Talk of getting an early lead and going on to winning this game were soon put to bed when Wigan Athletic hit Swansea City twice from set piece corners exposing a total lack of communication in the home sides defence. A lacklustre swans approach even with Oko-Flex starting carried on their first half misery of recent games. Failure to see obvious passes and far too defence minded when two goals down signalled frustration in the crowd and discontent all round. Joel Latibeaudiere was captain for the day and he too seemed slow and ponderous for the first thirty minutes.
It wasn’t a good watch.
A penalty claim for the swans was turned down when James McLean clearly handled a cross away for a corner, and a few opportunities were either not anticipated or just petered out. A Joel Piroe speculative shot, the only real proper effort of the half. Wigan are a big side, capable of strong arm tactics, and player for player Swansea were finding that particular asset to their game hard to manage. Ollie Cooper was out of sorts out on the left then the right, and with ten minutes to go the only stat in the black once again was the Swansea possession tactics. It doesn’t win games.
The misplaced passes continued, and every sign of danger saw a far stronger Wigan player ready to out muscle any swans player ready to capitalise. And those chances were very few. With five minutes to go the slow passing and lethargy was replaced by opportunistic balls in to a well marshalled latics penalty area. It was again sadly really poor football from Swansea.
When Wigan did break their passing was quick and to the man causing the home defence issues from wide spaces. A third goal at this point would have destroyed any Swansea chance of some form of recovery. Either way this performance will again raise questions regards Russell Martin’s master plan. Too many touches at the back, but when the swans did get forwards and exposed the Wigan defence they looked troubled. Another Ryan Manning strike from outside the area after pinball tackling saw the swans back in the game at 1-2. It could be said the first swans goal was unexpected, however it was deserved for all their effort. It took a confident and calm player to remain composed and strike the ball perfectly home.
Even then another Wigan set piece rebounded off Steven Benda in the swans goal before he gathered at the second attempt. More swans pressure right at the end of the half saw more urgency but Cooper’s delivery when in open space was very poor. It summed up the half, and indeed the whole week.
The second half started more positively with Piroe coming close, but now Wigan we’re ready to defend diligently - and Swansea giving the ball away when the more threatening pass was available continued the low mood. With Jamie Paterson on already for Oko-Flex we saw Matt Sorinola, Olivier Ntcham and Kyle Naughton joining the fray on sixty two minutes. Off went Michael Obafemi, Ben Cabango and Luke Cundle leaving the field. The dice had now been thrown.
The frustration for Swansea continued with out of context decisions by referee Craig Pawson. Ollie Coooer picking up a yellow. Sorinola was no match for his marker strength wise, the midfield packed and tight, Swansea’s passing required patience beyond the norm. And Swansea fans are patient. Restarts were taking half a minute or more as Wigan wasted as much time as they could, the story of their game. Will Keane was booked for wrestling as Wigan substitutes took minutes, and went unpunished. Game management in the championship a still the swans are still learning.
When the swans got forwards, and showing some energy Cooper ( pictured below ) missed a nailed on chance right in front of goal. The frustration around the ground now tangible. Then a lovely move by the swans saw the referee take far too long before he pointed at the penalty spot. Naughton brought down after a merciless tackle. Jay Fulton stepped up as the penalty taker. For some reason he had his doubts and passed the ball to Piroe. This whole event took four minutes. Joel Piroe cleverly levelled the game at 2-2.
The time wasting continued as the second half drew to a close but Wigan got their tails up as Swansea looked flustered. Did anyone tell them this game was there for the taking ? As the swans pressed on desperate touchline clearances were the Wigan tactic. The keeper going down, Swansea messing about and giving away foul throws in their desperation to get the game going. Our estimation from stops in play was eight minutes. And that’s not including substitutions and goals.
Keith Stroud the fourth official said it was seven minutes.
It has to be said Swansea were now huffing and puffing, Wigan were bluffing. Again the quality wasn’t there for Swansea, the obvious ball not seen even when a ball in from Cooper was missed by two swans attackers it summed up the day. Paterson did add some width but when the ball that should have been played isn’t - mistakes from over passing are made. That exposed Ryan Manning who looked to have made a decent tackle late on but the referee bizarrely gave a dangerous looking free kick. From that move which Benda dealt with Swansea broke, and frustratingly the move broke down.
There is no confidence to press forwards in these situations.
More Wigan blocks on shots were made but it wasn’t good enough as Wigan celebrated an away point that really they would have bought at the start of the day. Lee Trundle. " You really can’t give away two goals like that, it leaves you with a mountain to climb, we really have to speed up our passing and decision making if we are to win games like this " We fully agree Lee. This game signified again the hard work and graft that is needed even to maintain your league position, not that Swansea did as they slipped to ninth. It isn’t all bad news, Oko-Flex got a start, and with the resurgence in the second half he really should have stayed on. Paterson looked industrious and Ntcham again showed what an impact sub he can be.
However, going from walking football to a desperate effort to chase the game just didn’t work.
Swansea manager Russell Martin won’t be happy, the swans fan base won’t be either, but with two away games to come before the World Cup there is plenty of room to leave the part season from a positive point of view. That for us now relies on Russell Martin to energise his squad before the away game at Birmingham City on Tuesday, and then finishing off at Huddersfield next Saturday. Speaking after the game Martin said. "We shot ourselves in the foot again with the two set-piece goals, but it takes big courage to come back in the way the players did," explained the head coach. We should have won the game. I don’t think anyone can disagree with that — it was such a dominant performance. I think you have to appreciate how difficult it is when you go 2-0 down to then avoid it becoming a game of basketball and going 3-0 down. We are all frustrated. We concede too many poor goals at the moment. But we should still win”
Again today we saw fine margins, sadly Russell Martin isn’t able to put his team on the right side of those margins at the moment. Judgements will most certainly be made come 5pm next Saturday.
Swansea City: Benda; Latibeaudiere (Cpt) Wood, Cabango (Naughton 62); Oko-Flex (Paterson 45), Fulton, Cooper, Manning; Piroe, Cundle (Sorinola 62); Obafemi (Ntcham 62).
Subs not used: Fisher, Darling, Stevens.
Goals: Manning 44, Piroe 84 (pen)
Yellow cards: 🟨 Cooper 64, Manning 90+4
Wigan Athletic: Jones; Kerr (Bennett 85), Whatmough, Tilt; Darikwa (C), Power, Naylor (Shinnie 85), McClean (Aasgaard 59); Keane, Wyke (Magennis 72), Broadhead (Lang 59).
Subs not used: Tickle, Cousins.
Goals: Keane 8, Naylor 16
Yellow cards: 🟨 Keane 72, Magennis 83
Referee: Craig Pawson, 3/10, inconsistent and clearly relies on VAR.
Attendance: 16,644