A few thoughts on tactics employed tonight. I'd have chosen a back 4 too, but not J.Williams at left back, though he did as asked. I wonder if B.Williams might have carried out the role better. I'd have started with a different front 3 too, but they were selected with a plan in mind, so fair enough. When you coach kids tackling, you tell them to close the space as quickly as possible, then stand up and wait for the opponent to show you the opportunity to take the ball. I've never seen a pro team take this to such a degree as the Reds did tonight. Close the gaps, but don't challenge was clearly the instruction. It's disappointing that this translates to individual players who clearly followed that instruction being branded 'selfish' and 'lazy.' It also looked bloomin' bizarre at times as we stood off and watched Swansea ping the ball round as they pleased, which was exactly what they wanted to do. Our game plan today was to keep it tight, make it hard for Swansea to play through us, and hope we could get something on the break. Maybe increase the chances on the break with the subs of Morris and Iseka. To be fair, they didn't have a shot on target till the 70th minute (the first goal), and had only one after (the 2nd goal). The problem is that a) they were always coming and b) that's a damn sight more than we managed. It was an incredibly brave (or incredibly stupid) way to set up at team in your first game, especially at home. To an extent I admire the pragmatism, but the lengths to which we went to NOT be on the ball lends me towards the description of "stupid" rather than "brave." I can see why Poya went with this plan tonight, with only 2 days to prep and against a side that would dominate possession regardless. We only got one chance to break on them via Cole and then Woodrow, and obviously that wasn't enough. He willh ave also learned that we aren't disciplined enough to concentrate for 90 mins and prevent the kind of opportunities that led to 2 relatively simple Swansea goals. A better measure will come on Saturday. We need a win, so setting up to watch the opposition play won't do. Real scrutiny right from the start. Good luck Poya!
I'm not sure why the instruction was for Williams to leave 2 players unmarked and in acres of space. Only the incompetence of no.27 meant that crosses weren't whipped in.
I expected the team outlay to pack midfield to deny them more space but the 3 up top which worked well last season kind of did until they totally worked us out. The swans really didnt need to and didnt ....get out of 2nd gear. We looked organised 1st half but we just cant seem to string 3 passes together. I expect more consolidation in our playing style and more discipline from this coach in the coming weeks and its probably what warnock would have us doing. We still have players out there who are just not right for this team at the moment. We do need to keep organised but our confidence is shot ....do expect more performances like last night though...it aint going to be pretty.
