Jack Butty is floundering in the flower beds and kicking his Big Mac in to touch. His ship is in dry dock and if the Burnley boy had a menu it would be on the larger side. Butty’s review as we conclude matters this season’s end is incisive. This is something far better than extra fries and buffalo sauce.
REASONS TO BE CHEERFUL
A mixed 2022-23 season for the Swans. We started with some optimism, had a good September and early October, and some good results before Christmas, after that the thrashing of Watford 4-0 a highlight, to revive play-off hopes. However, coming into the Christmas period there was a high level of expectation that the January transfer window would see some incoming players to offset the loss of Michael Obafemi, and hopefully add the quality to push for a play-off place. As we now know there was no incoming. It was a debacle, especially after all the build-up of expectations, and that had a detrimental effect.
Martin has talked about how it affected him adversely and he shouldered the blame for the performance downturn that followed. The owners held a lengthy interview with the Trust to explain the debacle the best they could and reassure fans that steps would be taken to avoid a repetition of this. There was widespread anger at what had happened with the mood during the winter months being very low and matched by poor performances/results. By March performances were improving with good performances against Luton, Middlesborough, and Millwall and the tide turned with a win at Bristol, followed by the double doube against Cardiff.
The magnificent run that followed saw the Swans unbeaten in nine games and topping the performance table during that period. We finished the season with 66 points in joint ninth position with everyone left to rue what might have been if the squad had been added to in January and points hadn’t been thrown away earlier. Of course, every side will give away daft goals and points but we showed just how exceptionally well we could do it. Playing out from the back can be a very effective style of playing to break through a press and find space to build an attack. However, we initially struggled with which players would fit best in this system. It was not helped by opposition teams knowing our style would often press aggressively and at speed, the latest being West Brom on Monday. Mistakes would frequently occur when kicking long would be a safer option. (An interesting stat would be how many goals were conceded as a result of playing out from the back.)
Most agree the team has lacked pace and width since Hannes Wolf and Cyrus Christie ended their loans last season. Martin was aware of this and may have hoped to address this in the January window and has said that this is an area he is looking to strengthen during the summer. Fans have understandably criticised the tendency to pass the ball sideways. Although this is often necessary for ball retention, too much can become tedious to watch. This area has improved greatly in the second part of the season with players like Olivier Ntcham, Olly Cooper, and Luke Cundle ( above ) coming for the ball and then using their energy to drive forward.
Another positive this season has been goals coming from all over the pitch (thirteen different players got onto the scoresheet). There has been added aggression and battling spirit, which is important for a very tough physical league. Joe Allen ( below ) has epitomised this and it is to be hoped that he enjoys better fitness next season to be more involved. In addition, there have been many times, this season we’ve gone behind but made a comeback — we’ve won 19 points from losing positions, the third-highest in the league.
Perhaps most importantly the players 100% buy into our style, which has evolved over the last two seasons. This shows that Martin has been able to change the line-ups and tweaked the ‘process’. Examples of this are many with Ntcham playing slightly wider and making such a strong end to the season, Liam Walsh playing as an extremely effective advanced midfielder, Cundle and Cooper providing energy to support strikers, and Nathan Wood and Ben Cabango making the centre-back positions their own.
The time is now for the players to rest but clearly a crucial time with a new chairman and club investment to quickly address contracts for Martin and his team, some key player contracts, and then to manage the hurly-burly of outgoings and incomings. With a strong end to the season fans have reasons to be cheerful for next season.