansea had 51% possession, showing they weren't scared to get on the ball and knock it about as they always do, but there was little intention from the central midfielders to break forward and join in with the attack.

Everton Away

Against Everton FC,  Swansea appeared to be a little more adventurous, opening up and trying to attack Everton when the time was right. However, the main focus was once again on defending well and making sure they kept yet another clean sheet. Once again Swansea had more of the ball, but total number of shots were 16 to 5 in Everton's favour (and only 1 of those shots hit the target for Swansea). Everton's Osman scored the only goal of the game with a header from a corner kick. After the game Rodgers claimed that Swansea should have had a goal kick instead of the corner being given to Everton.

For me it's smart tactics, Newcastle are flying and Everton are a solid mid table team, getting two points from those games would hit the expected target. Blackpool went all out and lost smart points, Rodgers looks like he's trying to pick up smart points, that's the difference.

A striker and a quick CAM would help a lot in January, at least one central attacking player is needed from what i can see.

Christmas Crackers

You look at the fixtures and think just about every game is tough. But Swansea control possession so well, it means they have a better chance of a result (see previous blog).

I do expect Swansea to have a go at QPR next time out at the Liberty Stadium; if they sit back, then I can understand fans questioning the strategy. The Tottenham Hotspur game on New Year's Eve is just one for everyone to enjoy. Fans will expect Swansea to lose, hope for a result, but they know they will get the best football of the weekend. I can't believe it's not on TV but I have the good fortune of analysing it live.

Don't Just Hoof It!

Is it better to keep possession, and play through the thirds, using the short passing game? The question has been asked many times, but have we found a simple enough answer to explain it to the masses?

If we look at Swansea in the English Premier League, they have come through the lower leagues playing out from the back with short passing and are now seen as a credit to the top tier of English football.

For the idealists, the 'purists' this would be the way every club plays; but maybe the different styles in football are what make it so enthralling.

Anyhow, take for example a fixture played between Blackburn Rovers and Swansea City on December 3, a fixture I analysed for Opta.

Launched

By the end of the first three or four minutes, Swansea had around 93% possession. Blackburn Rovers absolutely refused to play football, the first few free kicks they won in their own half were launched into the Swansea box, with Samba being sent forward (within the first fifteen minutes).

Over ninety minutes Swansea had 68.4% possession, even though they played with ten men for the last ten minutes.

Throughout the game Swansea played some beautiful football, but could not create enough opportunities with a proverbial bus parked in front of them. Blackburn had 15 shots with 5 on target compared to Swansea with 10 shots and 4 on target.

The long punts into dangerous areas paid dividends for Blackburn Rovers as they were 3-2 up before an 80th minute red was given to a frustrated young genius in Joe Allen. Who had been trying his best to find a solution to the problem he had been presented with; a psychological error in judgement influenced by Blackburn's style of play?

In any case, the brutal, 'distasteful' tactics ultimately brought about the desired result. How can you argue that Blackburn were wrong, since they won?

More importantly, how do we argue this with the coaches and parents who bring it up in youth football?

An article in 'The Guardian' newspaper (First link in this google search (doesn't work directly for some reason)) shows the importance of possession, and the statistics that support this notion, in the final section of the article.

It also beautifully sums up the Blackburn Rovers vs Swansea fixture with its final paragraph (what a group of players that is).

Maybe it needs someone to suggest a national game strategy of hoofing the ball from one end to another to cause uproar.

Well from that article we can see that in the 70's and 80's 'at the FA's Centre of Excellence at Lilleshall, direct football became the explicit tactical philosophy of the English game, and the emphasis came increasingly to focus on long diagonals and effort'.

Long ball strategy

For me it is frightening to think that, even now, rather than uproar, possibly an equal amount of people as those supporting the short passing and dribbling game, would back the long ball strategy. By this I mean constantly hoofing the ball up to strikers, without much thought. There are times when the long ball/direct football is the correct decision, but seeing kids with their heads down and just kicking it as far forward as possible is disappointing for me.

Without the proper education, or an easy to understand explanation, a lot of people will take things at face value, and in the aforementioned English Premier League game they would have seen Blackburn Rovers comprehensively beat Swansea City 4-2.

How do we tell the kids in mini soccer that Swansea City was the better football team? Is it purely aesthetic or do we have a rational, purposeful, simple explanation.

Specific examples aside (which is usually where the opposing rationale comes from in this situation); current research has shown the importance of possession in football.

Penas et al (2010) summed up previous research and produced their own statistics showing that the teams that retain possession for longer periods are more successful (http://www.jssm.org/vol9/n2/18/v9n2-18pdf.pdf).

First touch

We see the best team in the world at the moment, FC Barcelona, playing in this way. If you look at the weight of their first touch, and the pace they can play at, it is incredible; especially in the tight spaces in midfield and in and around the penalty box.

The weight of pass and touch is amazingly well controlled and allows them to pass through the thirds with confidence. 

As well as being very well organised as a team, individually they have great ball control and spatial awareness. The motor skills that aid this task are better developed at a young age, not when they become adults. 

I will allow people to draw their own conclusions from this post, but I can not see how launching the ball from back to front will help develop this range of motor skills and create better footballers. 

As for a simple answer ''complex problems do not have simple solutions''.