If you could have picked up last weeks away game at Sunderland and planted it at the Swansea.Com Stadium yesterday afternoon there would be little to say they were not the same game.
Once again the Swans were magnificent first half as they were on Wearside last week. Two crucial goals from Jamie Paterson and Joe Allen imprinted the Swans class on Blackburn Rovers. Although much the same as last week once those goals were scored there seemed to be a switch that said, don’t go for more. Rovers were at the Swans mercy for sure, the dominance was there for all to see. Josh Tymon was a constant thorn in the oppositions side, and Placheta seemed to grow in to the game as the half went on. A handful of chances did go begging and you could almost sense the home crowd getting edgy towards the last ten minutes of the half.
Luke Williams agreed to an extent but seemed to endorse the ‘actions’ of his players in the second half, a forty five minutes of football that seemed to be slipping from the Swans. "We made a fast start, we got the crowd in the game and that’s the connection we need to make between the players on the pitch and the fans in the stand. We have to create that so we help one another. We have to help them invest in us, and then they give us energy with the noise and the excitement. I am happy with the two sides of the team. Being on the front foot and our attacking play in the first half, and how mentally tough we were in defending”
That last sentence concerned a lot of people after the game at Sunderland and will do so again today, however we urged Luke to leave the semantics behind when it comes to playing games with Carl Rushworth, and that’s all we can hope for. He put a side out that clearly wanted to wrap up the game quickly, but fell back and looked rather wobbly at times. Williams was full of praise, and rightly so, the Swans were very good at times yesterday. As for Jamie Paterson, Joe Allen and Kyle Naughton he said, "I cannot speak more highly of these guys, the two guys have scored and Kyle Naughton’s block is as good as a goal. They are leading the way for the other lads, I do not really have enough words to say about how grateful I am to them.”
Too right, Allen was as busy as ever proving again he has a bit more left in him when in a Swans shirt. The recovery tackle by Naughton to prevent Blackburn scoring was world class defending. Paterson getting a goal and then going off injured seemed to deflate the side in the second half. As you would expect Blackburn manager John Eustace saw it differently, "I thought we deserved a point at the end of the day. The way we started we were a bit sluggish. It could possibly have been because of the midweek game (against Newcastle in the FA Cup), but we have to be more clinical. We don't give up and the fight is there for all to see” more odd managerial comments after Eustace stated there would be no knock on effect from their midweek FA Cup exploits.
Luke Williams in full below -
These last two results, especially the win against Blackburn couldn’t have come at a better time. The Swans have Watford away on Wednesday and then Bristol City away and Cardiff at home. All three are going to be very difficult to navigate. Every Swans fan will have their sights set on the derby match in two weeks, and will want a full on performance from the Swans, and for the full ninety. It was good to see Harry Darling and Josh Key on the bench and not being risked with these three games coming up. These are the shouts we want our head coach to be making, on the pitch and well thought out.
⚽️ Swans Indy : We realise that Luke Williams is new to all this but he has had a week to forget in front of the cameras. The club had no choice but to announce Carl Rushworth staying at the Swans yesterday as a result of the weeks weird responses from the head coach on the Brighton keeper. Tactically he is getting the best out of his players, in the majority. Jerry Yates had another horror show in front of goal after he came on, but he is a tryer. Liam Cullen too had an off day but the defensive set up was immaculate even though it lived dangerously at times, especially for Sammie Szmodics goal. Naughton is a player reborn as is Joe Allen, it was sad to see Paterson leave the field injured and we won’t know anything on that for a good twenty four hours at least. Luke Williams : "He's a big player for us on and off the pitch. So I'm hoping that when it settles down that they tell me it's nothing too serious. If it's more then maybe we have to have a scan. But hopefully the scan comes back and it's nothing too serious. We take each stage as it comes, but we need some more time for it to settle down first."
Watford build up later.
⚽️ Swansea City: Carl Rushworth, 7 Ben Cabango,7 Joe Allen 7 (Jay Fulton 65), 5 Matt Grimes 6 (captain), Jamie Paterson 7 (Jamal Lowe 71), 6 Josh Tymon, 8 Przemyslaw Placheta 6 (Jerry Yates 65), 5 Liam Cullen 5 (Charlie Patino 82), Nathan Wood, 6 Kyle Naughton,7 Ronald 6 (Ollie Cooper 82).
Unused Substitutes: Andy Fisher, Josh Key, Harry Darling, Bashir Humphreys.
⚽️ Blackburn Rovers: Aynsley Pears, Callum Brittain. Harry Pickering (Ben Chrisene 66), Dominic Hyam (captain), Sammie Szmodics, Sam Gallagher, Tyrhys Dolan (Dilan Markanday 67) Scott Wharton, John Buckley (Zak Gilsenan 94), Andy Moran (Yasin Ayari 46), Kyle McFadzean (Arnor Sigurdsson 46).
Unused Substitutes: Leo Wahlstedt, Connor O'Riordan, Jake Garrett, Billy Koumetio.
⚽️ Referee: Rebecca Welch : Solid performance 7/10.
Attendance: 15,369
Away : 326
League Table this morning -
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