Over the past month Jamal Lowe’s relentless running has been significant for the swans, however, his goals,most certainly have dried up, and his game involvement too, does Jamal need a rest ? Or is this just the usual dip in form ?
Many swans fans have enjoyed Jamal’s hunger to be involved at every level of the games he has featured in this season, and that is most of them. His sublime finish against Cardiff and his eagerness to work space for himself have been exceptional at times. However, let’s take a look with Jimmy Moorhouse from fancast and his analysis of Jamal’s involvement in the 2-1 win against Stoke this week.
Jamal Lowe’s goals are drying up when the swans need them most
Swansea kept the pressure on the automatic promotion spots with a last gasp win over Stoke City on Wednesday evening. Steve Cooper’s side went behind early after a mistake from Marc Guehi, with Nick Powell converting to make it 1-0, but goals from Connor Roberts and a late penalty from Andre Ayew earned the Swans all three points.
Although the penalty decision has been met by a lot of controversy, Cooper will be delighted that Ayew was able to keep his composure and seal the win, which leaves Swansea just one point behind second-placed Brentford with two games in hand. However, it was not all good for the Swans at the Bet 365 stadium, as Jamal Lowe continued his poor recent form with another disappointing display against Michael O’Neill’s side.
As per SofaScore, the former Portsmouth man would complete just 6/10 passes, which was the fewest of any player who started the game and also far fewer than the 16.8 passes per game he has averaged in the Championship this season. Lowe would earn a poor 6.2/10 rating for his performance, which was the lowest of any Swansea player bar Guehi; after the defender’s mistake that led to Stoke’s goal. The 26-year-old would attempt just one dribble during his time on the pitch, in which he was unsuccessful, whilst he didn’t register a single shot on target.
Despite having just 23 touches of the ball in the game, the forward would still lose possession on 11 occasions, suggesting that the Stoke defenders had the better of him on Wednesday evening. It was no surprise, therefore, that Cooper decided to sub Lowe after 70 minutes and replace him with Connor Hourihane as his side chased a winning goal, as unfortunately, the summer signing has now failed to score in any of his last 10 appearances in all competitions.
Jamal came to Swansea predominantly as a winger, attacker. His conversion to the number nine jersey has been marginally successful. However that stat of no goals in ten games is concerning, especially at a time when the swans need his goals to reach the premier league.
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Jimmy Moorhouse is on Twitter @JimmyMoorhouse
Football journalist for @FootballFanCast. University of Nottingham graduate. Co-host and Co-creator of @ATOTSpodcast, creator of @FootieFansView