It was an unsure and pretty lethargic effort by the home side in the first period this afternoon at the Swansea.com stadium. The first half exposing the Swans lack of intent and energy, the second half dominated by the Swans from sixty minutes onwards.
It was a pretty decent opening over the first ten minutes, the Swans intent shown with two corners from the left hand side which unfortunately did little to bother the Watford goal. The opposition tried a rasping shot on nine minutes which was cleared. It could have been described as a tentative start. Evidence of this was Ben Cabango who sent a sleepy back pass to his keeper, Lawrence Vigouroux who bailed him out as a Watford attacker was bearing down on him. Further intent on sixteen minutes when Franco took a long rage punt at goal.
A summary of the first third of the half would be that the Swans needed more confident possession, and to move the ball rather more quickly to avoid the Watford tactic of closing down quickly. On twenty three minutes the Swans had a free kick out on their right. The usual combo of Eom and Josh Tymon stood over the ball, Liam Cullen was standing offside, and as the ball was delivered he was still offside completely unaware of his surroundings as the minute long taken free kick came to nothing.
At the other end a miraculous save from Vigouroux kept out a Luca Kjerrumgaard header and from the resulting corner Ben Cabango prevented a certain goal with an overhead kick almost off the line. That should have been a warning for the Swans to wake up - and up the tempo. The passing though was pretty poor from Eom and again by Josh Key when Ronald (below) could have been set free on the right hand side of the pitch. There needed to be an extra edge. Especially from Eom (below) Franco was busy, earning a corner on thirty one minutes which was cleared but the Swans kept up the pressure. Again though Ronald completely wasted an opportunity for a precise ball in from the left as it harmlessly went out of play.
The Swans weren’t industrious enough in effort or ideas as Franco brought down Edo Kayembe in a very dangerous position just outside the Swans penalty area. Irankunda took the free kick and it nestled into the top right hand corner of Vigouroux’s net. A poor foul given away by Franco resulting in a goal for the away side, very well taken but indicative of the way Swansea City had approached this half. They simply didn’t have the ammunition or ideas to do anything other than give the ball away. It was frustrating to see.
The constant giving away of the football was reckless. Even the usually composed Ethan Galbraith hoofing the ball away. Kyprianou was booked on thirty nine minutes for persistent fouling. The possession or should we say lack of calm and measured thought was the concern. On forty minutes Malcouye put through a perfect ball for Cullen but his complete lack of awareness again was evident. It was a lovely well executed pass that was an example of years gone by when Jan Molby would make similar moves in a Swans shirt. With players he was passing to completely unaware of the potential for them to score or aid an attack.
The offsides though were getting really annoying. Sleep mode doesn’t win football matches.
As the game came to a first half close Watford looked the busier of the two sides, the Swans having to defend well placed crosses. Cullen was again offside on forty seven minutes with the crowd booing and not happy with his schoolboy mistakes. As the half drew to a close the Swans had a corner on their left, it was dealt with by the Watford defence. Now it was time for this eleven to have a look at themselves and possibly use one of the many mirrors in the home dressing room.
That wasn’t a good watch.
The Swans started unchanged in the second half but looked even more withdrawn with poor attention to detail and ever poorer passing. After six minutes Head Coach, Alan Sheehan had seen enough. Debutant Marko Stamenic came on for Yalcouýe and Eom went off for Zeidane Inoussa. Stamenic made his introduction with a yellow card after twenty seconds and then a minute later picking up a lovely through ball laying on a chance for Ronald. Watford players then started to take rests as much as possible, the time wasting had already started after eleven minutes of the second half.
We had already seen a Franco mistake leading to a hard shot which surely numbed the fingers of Vigouroux. The desire for an energetic injection was so obvious now. That did change on sixty minutes as the Swans decided that this ingredient was much needed. A magnificent move between Galbraith and Tymon saw a low cross in reach Cullen but from two yards he hit the post. Inoussa was next, but he worried the East Stand more than anything with his bended attempt. It was at least a sign. Then a lovely move whilst Watford player, Keben lay on the ground play acting. A cross from Josh Key reached Inoussa but from a few yards out the ball hit him and went into the away keepers hands. The Swans just couldn’t score but it was promising. This five minute period was encouraging.
Keben came on to the pitch as if his injury had magically never happened.
With twenty five minutes to go we were fast closing in on a time where we would really like to be seeing a goal to make this a possible win. The Swans were now quicker, more explorative as Inoussa was hauled down, a yellow card for Ngakia the only decision the referee could make. From the free kick, again a very decent delivery from Tymon on the left was cleared. Watford were defending well. The persistent diving from the visitors was again conning referee Martin. Remember this was a team who had a pretty poor away league record.
Melker Widell and Zân Vipotnik were now ready to come on.
The difference between last weekend and now was the midfield had lost its ability to recover the ball. Widell then came on for Key and Cullen for Vipotnik. We had fifteen minutes remaining, but surely a whole load of injury time minutes ? Vipotnik really needed something to spark his season, he was greeted warmly. Watford then made two substitutions, they could have done that seconds before, but time wasting was the order of the day.
On seventy six minutes another cracking cross from Tymon was met by the head of Ronald, but yes you guessed it, he was offside. The lack of a striker in this Swansea team even more evident in this fixture. A corner kick in front of the East Stand came to nothing, the story of the game. However, that man Vipotnik met a cross from Galbraith on eighty one minutes with his head and scored the leveller in off the far post. The reportedly unhappy Slovenian had answered his critics the only way a striker should. The cross glanced in by Vipotnik (below) to level proceedings.
The theatrics continued even at 1-1 from the visitors. A three minute break from the eighty fourth minute until the eighty seventh. We made that ten minutes at least of time to be added on. The misplaced passes continued from the Swans as nine minutes of added time was announced. Crazy really but that was the decision. On ninety a ball through from Inoussa was miss hit it by Vipotnik, it went out for a corner.
Then another corner on ninety two minutes, the pressure was on but the corner came to nothing. With six minutes to go Watford were refusing to take throw ins and walking away from the ball. From the lengthy time taken to take a throw in - to a free kick from that move we had lost another minute. Then another golden chance, the ball delivered in by Franco, somehow as we have seen so often Vipotnik was just too late to score the winner. It was desperately close. The referee as we drew to a close was again being conned by the visitors, it was a symbol of the tactics by this side. Tymon was blocked from taking a throw - another Watford player booked. Then a nasty foul on Ben Cabango, the perpetrator stayed down feigning injury, that player was Baah, he was booked. The same player then went down with cramp, more time lost.
The match officials brought the game to a close with the Swans only themselves to blame for their first half performance, it was a point but it should have been three after a more positive second half. Zân Vipotnik will be happy, However, he should have won the game, but there really is more work to be done, not only on the pitch but most certainly off it. The Swans now move on to four points after three games. It’s mid table stuff for now, but if there are some more additions that could well change.
⚽️ The Swans : Lawrence Vigouroux 8 Josh Key 6 (Melker Widell 75) 6 Ben Cabango 7 (C) Cameron Burgess 6 Josh Tymon 7 Malick Yalcouye 5 (Marko Stamenić 52) 6 Ethan Galbraith 6 Gonçalo Franco 6 Ronald 6 Jisung Eom 5 (Zeidane Inoussa 52) 7 Liam Cullen 4 (Žan Vipotnik 75) 6
Unused Substitutes: Andy Fisher, Jay Fulton, Bobby Wales, Kaelan Casey, Sam Parker.
⚽️ The Hornets : Egil Selvik, Jeremy Ngakia (Ryan Andrews 78), Max Alleyne (Rocco Vata 87), Kevin Keben, Hector Kyprianou, Luca Kjerrumgaard (Vivaldo Semedo 78), Marc Bola, Moussa Sissoko (captain), James Abankwah, Edo Kayembe (James Morris 87), Nestory Irankunda (Kwadwo Baah 58).
Unused Substitutes: Nathan Baxter, Mamadou Doumbia, Tom Dele-Bashiru, Amar Sanghrajka.
Referee: Stephen Martin : Being conned so many times displayed his incompetence. 2/10.
Attendance: 15,543 (OS)
Match Rating 6/10
Stats to follow.