Yesterdays draw with Coventry City again signals the clear issue that Michael Diff has across the board with his Swansea City side, especially going forwards. As per last season the Swans are lacking pace and that was significant yesterday.
Despite that the defensive errors are a lot less, and yesterday we saw a more dominant Ben Cabango at times correcting his own mistakes but overall a far more disciplined performance. It seems that Duff wants to stick with Harry Darling, Ben Cabango and Nathan Wood as a three at the back, and to an extent it’s working. Then of course he has the outlets of Josh Key and Harrison Ashby in a form of wing back formation. That’s more of a question mark, overall.
Yesterday on at least six occasions the Swans forged some great opportunities to put in either Jerry Yates or Joel Piroe for goalscoring opportunities. Yes, six, and if the game is revisited I’m told there could be one more. The lack of quality by the Swans when in a position to make a big mark on the game was Michael Duff’s main frustration post match. And you can’t disagree that for all of Jay Fulton’s extremely genuine hard work he was the main offender.
There is a view that the Swans have played some of the better championship sides already this season, two points from nine isn’t good but if that is the case then easier games are ahead ? The issue there is that Cardiff City as an example are just below the Swans on one point having played Leeds and Leicester away. The reality is there isn’t any easy game this season and I think next weekends fixture away at Preston will be a wake up call for Duff if the warnings of West Bromwich Albion are allowed to resurface.
Personally I think Coventry are one of the better sides in the league, in fact at the end of this campaign I’m certain they will be one of the most consistent as well. That trait is missing as it stands in what is still being referred to as early days at Swansea City. There have been so many new faces and new things to get used to the new contract for Matt Grimes seemed lost in the ether of a slow burning turn against the new Swans regime. The squad is as good as Duff could hope for at the moment, his role to mould it into something great is going to take some time, we have said it before. The more demanding fan seems already in a state of disorientation either due to their desire for a more Russell Martin style or because their entitlement for immediacy is now a part of their every day lives.
Expectations v Reality.
Yesterdays game did provide some gratifying moments, Ashby who is finding the demands of his role in the championship tricky supplied a great cross for Jerry Yates to feed off. He is a natural goalscorer, two goals in three, both at home display a player who knows his craft. Ashby possibly didn’t expect such attention, conversely Josh Key has taken to his role superbly well, he can do that on either side of the pitch, that’s a real positive.
And lost on the social media tropes for sure.
The stats from yesterday display two sides evenly matched overall, despite opinions to the contrary, it’s just the missed opportunities to thread through decisive balls that mean the Swans didn’t win this game. It’s games like Preston away that will be the marker for opinion on Duff’s early support. The Swans have already displayed they are a side that isn’t in any way a relegation contender, as it stands that is, but the search for that first win continues.
It was a really tough game yesterday, more than many possibly realised pre match. The Swans have set up room for improvement, and it will come, possibly not as quickly as many would like, but it will come.