The goals are flying in from distance this past few weeks, and some have been spectacular, Liam Cullen adding to the collection on Tuesday with another strike. In fact the turnaround on shots on goal to the eye is quite breathtaking. Especially when the ball is hitting the back of the net.
We still have a side that handles itself fairly well against the lower placed teams. Sheffield United were beaten 1-0 at home on August 16th. The first away win came against Sheffield Wednesday, a 2-0 win which wasn’t an easy three points. That was on August 30th. The next win was also away at Blackburn on September 30th. We had to wait until October 25th for the second home win of the season, that was a 2-1 win against Norwich City. Only the second home league win this season. It was a long wait.
Since that win the Swans failed to win in six and lost Alan Sheehan as head coach as a result. With Vitor Matos now at the helm we have seen two close losses which displayed some hangover moments from Sheehan, and now two wins against relegation threatened sides. First Oxford on Saturday 2-0 and Portsmouth 1-0 on Tuesday night. Now the Swans have six wins from twenty games and two on the trot as December starts. When the Swans beat Sheffield United the Blades were in the bottom three. And now a look at the league table indicates where the other five wins have come from.
All below the Swans.
We have seen some close calls, leads thrown away on two occasions and West Bromwich Albion away (lost 3-2) really should have been an away win against a side above the Swans. That hasn’t happened after twenty games. What we have to take into consideration is that despite those two recent home wins they were against quite poor opposition who may well be struggling in the bottom half of the table this season. Their tactics were shoddy and attitude poor both clearly looking for a win or a draw by any means, and all that with two extremely poor and inadequate referees. The thing we have to remember though is that yes’ there were two clean sheets, but both of those sides could have scored at various times in the game. In some instances from avoidable errors when the Swans had possession of the ball. Was it more luck than judgement and good goalkeeping that stopped them ?
Of course if you look at the Swans luck this season in front of goal, where nothing seems to fall right that does balance out. On Tuesday that Coventry City goal where they scraped a draw against ten men at Preston tells you the luck is definitely with them. Oh for a few of those this December. Any sign of progress now relies upon beating teams above the Swans. They’ve proven to be better some of the time to do so - despite the upheaval we have seen this season off the pitch.
Those excellent purchases of Ethan Galbraith, Cameron Burgess, Melker Widell, Marko Stamenic and Zeidane Inoussa can’t be argued with. There were other signings but not as crucial as these five regular first team players. All will settle into the Matos pattern in time. Ethan of course is potentially the best player we have seen at Swansea since relegation. Personally that doesn’t justify the tag of an unsuccessful summer window. Yes, Adam Idah hasn’t been the player we hoped, but we can only refer to Zān Vipotnik last season, players can come good. Matos needs to get it into him that his work rate isn’t good and his key moments in a game are not improving due to his lack of graft on the pitch, we have all seen it. We are gathering information on the loan players who could return to their clubs in January - and why or why not this will or won’t happen. At this moment in time that’s pretty much off the table for all the clubs involved.
The last six form table tells us how promising Saturdays game may well be. But of course with the Potters recent form there’s an opening to make their December a lot more miserable. But they are wounded.
What matters this Saturday is the performance, the reaction to things if they go badly or indeed if the Swans take a lead. They’ve proven recently against Derby and WBA that there are still psychological issues in a variety of instances within a game. The two wins are good of course but they really haven't proven anything when up against far better sides. And Stoke are a far better side than any of the teams the Swans have beaten this season. Their run of form over their previous six actually places them below the Swans. They lost at Ipswich last night but are eighth in the table seven points ahead of the Swans.
That’s why this Saturday is a test for Vitor Matos, an early kick off and many will predict a loss or at best a draw, the latter being more favourable. However, we now need context from a performance at a better side away from home that we can match with the losses (2) and the wins (2) under Matos. It won’t be stat related it will be far more about what you see with your own eyes and the feelings you get when reflecting on the game.
Something that hasn’t been mentioned too much has to be the attendance on Tuesday, 18,163. That’s an incredible step up in interest from Swans fans. And okay, there will be people stating yes, but that includes season ticket holders whether there or not. Well, guess what, every club does that, it’s not specific to Swansea City, and the opposition was hardly attractive. Portsmouth had around 400-450 in the away end. And that on a night of really miserable weather, plenty of football on the TV and ways these days to watch the game in the comfort of your own home. Make no mistake that’s a great attendance on Tuesday.
The other positive is the free coach travel to Stoke this weekend. Pick ups locally. If you are a local Swans fan it’s pretty hard to turn that down. Especially when adult tickets are £12 and over 65 £6, under 11 is also £6. There are games in the national league south and north that will charge you far more. A ticket and travel for £12. A no brainer if you can plan it in to your weekend.
It’s all positive this morning, and things are looking up but Saturday will answer many questions.