We welcome back Trystan Bending to the Indy. For this season he will bring his unique insight and writing initiative to the website.Covering all manner of Swansea City topics, Trystan has already displayed his ability for football writing on social media. Hence our
Swansea took home a well earned three points on the road yesterday, extending their long success over the Sky Blues to eighteen undefeated matches since 1981.
Coventry, a side who have been very successful over the last few seasons, benefitting greatly from former Swansea player Viktor Gykores, who struggled to find form in a loan move to South Wales, registering just one goal in a short spell at the club. Gykores found his riches with Coventry becoming a prolific goalscorer under Mark Robins, scoring forty-one goals over two seasons. An offer from Sporting Lisbon saw the talisman move abroad in a bid to establish himself in Portugal. Coventry received a large sum of money and have certainly reinvested in the squad addressing the weaknesses and developing a very competitive side. Mark Robins is very highly respected manager within the EFL, players and club fully onboard with his style and philosophy. The narrative surrounding Coventry is that they have become a top tier side in the League, and everyone is fully aware of how hard it is to travel to the CBS Arena and pick up three points.
Luke Williams admitted the Swansea camp were in a good space following a narrow win over Norwich last Saturday. The Swans had a week to prepare for Coventry, perhaps having a slight advantage over the home side who came up short in their midweek EFL Cup fixture against Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur, losing 2-1. It’s fair to say Swansea looked fresh and well conditioned right from the start to the finish yesterday, Coventry looked slightly fatigued.
Swansea started the game off quickly establishing a dominance over Coventry in possession. As we know, Luke Williams demands high standards from each player and in particular his fullbacks. This is where Swansea found the real success over Coventry. The inverted wing backs (Key and Tymon) allowed the Swans to progress and dominate a large radius on the pitch. While this does leave Swansea exposed playing so high, I thought it worked wonderfully on the day. As we can see from figure 1, the positioning recorder from the first half shows how attacking we set out. Swansea found the back of the net in the opening 10 minutes following a free kick that fell kindly into the path of Liam Cullen, who continues his good form against the hosts.
Swansea’s average positioning in the first half Diagram below.
With Swansea playing an attractive brand of football, Oli Cooper found the net on 32’ minutes, with a well worked solo run, finishing in the near left corner. Craig Bellamy handed Oli a first international cap for Wales last week and a run of consecutive games for Swansea looks to have massively boosted his morale. Players like Oli Cooper and Liam Cullen are irreplaceable for any club, there is no price on a homegrown player continuing to play for the club they love and in today's case win us the game.
The two goals initially scored by the visitors created a sense of urgency for Coventry to find a way back into this game and go into the break with something to take from a bad first half in their case. They did proceed to find the net on 34’ mins through a long-distance strike from Jack Rudoni which later revealed a deflection against Ronald, going down as an own goal.
The Swans lead at the break with a slight unease but definitely a positive half to reflect on. Coventry came back out with a real fire to find a way into the game. Looking at this momentum graphic it’s clear to see that Mark Robins had given the Sky Blues a wake-up call in the dressing room.
Coventry will be wondering how they did not find the back of the net in the second half, quickly becoming sick of the sight of Lawrence Vigouroux who seemed to be in the way of everything they had to offer. Mason Clarke looked a real live wire when he entered the field and gave Swansea an extra problem to think about, with direct running and an eye for goal. With Swansea under the Koch came an unexpected thunderstorm, which fell at the perfect time for Swansea. A chance for Williams to talk to each player and catch a breather to calm down, it worked in Swansea’s favour. Robins has said post to the game he felt his side lost their momentum after the short break. However, with an abundance of attacking threats, some very good chances fell for Coventry who in reflection, were wasteful with their efforts. Coventry led the expected goals of (xg 1.41) compared to Swansea’s at (xg 0.70). Coventry taking on 20 shots, only for 7 of those to hit the target. The Swans made 11 chances, Cullen and Cooper took full advantages of their chances.
Williams made his changes and questions were quickly raised by the fans online, wondering why summer signings Vipitonik and Bianchini were not brought on to the pitch to make an impact. It’s a good job Luke Williams made the changes because the subs who came on only added to the sheer grit and determination to come away with three points. The Swans deservingly ended the game in a 2-1 victory over the hosts making it two wins on the bounce and more importantly a win away from home.
Statistical player analysis Diagram below.
Luke Williams and his analysis staff had clearly done their research, it was evident that those involved had studied the best time and the right triggers to press the Coventry midfield to retain the ball. The data will certainly impress Luke Williams with a total of 42 ball recoveries from start to finish for Swansea. New signing Gonçalo Franco made 8 of those recoveries. It was clear that Swansea needed to recruit a player with quality to partner Grimes in the summer, make no mistake Gonçalo Franco has made a perfect impression so far. A deeper look into his overall game saw him make 4/5 tackles won, 3 interceptions and 5/6 ground duels won.
I’m never one to look too much into possession, but I thought the 56% possession dominance and positivity on the ball worked very well in our favour, facing a fatigued Coventry side, who fell short in midfield. Grimes again silently going about his businesses, dropping deep to dictate the speed of play and progressing the side up the field, making 54 from 56 passes and a 100%-win dual rate.
The two centre backs are progressing very well together, forming an unstoppable brick wall at the back. Not only did they protect Lawrence Vigouroux very well, they both claimed an assists. Ben Cabango made two enduring consecutive tackles in the first half, really emphasising the mindset the players are in right now. Another big performance from the two centre halves who must be wondering what more they have to do to earn a new contract here with Swansea. Vigouroux earned himself Man of the Match for his superb display. He made 7 saves in the game and noticeably looked comfortable in delivering some brilliant long balls to the wide positions.
Swansea will be very impressed taking away three points, but I personally feel there are a few more positives to take away than just the points. It’s clear Luke William’s hard work in the summer is rubbing off on every player in the dressing room. We are starting to see the likes of Eom and Ronald make recovery runs down the flank and help out defensively. I noted today at 10 minutes, Eom’s work rate to come back after a counterattack for Coventry following a corner, incredibly impressive. It’s the little things that are slowly engraining real sense of belief within this new, young squad, fighting for a manager they love. Onwards and upwards from here.