Sunday 20 February 2011

Setting the record straight!

As I settled down with my beer and film last night, my phone buzzed to inform me of a new Twitter message. With horror I noticed a few more messages all asking me the same question: why I thought Swansea had performed so badly?

So, to instantly set the record straight, I didn't think they performed badly at all, in fact quite the opposite. I had Tweeted:

Great result for Swansea, 3-0! Goal for Luke Moore, glossed another poor performance, but hopefully this is a confidence booster!

I think I should have said: "Goal for Luke Moore, glossed another poor performance from him." It seemed to annoy a few people that I was being so negative about the Swans, when, in fact, I wasn't at all. I guess that's what I get for Tweeting while trying to edge my way through traffic on Neath Road!

With my name cleared, I can move onto yesterday's game, and I might as well start with Luke Moore. He isn't a bad player. I very much doubt Brendan Rodgers would spend that much money on a bad player. What he currently is, though, is a mediocre player. He scored his long-awaited first goal yesterday, which I am thrilled about, but it did gloss another average performance. It's his lack of effort that I find brings him down in my eyes. A couple of times in yesterday's game he could have been through on goal if he chased a slightly loose ball or looked up more to see what was going on around him. In other clubs maybe he was given shooting opportunities on a plate, but with Swansea it seems like goals need to be fought for! Hopefully the whole Luke Moore saga is put to bed now, as I hope he will get a couple more goals (as a striker should!) in the next few games due to a higher confidence level.

Elsewhere, as I've said, Swansea were pretty flawless. I noticed some amazing linking up from Dyer, Rangel and Dobbie, creating havoc on the right wing. If Dyer was running up the wing, Rangel was his option ahead, though he also had Dobbie running inside him. It was a perfect attacking triangle, and one which Doncaster didn't have a clue how to defend.

The re-inclusion of Neil Taylor added speed and support to Scott Sinclair on the left wing, giving another platform for goal-scoring opportunities to be made. Richards and, to a lesser extent, Alfei, made some great progress in the first team, but Taylor is the player who will suit Swansea's style more in the remainder of the season.

Tactically, I have to talk about the cross field passes from Williams and Tate. Dyer, who was rarely marked it appeared, could slip in behind the defence while Williams hammered a long ball up to him, cutting out any midfield play and creating an instant crossing opportunity from nothing! Tate also managed to successfully do the same to his opposite wing, Sinclair, where similar chances were created.

A mention for Man of the Match, Stephen Dobbie – a great performance by the creative midfielder, giving options to Dyer and Sinclair in the centre of the park and fighting for the win. He hasn't been played enough this season, so hopefully yesterday's performance shows the management that he is worth fitting in!

And finally, kudos to Mr Miller, who refereed the game well for a change. Used common sense to let the game flow. An example of this was when both Dyer and a Doncaster defender went down injured. Both physios came on to treat the players, but, instead of having the players leave the pitch to be later called back on, Miller let them both stay on. No yellow cards either, though that is also down to the players, from both clubs, playing some good, fair football. For a team that had zero shots on or off-target, Doncaster didn't get frustrated and start hacking away. I applaud them for that. And the drummer who kept it up all game.

It's all coming together now, isn't it Swansea! Another few games like that...

4 comments:

  1. Loving the post and blog. The picture in the background is amazing, got to be the best pic of the lib i've seen.

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  2. I firmly believe this will start the flood for Moore - I think he looks relaxed rather than lacking effort which is no bad thing and suggests to me he has a great confidence in himself, remember Jason Scotland regularly looked the most chilled guy in the whole stadium! Firmly agree with rest of blog though. COYJ!

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  3. Thanks for the comment, hopefully Moore will show a little more (no pun intended) hunger then, but I will be happy if this goal does open the floodgates.

    I think I stand in the middle of the fans, as some seem to really like him whereas some appear to hate everything about him. I think he shows potential, though hasn't yet lived up to the hype.

    Next time I talk about him on this blog it will be to applaud his first Swansea hat-trick (hopefully)!

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  4. It's amazing how people see so many players differently to others. Personally I don't believe you can criticise Moore for a "lack of effort" - as he does a lot of work off the ball - which often (obviously) goes unnoticed. What the guy does lack - as you've eluded too - is confidence and hopefully yesterday was the boost he needed. So here's hoping he hits the net Moore often :)

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