Swansea City have one point from six since their return from the international break. And with four games to go before the next one, head coach Luke Williams seems somewhat lost to explain why we have this situation.
To go four games without scoring a goal is more than concerning. Williams knows he has a real problem in not only scoring goals but converting the chances the Swans make during games. And then there is his persistence in a formation and players chosen week in week out without flexibility. Our opinion, it won’t be in every case. We have Sam Parker and Aimar Govea available now, both exciting wingers who have Championship experience. And yet they are out of favour in a side which is screaming out for talented attacking players.
There is also concern amongst Swansea City supporters that this isn’t working. Much the same as we saw with Russell Martin there seems to be a bloody mindedness to stick with the programme. That was Martin’s downfall on the pitch and Luke Williams seems to be made of the same stuff. You cannot fault a manager and his principles, well to an extent. We wanted to see what our posters thought of the current situation with Luke. The website is one hundred percent behind the head coach, but there are murmurings amongst the Swans support that will increase if this situation continues.
These votes, from the genuine opinions of a hundred Swans fans have been carefully monitored and the dirge removed to give what we think is an ever changing view on Luke. The desire to be successful under his coaching methods is what everyone wants to see, but there is a slow burning resistance to wanting to continue watching this style of football. The club should take note as well. The falling attendances at home are surely an indication as to the issue, and on reflection they go hand in hand with the current opinion. The more Luke continues with his strategy, and the more it fails as it is doing now, the lower the attendances will fall.
The Swans are now in fourteenth place in the league table. Not where they want to be. There are no positives from not conceding goals when you can’t score them and lose games by the odd goal. Plus, now we have a side which very much relies on defending slender leads (and not being that good at it) it spins us round to the fact Swansea City today are not that different to Russell Martin’s squad, you can argue all day long as to who has the better players, but the system is the same.
Domination wanting to lead to wins.
On Saturday Millwall become the third club to play the Swans since we made our to return from the international break. The fixtures to come, taking in to account the Swans current form are concerning. Especially now as it is eleven games this season with the Swans just four points above relegation and a top six which is slowly creeping away and disappearing over the sky line.
With Millwall at home being the only Saturday fixture until November 30th when the Swans take on Portsmouth there is little opportunity to redress the balance on a traditional match day. Watford at home is midweek and Oxford United (sold out for Swans fans) and Burnley away are as tricky as they can be in football terms.
Luke Williams wanted to take stock after ten games of the season. We are now on eleven, with just three wins, and we still hear the same responses. This after the game at Sheffield Wednesday, "There were opportunities for us, and I think that is the difference for us at the moment. If we can take some of those big chances then we will have a very different season on our hands, and that is the challenge for us as a group. We have shown we can handle the ball, and we can control games, and we are prepared to be tough and defend our goal. Now we need to be more ruthless in the opposition box.”
No goals in four games Luke.
Millwall being the next visitors are not having the best campaign either. They slipped ahead of the Swans in the table after their 1-0 win over Plymouth this week. However, they too find goals very hard to come by. Saturday brings one of those watershed fixtures, the platform Luke Williams wants but some are not in that much a positive mindset for it. That of course just based on the performances and lack of goals. If the Swans do go ahead they have to press on, and win the game. The slow retreat into a defensive mode has already seen games at home end in draws.
That’s the change that is needed, a quicker tempo with more aggression - then maybe Luke Williams desire to be ‘more ruthless’ will reveal a more positive feeling amongst the fans and indeed the players.