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Thread | Reasons why the team is not performing at the level they were last season.
at 22:56 10 Jan 2016
1. Poor Recruitment In the summer.
In order to make progress in the Premier League, it is of paramount importance to strengthen the squad year upon year, however, the Swans simply didn’t do this during the summer. With the exception of Andre Ayew, the signings made by Garry Monk have been underwhelming to say the least- in particular, the £5 million signing of Eder and £3.5 million Frank Tabanou. Neither Eder nor Tabanou have made any real impact on the first-team this season, making one wonder why the Swans even signed them in the first place. They do not appear to have added much in terms of quality to what the Swans already had in their squad, whereas teams like Stoke have signed the likes of Ibrahim Affelay and Xherdan Shaqiri, who have clearly improved their squad.
2. Slick passing-style a thing of the past.
Those who watch the Swans on a regular basis will have noticed that the team’s attractive style of play that was so prevalent under Roberto Martinez and Brendan Rodgers has almost completely gone. The passing out from the back has often been very sloppy with Federico Fernandez and Angel Rangel being particularly guilty of giving the ball away cheaply. When the Swans get into attacking areas they seem to lack composure and often look ponderous, whereas in the past they were able to carve opposition defences open through slick passing and quick movement off the ball.
3. Lack of pace in the squad.
Although the Swans have the odd one or two players blessed with great pace such as Jefferson Montero, the squad in general distinctly lacks it. This is particularly the case in central midfield and up front. The likes of Leon Britton, Jack Cork, Ki, Jonjo Shelvey and Gylfi Sigurdsson are all gifted players in certain ways, however, not one of them is blessed with great pace and it reflects in the Swans’ current style of play. The speed of their play has often been very slow this season and the support play in attack from midfield is almost non-existent at times. One very rarely sees a Swans midfielder making a surging, lung-busting run into the attacking third these days and it is no wonder the Swans are amongst the Premier League’s lowest scorers. This lack of pace in midfield was perhaps most evident in the 0-3 drubbing at home to Leicester, where the midfield pairing of Drinkwater and Kante seemed to be getting to every loose ball ahead of any of the Swans 3 central midfield players and were completely controlling the game despite there only being 2 of them.
4. Lack of width.
In recent games, the Swans have decided to play with 4 men in central midfield which has definitely served to sure up the defence by cramming the midfield with bodies making them difficult to break down. However, when on the offense, the Swans have often lacked an attacking outlet on the flank. Wayne Routledge has done okish on the right wing but there is often a huge space on the left hand side of the pitch. There have been all too many occasions where Neil Taylor has got forward down the left hand side only to find he has no support. He then looks like he doesn’t know what to do with the ball and then turns backwards and plays an easy pass back to a midfielder such as Ki, who in turn passes it backwards, with the attack then completely petering out.
5. Players being played out of position
One player who has been impressive for the Swans this season is Andre Ayew, particularly at the start of the season. However, there have been all too many occasions this year where he has been played out of position. He has either been played out on the right wing where he likes to cut infield due to him being left-footed, which again leaves the Swans lacking width; or, in more recent games, he has been played up front on his own despite not having the physical presence required to play this role. Although, he has done reasonably well this season, the Swans could get even more from him if he was played in his favoured ‘number 10’ role or up front alongside a bigger, more physical player.
6. Underperforming Players- Unfortunately, the reality of the Swans’ league position is that certain players have simply not performed this season. Ashley Williams has recently openly admitted that his performances have not been up to the high standards set in previous seasons. Jonjo Shelvey and Ki, both big players for us last season, are also underperforming badly. In Shelvey's case, his attitude and fitness have also been brought into question. Then up front, Bafetimbi Gomis is a player who lacks consistency. He is, on occasion, capable of playing well and scoring goals but all too often, he just doesn’t perform to the required standard of a Premier League striker and can be extremely frustrating. Sadly, this seems to be the case 9 games out of 10. He gets continually caught offside, plods around and gives up too easily on chasing loose balls, and his shooting can often be wayward. I think the club definitely needs to replace some of these players ASAP. |
| | tzlewis
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