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Reply | Swansea City v Oxford United : Match day thread
at 11:53 2 Dec 2025
Whilst I am in total agreement Franco has not been the player he seemed to be last season, it's hard to drop him when he got two assists against WBA. (even if his play-acting probably resulted in the wide-open space for their 1st goal). |
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Reply | Swansea City v Derby County : Match day thread
at 11:05 26 Nov 2025
Yes, if Eom's shot had nestled in the corner instead of being too close to the keeper (good save mind unsighted), it would have been a different game, different atmosphere. |
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Reply | Swansea City v Derby County : Match day thread
at 09:27 26 Nov 2025
I am going to go a little against the grain here and say that I thought there were some green shoots.
Up to their first goal I thought we were really good and trying to clearly execute "Matos-ball" which seemed to ask firstly to play with more urgency, secondly to not be afraid to play a forward pass! It was great to see us finally take throw-ins and free-kicks quickly, see LV release the ball quicker rather than wait for their 11 all to get back and set before pumping it long. I was nervous seeing Key and Tymon so high but again they were clearly instructed to get forward at pace and Tymon did this really well by dribbling long distances himself and getting crosses in (even if they didn't hit their mark).
I also noticed Burgess and Cabango taking more risks with passes through the middle channel into the feet of Vipotnik (who was invariably fouled in the process) or into Cullen (who then lost the ball on most occasions).
The first Derby goal was a sucker punch against the run of play (but everyone could see it coming with the gaps we were leaving) which really seemed to take the wind out of the Matos-ball sails. The energy really dropped and genuinely perhaps they were fatigued from the intensity (never really an issue with Sheehan when the play was so slow). The initial positivity was gone and heads clearly dropped.
Second half was stilted and you got the vibe no-one wanted to make a mistake so it went back to safe play again. Their second was what we needed but never seemed to get (until the 89th minute) - a defensive clearance that dropped straight to an unmarked attacker.
In terms of individual performances, the defensive unit as a whole was poor but not helped by LV who has been really bad the last couple of games - he still has significant credit in the bank, but his confidence is shot. How many crosses in the 6 yard box will he fail to deal with between now and the end of the season!!
JF did what JF does - nothing really wrong but nothing really right. LC was very ineffective but that is no surprise to us fans. EOM was very bright in those first 30 but again faded. Controversial opinion but I don't get the fuss over Inoussa - seems like a poorer version of Mo Barrow to me. Also don't get the criticism of Benson who has hardly had a look-in, is expected to conjure up some magic with his limited minutes (and to be fair he did tonight) and suffered in the same way Ronald did with slow passes into feet with the full-back breathing down his neck. Not once did he have the ball played into him facing the goal.
As stated by others, lots and lots to do to get us out of this mire. The good news is Matos was clearly not content with what he saw, whereas previous managers may well have praised the team for "giving it 100%"... |
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Reply | Swansea City : Behind the news on Kim Hellberg coming to Swansea
at 09:43 12 Nov 2025
I wonder if anyone in the hierarchy is thinking they wished instead of having to payout on Sheehan and his backroom team now, that they had used that money to secure Lewis O'Brien who was such a massive part of our positive performances end of last season... |
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Reply | Preston North End v Swansea City : Match day thread
at 10:17 6 Nov 2025
Apologies Union, "accused" was a strong word. I actually agree with you he did at times, but the reason was clear - when he had the ball deep on the left of midfield his main option was Burgess running forward calling fall the ball!
He clearly thought that was not the best way to build an attack...
We are lucky he is so good with his feet under pressure as he was desperately trying to run the show and so many times didn't have an option - Franco was a poor midfield partner again I thought. |
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Reply | Burgess
at 10:14 6 Nov 2025
Interesting. I know the "use-your-eyes" test is as relevant, but according to FotMob statistically he is our best player this season, followed by Cabango, Vigs then Galbreith.
He is an old-fashioned physical CB which works well in some situations and not so well in others. I quite like that he sometimes takes a more adventurous pass like he did last night - sometimes it doesn't pay off and he was inaccurate last night but I would rather players like him and Casey who try to probe through the middle sometimes, rather than the constant horse-shoe that Cabango and Key are experts at. |
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Reply | Idah , looks slow and clueless
at 09:56 6 Nov 2025
This seems a bit emotive. If you actually analyse his performance last night it wasn't that bad. His hold up play with feet was very good, his ability to win the ball in the air not so much - 33 touches and dispossessed only twice which is pretty impressive as a lone striker being pressed hard by a decent quality defence. He also did very well to get round his defender for that great chance that he annoyingly crossed low straight at the keeper with Widell completely free.
Definitely more involved and mobile than VIP, but without the killer instinct yet. |
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Reply | Preston North End v Swansea City : Match day thread
at 09:52 6 Nov 2025
A classis Swansea City of yore performance last night:
1. Only start playing like we can once we have gone behind
2. Dominate possession and momentum for the entire remaining match
3. Get sucker punched
4. Have zero cutting edge or decision making in the final third
That first goal, 99 times out of 100 it's going into row Z - it was a shame Casey didn't realise he had more time or just put his foot through it rather than the slightly tame headed clearance but I don't blame him too much.
Lots of positives for me. We actually played some nice football, plenty of triangles and running, Galbreith put in another Rolls Royce performance (I know another poster accused him of slowing things down at times), I like that Sheehan is persevering with the 5-4-1, Ronald and Samuels-Smith were very good off the bench and Eom obviously made a difference.
BUT, more evidence that Key (as likeable a guy as he is) must be replaced as soon as possible. He is such a poor mans Kyle Walker in that he can get away with stuff because of his pace and engine...but he doesn't actually get away with stuff now and his error count this season that have led to chances or goals must be creeping towards double figures.
I like Idah - he has a real burst of pace when he wants to and is strong on the ball, a very different type of player to VIP. Shame he had the same poor final pass decision making last night.
I stick with Roberto's mantra - with improved performances will eventually come good results. |
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Reply | Charlton Athletic v Swansea City : Match day thread
at 11:26 2 Nov 2025
It was actually refreshing to see him visibly annoyed we had not taken the 3 points in his post-match interview. I was fully expecting him to say he was happy with the point, tough place to come etc. |
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Reply | Eon
at 11:15 27 Oct 2025
He has one of the better levels of ball control in the squad and I like how his jinky-ness changes the angle of attack or defence, he is very agile.
But obviously has his down-sides like all in our squad (or they would be playing at a higher level). |
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Reply | Swansea City v Queens Park Rangers : Match day thread UPDATED
at 10:18 23 Oct 2025
The sending off was frustrating but seemingly not a huge turning point given a) we didn't concede again, and b) we seemed to match QPR for momentum in the second half, three times coming close to scoring in the last 5 minutes.
It was actually more alarming how turd we were in the 35 minutes leading up to the red. Franco and Malick miles up the pitch, Stamenic standing next to/jogging with two markers, meant Cabango and Burgess knocked it from side to side before launching it long and wide towards our two shortest and weakest players! Absolutely genius tactics!
Idah is not Ronaldo, he is not going to make something out of nothing, and he is suffering from the same issue that a procession of strikers at Swansea City have for a long time - zero service.[u/]
I thought he worked hard and had good hold up play last night. [Post edited 23 Oct 10:19]
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Reply | Stamenic- is he another Fulton?
at 10:30 6 Oct 2025
In my view on what I have seen in the last few games, Stamenic is the answer to a problem that didn't seem to be there.
He is clearly a good player on his day, but as a team we seemed to function much better when Galbreith was playing the quarterback role.
Stamenic should be playing the Pratley role in my opinion as he seems to have those qualities. |
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Reply | Blackburn Rovers v Swansea City : Match day thread
at 13:33 1 Oct 2025
I don't disagree to an extent but if you watch the match back, Stamenic got into a habit of drifting across the deep-middle WITH the opposing player instead of looking for pockets. So Cabango or Burgess would be trying to bring it out central but often had to then look out wide or go long as Stamenic wasn't often giving them the pass option.
Contrast with Galbreith who when playing the deep-lying role has looked, dare I say it, very Leon Britton-esque, dropping into pockets demanding the ball and being skillful enough to get away from pressing opposition players. Last night Galbreith was a little anonymous at times playing much higher up and to the left of the pitch in general than previous. |
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Reply | Blackburn Rovers v Swansea City : Match day thread
at 12:27 1 Oct 2025
A great scrappy win where for once we got a couple of decisions go our way. Great to see Idah with a positive contribution, will helpfully give the lad a platform of confidence.
My only concern is Sheehan seems unable to get a balanced midfield, instead seemingly squeezing players in - Galbreith is wasted in the 10 role and has been visibly worse by his standards over the last couple of games. This shift seems to be to fit Stamenic in the CDM/quarterback role which I thought he was poor at last night to be honest. He seemed to follow his marker around rather than drop in and make himself available to Burgess / Cabango who then had to go out wide every time (apart from the few times Galbreith dropped back - he IS good at this).
I prefer the trio of Galbreith, Yalcoue and Franco (albeit Stamenic is a good player). |
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Reply | Again the Swans concede in injury time : Referee has a card frenzy
at 09:51 22 Sep 2025
I agree with this, Galbreith by his standards had a poor game but not helped by being asked to play further forward to allow for Stamenic. He also seems to thrive off players like Yalcoue who is constantly on the move, Stamenic good as he is is more positionally rigid giving EG less option.
As you say, he was pushed out of the game by an in-your-face team. |
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Reply | Swansea City v Nottingham Forest : Match day thread
at 13:25 18 Sep 2025
Perhaps you are right, it just looked like he was being overrun and not timing his challenges well last night. Either way, what a great problem to have.
I keep watching the last 2 minutes highlights on full blast over and over - that 2nd Burgess goal will never get old!! |
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