The late Dolly Parton once quipped, it takes a lot of money to look this cheap. For Vitor Matos' Swans, it takes a lot of training to look so spontaneous.

Giving players the freedom to express themselves is the easy part. Training them to do it at the right time, in the right structure, and in the right areas, that is the hard part. That was my biggest takeaway from the Blackburn Rovers mauling. The versatility and ease on the ball is a combination of very good players and a manager with a clear idea.

Over the course of a slightly hysterical week in the online Swansea world, I read that almost every player should be dropped and player X or Y should be given a chance. Stephen Welsh's phenomenal start to his career in his namesake country did not stop him from the social media pile on. He gave the perfect reply with a virtuoso performance on Saturday, and he was the prime example of the roaming style.

In open play, I found myself making double-takes to see if the blonde player bustling around the opposition D was Welsh or Melker Widell. The central defender's heatmap confirms that he was indeed everywhere, and he ended with a game high 115 touches. Well, he was nominally a centre-back but played more like an old fashioned sweeper-playmaker. The Italians might call him a Libero. In what was for me a man of the match display, he contributed to a clean sheet, pushed up endlessly to offer another man in midfield, executed those raking 60 yard passes we have become accustomed to, but also those incisive, sharp 20-30 yard passes into the feet of the available man in midfield. Like Barry John showing his range of skills playing behind a dominant forward pack, Welsh (stats below) could not have wished for a more placid and tentative counter press, and he took full advantage.

This tactic is not without its risks, though. On the 18th minute mark, Swansea lost the ball midway inside the Blackburn half, with Welsh stranded in the final third. A quick counter attack saw Rovers develop a 3-on-2 situation, with Ben Cabango and Jay Fulton backtracking. A woeful pass quickly ended the danger, but a smarter team would have taken advantage.

Fulton (stats below) the man of the match on the Indy played his part in spoiling that attack, and his contribution is crucial in the whole process. Whenever Welsh, or either full-back bomb forward, it is the Scot covering back, keeping the system sturdy and malleable. Matos tinkers a lot in midfield, but I think we are at our most versatile when Fulton is there. Like I mentioned when reflecting on QPR, Fulton was the only player to come out of the game with any credit, and probably should have started. Today he proved once again that he can play an important role in an attacking display, not just in a destructive capacity. It is that safety net that allows Josh Tymon to bomb forward. The left-back crossing into the feet of our left-winger Eom near the penalty spot in the first-half epitomised our Red Arrows-like assault on the Blackburn goal.

Fulton's midfield partners, Stephen Eustáquio and Widell had very fine games too. The Canadian highlights that playing this way demands the right players in the right system. Jamestown have picked out a gem of a player. Widell arrived before Jamestown or Matos but is there more of a Matos player? Irrepressible energy, great close skill, and comfortable in several positions. It is common in modern football for wide players to swap wings, with right-footers on the left and vice versa, but when you have the Swede playing centrally, there is the option to switch it up amongst three player, as Widdel did with Joseph Opoku and Eom on occasion.

The only thing missing for Widell is his first goal. There is a sense that he has been trying too hard in the past weeks, but yesterday during the first-half, the ball fell to him around the penalty area, and rather that shoot, he unselfishly slipped it to Opoku on the right, who was running hot. The goal will come very soon. Ross Stewart, on his first start however, did get his first goal. Vouched for by the Indy in the run up to the game he added to the controlled chaos, drifted left and right, deeper or held the line. In a very small sample size, he could be the most suited striker of the three for games like this.

The players are allowed to think independently, and this was the best example yet this season. In the first-half, the Swans were so dominant that the BBC Lancashire commentators literally could not finish their analysis during play. Multiple times, the main commentator would have to interrupt ex-player Kevin Gallacher to brace for another goal.

The Swansea press in full flow. This was thirty five yards or so from the Blackburn goal.

We have a playing philosophy under Matos. People like it when the leader has a plan. In the post-budget debrief this week, The Spectator's politics editor Tim Shipman suggested the reason for Andy Burnham being more popular in the polls than Keir Starmer is that he has a plan - whether you approve of it or not does not matter. But not only does our Portuguese man have a plan, it is a plan that is working.

Photographs: As per