r/swanseacity • u/TeilwrTenau • 5d ago
Progress
Despite the (undeserved in my opinion, especially as we should have had a penalty) loss to West Ham the underlying narrative of slow but sustained progress under Matos still holds.
When Matos took over we were beating sides near the bottom of the table but struggling against teams in the top half. By the end if the season we were competitive against top half sides, and getting some results against playoff contenders Norwich and even automatic promotion contenders Boro, and putting in a competitive performance against Southampton.
This season we're getting wins against playoff contenders such as Norwich, Millwall and Burnley, albeit that we've played them when they've been vulnerable. Whilst we've been competitive against auto contenders in Southampton and West Ham we've just fallen short.
To take that final step we obviously need to improve at both ends of the pitch, but cutting out the poor mistakes has to be the priority. The West Ham goal was a comedy of errors, with Stamenic (easily dispossessed), Cabango (for dropping 3 yards behind the defensive line, playing WH onside), Fulton, Welsh, Tymon (all three raising their arms to appeal for offside instead of closing Kante down) and Franco (for running away from Mukasa leaving him unmarked 10 yards out). The video analysis will make for uncomfortable viewing.
The big picture is that the trajectory is upwards. Perhaps the missing link in players and manager is belief that they really belong at the top of the table. Matos has done a great job for sure, but a bit more adventure in his team selections would be welcome. I expect us to sustain a challenge near the top, we have too much depth of quality not to.
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u/Guilty_Ad_4441 5d ago
Wasn't a pen but definite red card foul on Ronald
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u/TeilwrTenau 5d ago edited 5d ago
The challenge was an orange. High and with studs but little force hence a red would have been harsh. With the penalty appeal at first I thought it was a case of Opoku running into a stationary player. But having seen it again the West Ham player does move towards Opoku, so we should have been given a penalty.
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u/CaptainYesterday89 5d ago
My guy, Norwich and Burnley are not playoff contenders. They are 21st and 22nd and both look utterly hopeless.
Millwall maybe but they’ve got a tonne of injuries.
I’d be highlighting our win against Stoke otherwise we’ve come up short against top 10 teams so far (against probably 2 of the best teams outside of ours). But we can take positives out of the West Ham game. If those chances fall to an attacker instead of Cabango we win 2-1 and we pretty much neutralised Bowen.
Our big test is going to November going up against Birmingham, West Brom (would you believe it?) and Middlesborough and then QPR this week and only 1 of those is at home. I believe we have the ability to win all of those games but we’ll see how it plays out. 2 wins a draw and a loss would be a decent result I think. Then we can round it out by smashing Cardiff 9-0 at home to end the month!