Swansea City secured all three points yesterday evening against Preston in what has been described as a dull game without the entertainment that Swansea City have become renowned for over the past five seasons.
Even Swans interim boss, Alan Sheehan agreed this wasn’t in any way the type of game he wants the fans to see. And the bad news there are three players in for immediate assessment and treatment in the morning. However Nathan Wood is back coming on as a substitute in the second half.
The first issue is the style of play with players who have had six months of traditional Swansea football drilled out of them. Since the sacking of Michael Duff there has been an upturn in results but by no means a better style of play. It’s a beleaguered Swans that we watch now with a mundane contribution that will either depress ( last week against Middlesbrough) or become a form of sufferance as we saw last night. Alan Sheehan has tried to get a tune out of this side but we are not seeing a determination or collective spirit that the Swans have become known for.
Jamie Paterson (below) was the Swans star man, and thankfully he was on his game to put the Swans ahead superbly and then go on to secure the winner. It was good to see Joe Allen back, but he played no part in the game from the bench. And once again Jerry Yates came on and provided little to sway the Swans support he is even close to being the man to replace Joel Piroe. Olivier Ntcham, Ryan Manning, Joel Piroe and even to an extent Joel Latibeaudiere haven’t been replaced after last summers clear out.
That smacks of cheap deals incoming for players leaving who are of a far higher quality. As you scan this current Swansea squad there is literally nobody after numerous seasons who is going to peak the interest of any fellow Championship or Premier League club. So, what is the player trading model all about now ? It has to be said this game wasn’t an exhilarating end to end encounter, it was merely two very average Championship sides trying to work out how to snatch the points. There’s nothing convincing about either team, and their league positions tell the tale.
The bosses post match.
Alan Sheehan Swansea
"We're delighted with the win. We haven't been good enough at home or got enough points but after playing well and losing against Middlesbrough last time out, tonight was just about doing enough to win the game. "We weren't fluent with our performance by any stretch. We tried to play it through, looking for the perfect goal but it broke down each time. "Preston are physical and try to ram it down your throat which we have to deal with. They came to make it hard for us and sometimes you've just got to grind it out and two moments of absolute quality from Jamie Paterson won us the game. "We need to build confidence, resilience and a desire to win from this. When you win and have things to work on then that's good. It wasn't pretty but we got the job done and took a valuable three points."
Ryan Lowe PNE
"I'm disappointed and gutted that we just couldn't see it through to get what would have been a good point. I thought we were well worthy of the draw. It was a battling performance, nothing amazing and we dug in. "We knew Swansea would dominate possession because that's what they do but we handled their pressure well for long periods but individual errors have cost us. "We played sideways instead of forwards for the second and left the man unmarked in the box for the first. "It was disappointing because we had got ourselves right back in the game with a great goal and I felt we were in the ascendency. "The players have character and effort but there were two lapses of concentration for the goals. "I have to take responsibility as the manager, I know that and I have to lift myself first because I feel that I'm letting people down and I don't like doing that. "We could do with a bit of luck and to get that we need to keep working hard and digging in."
David Cornell started the game in goal for Preston, possibly a signal from the home thrashing the Lilywhites had last weekend, losing 5-1 at home to Watford. In fact Preston have had some right thumping this season so Cornell in the mind of boss Ryan Lowe couldn’t be any worse than the out of form Freddie Woodman. The ex Swan ( in fact Cornell from Waunarlwydd, and Woodman both had stints at the Swans ) has rarely had first team opportunities at any club, and at thirty two has just turned two hundred games professionally.
The Swans have been stripped and laid bare over six months, we no longer see an attractive brand of football. Hi Weber, Alan Sheehan is throwing his whole self in to his time as Swans head coach, and we can’t criticise him one bit. With Christmas upon us and three games to come - first away at Southampton (26th) and Coventry away (29th) followed by WBA at home on January 2nd, these are the big tests. Sheehan has gained seven points from twelve. He is doing a very credible job but these past games this month have been so difficult to watch it has been painful.It seems we have now lost our identity and our unique style of play. Those last eleven games of last season seem so far away now. It’s pretty upsetting to watch.
A crack at the stats is below.
Todays league table though does look better than it did this time last week.
You can watch the game here. The overdubs on the atmosphere are a tad embarrassing.
Alan Sheehan in full below.
Team ratings below.
⚽️ Swansea City: Rushworth; 6 Darling 6 (Yates 69) 5 Cabango, 6 Humphreys 6 Key 5 (Naughton 83), Fulton, 5 Grimes (c), 6 Tymon 5 (Wood 83); Walsh 6 (Bolasie ) 69, 4 Paterson; 7 Lowe 6 (Cullen 89)
Subs: Fisher, Patino, Cooper, Allen
⚽️ Preston North End: Cornell; Potts, Lindsay, Storey; Brady (Millar 45), Browne (Woodburn 90+4), Ledson, Hughes; McCann; Holmes (Frokjaer-Jensen 77), Evans (Osmajic 77)
Subs: Woodman, Whiteman, Keane, Whatmough, Milutin, Best
Att : 15,098
246 away
Referee : Booby ‘two bob’ Madley 6/10 : Unobtrusive just like he should be.