It wasn’t the best of performances at Vicarage Road,the Swans seemed unsure and overall unprepared for their second game this week. Their lack of pace as ever evident but also the passing in key areas was some of the worst we have seen in a long while. If it can be compared to that awful January the team had then it wasn’t much better than that.
Both sides warmed into the game at Vicarage Road this evening. Initially patchy but it was the Swans who had the first opportunity on nine minutes. A nice move by Franco allowed Vipotnik to steady himself before unloading a shot at the Watford goal. Selvik saved it comfortably. A few moments later another tantalising cross came in but Vipotnik was a yard short getting in front of the keeper. An area which is lacking in his game. Despite the Swans dominance Watford had an opportunity from the head of Tom Ince but his effort was very poor. Tom Dele-Bashiru also had a shot blocked.
It was Josh Key out on the Swans right who was next to whip in a cross but again Vipotnik fluffed his lines with a header eight yards out which bounced down and into the keepers arms. The Swans were the more dominant side and the very quiet Watford crowd seemed half asleep. The Swans support were there in good numbers and getting behind their team. As we hit the twenty minute mark interim head coach, Alan Sheehan seemed very happy on the Swans bench,and his staff very relaxed.
The issue to this point was the Swans and Watford were both lacking bite in their forward positions.
Neither side seemed that urgent in their thinking and once again on twenty six minutes we saw the bad side of Swansea City. Franco - as numerous other players have been doing all season passing the ball neatly to the opposition. One through pass and Moussa Sissoko met the ball sweetly and guided his shot into the Swansea net. There’s only one way to describe that whole incident and that’s unprofessional. Why is this a game to game occurrence for Swansea City ? Allowing the opposition opportunities through dismal and lazy passing, it’s not a one off it happens in nearly every game.
With this being one of those games that was going to be potentially decided by the odd goal this was infuriating. Ben Cabango carried on the passing nonsense which led to another opportunity for the home side. Keeper Vigouroux diving at the feet of a Watford player. We were seeing poor passing now and very little opportunity to get excited about. The tempo was slow and the players seemed happy to just wander about. Lewis O’Brien contributed to another Watford attack with another stupid pass. The lackadaisical passing, poor effort and awareness was now firmly back at Swansea.
Franco despite his running wasn’t strong enough to stay on his feet as we approached the last ten minutes of the half. Ronald was down holding his thigh which offered Sheehan some time to get some information into his side. Ronald was limping as he walked from the pitch. Vipotnik had another chance with his head from a free kick out on the right but he was never going to score from the edge of the area. A sign we were not out of the bad old days just yet came on forty minutes. A corner wasn’t properly executed and Watford broke almost the full length of the pitch. Offering up chances to the opposition when it should have been Swansea dictating the play.
A free kick on forty five minutes with three minutes of added time to play went hopelessly out for a Swansea corner. From the corner Liam Cullen met the ball full on with his head and having got there you expected the ball to be in the back of the Watford net. It was a good effort from Cullen who has been named in the latest Wales squad.
The passing continued to be an embarrassment, the lack of ideas or even someone to do something positive was missing - and you could only hope these Swans players had some degree of professionalism to ply their trade properly in the second half. It was dour, boring and lacking in any entertainment value. Whoever thought this half should be full of ponderous passing and players hanging about like an impromptu training session needed a mirror during this half time chat.
The second half started pretty much the same as the first with the Swans probing but really getting nowhere. Josh Key the first to run with the ball and full on into a defender. When in a dangerous position shots were weak and hurried. Ben Cabango was booked for a silly pull back on his opponent on forty eight minutes. Not the cleverest of decisions he will ever make. The routines remained the same, passes not reaching their intended target and long balls running out of play. Key, Tymon and Franco all making a hash of their possession.
However, the domination of the game was turning Swansea’s way. Watford struggling to match the away sides commitment. Eom gave the ball away in a dangerous shooting position which led to another Watford breakaway. A cross shot from Andrews on the Swans left not bothering Vigouroux to any extent. Then Vigouroux joined in on passing aimlessly on fifty seven minutes. Lewis O’Brien got away a weak shot which was fielded comfortably by Sevick in the Watford goal. It was a better effort by the Swans but the passing remained clumsy.
We had half an hour to go.
The mistakes continued, a Swansea foul throw after good pressure on the Watford keeper summed up proceedings to date. Thinking of that goal Stoke scored a few weeks back Vigouroux again nearly found himself embarrassed by a long chip shot. It has to be said this wasn’t good football. The Swans playing some appalling balls at the back, short sighted passing which was reminiscent of the worst parts of this season. It has to be said Watford are not that good either, like the Swans it seemed they too were playing in heavy boots on treacle.
Having said all that no second ball seemed to be falling for Swansea City, much as it didn’t when the Swans were on their slippery January slope. On sixty five minutes a cross from Tymon was deflected goalwards by Eom, more luck than judgement but it gave some hope. The away support sang but it was seemingly having little effect on the players. A lovely break by Key saw another poor cross from Ronald, on receiving the ball back Eom was inches short of getting a touch to level the score.
It was around the seventy minute mark when poor decision making by Captain Cabango returned, he got away with it surrounded by Watford players, but really look for the easy pass Ben !This performance was nowhere near to that we have seen over the last three games. Maybe that says more about the level the Swans are at these days and their ability than anything else. It’s easy to report the bad things when all you see is an exceptionally poor performance - but even now there was time to get something from this game.
The Swans were now making subs. We saw Jay Fulton, Bianchini and Josh Ginnelly on for Franco, Vipotnik and Eom. Then we had a flurry of three corners in front of those travelling Swansea fans. Two were desperately defended by Watford, the third eventually cleared. The Swans were pressing but were being let down by poor end passing.
That continued with just eight minutes left of the game to go.
In fact there was no play during the early minutes of the final ten, most being spent by Watford making more substitutions and one of their players stretched out on the floor. That was nigh on three minutes in one chunk with no play. That of course suited the home side. On eighty four minutes sub Ginnelly whipped in a low cross but again we saw no Swansea player making an effort to get across the keeper. This game seemed to be petering out and slipping away. Ronald was getting the treatment from his opponents, some theatrics involved. Thereafter followed more Watford time wasting with players pushing each other off the ball. We had seen one Swansea attack in amongst seven minutes of time all taken up by some ridiculous tactics by the Hornets.
Despite that Watford were happy to watch the Swans run into cul-de-sacs and put in strong challenges. Ronald too ponderous when he had an eye on goal. We were now in injury time with seven minutes added. The Swans were pressing but not hurting their opponents. Pushing forwards and leaving spaces at the back. However, no matter how many Swansea players were getting forwards they were making little or no impact on the game.
With two minutes done of added time the Swans had a corner on their right.
From there more poor passing from O’Brien led to a Watford attack and a shot at the Swansea goal. A good save from Vigouroux saved him. We now had three minutes to go. Crosses from Ronald and Key were awful but Ginnelly at least was making good of his wing play. Why on earth Sheehan thought it was a good idea to bring on Ollie Cooper with ninety six minutes gone he will only know. We now had seconds left. O’Brien again gave the ball away as the referee blew up for the end of the game. A gift of a goal from Franco won this game, more ill discipline and that was the story of the game for the Swans at the end of this fixture. Pretty rudderless and without anyone to actually step up. This wasn’t an ordinary performance from Swansea City, it was exceptionally poor.
These are the games the Swans should have been winning all season but they continue to gift wrap wins for their opponents. All round the worst performance in Sheehan’s second spell and possibly the worst we have seen in both stints as interim manager. Burnley visit the Swans this Saturday at the Swansea.com (3pm) and a vast improvement is needed to get anything from that game.
⚽️ Watford: Egil Selvik, Mattie Pollock, Tom Ince (Francisco Sierallta 83), Giorgi Chakvetadze (Rocco Vata 83), Imran Louza, Moussa Sissoko (captain), Tom Dele-Bashiru (Vakoun Bayo 64), James Abankwah, Yasser Larouci (Jeremy Ngakia 71), Edo Kayembe, Ryan Andrews (Caleb Wiley 83).
Unused Substitutes: Jonathan Bond, James Morris, Caleb Zavier Massiah-Edwards, Leo Ramirez-Espain.
⚽️ Swansea City: Lawrence Vigouroux 6 Josh Key 6 Ben Cabango 6 (captain), Hannes Delcroix 5 Josh Tymon 7 Lewis O’Brien 5 Gonçalo Franco 5 (Jay Fulton 74) 6 Ronald 6 Liam Cullen 6 (Ollie Cooper 96), Jisung Eom 6 (Josh Ginnelly 74) 7 Vipotnik 6 (Florian Bianchini 74) 5
Unused Substitutes: Jon McLaughlin, Joe Allen, Cyrus Christie, Kyle Naughton, Sam Parker.
⚽️ Referee: Jeremy Simpson 6/10. Could have shown a red to Louza and backed out of a second yellow.
Attendance: 16,097
Away att to follow
⚽️ Sheehan on the game