Whatever hope Swansea City fans had today was quickly dashed as another low energy and clumsy performance greeted us today at the Swansea.com.
By recent standards the turn out today was pretty good all things considered. A good atmosphere greeted the players albeit the start was delayed to fix a hole in Swans Keeper, Lawrence Vigouroux’s net. We could only hope that wasn’t the story of the game. With Jay Fulton given the responsibility in the middle of the park we also saw a new captain on the pitch in Ben Cabango. Referee Sam Allison always unnerves some Swans fans, a whistle happy chappy who after five minutes had already dominated play with persistent stop starts.
What was noticeable immediately was the Swans were looking for a longer ball to Bianchini or Ronald. It was Bianchini who pushed on after eight minutes assisted by Josh Tymon who put a lovely cross in but no Swans player was anywhere near to make a difference. Then the game got hotter as the tackles flew in, first Fulton a lovely hard challenge and more was to follow. Were we seeing a Jay Fulton now with chains off more ?
The Sky Blues pressed as well, and this was quite an intriguing game to watch. Delcroix was booked for shirt pulling which resulted in a yellow card and that really was unnecessary. Poor work from the on loan Burnley player. Offsides for the Swans followed, one a flick on from Liam Cullen who was adjudged offside when he clearly wasn’t.
Then just as the Swans were looking a little bit more healthier at the back Asante exposed the defence, crossed low for Simms to firmly put his side one nil up. It showed again that the lack of consistency at the back is always there. It was still poor, Coventry continued to press and looked by far the more dangerous side as we approached the twenty minute mark. Now they were dominating play as ex Swan, Jake Bidwell fluffed a chance in front of goal. The Swans responded with a corner on twenty one minutes which was taken by Tymon. From that corner the referee missed a clear shirt pulling on Cyrus Christie by Bidwell as the ball frustratingly was collected low by the Sky Blues keeper. No challenge, no player near him, it was poor.
Another corner on twenty five minutes was given to the Swans after another dangerous cross was defended well by the visitors. From that corner the Swans did have the ball in the net but Cabango was adjudged to have hand balled. Surprisingly Coventry had the most of the possession as the half hour came and went. Coventry had already had two dangerous free kicks. Torp taking one from the Swans left which Thomas got to whilst the Swans defence watched as his header went over the bar. The Swans rearguard stationary and allowing him to break free ahead of any home player.
A spell of pressure again from the visitors saw a cross from Simms on thirty six minutes met by Kitching but his shot was in need of a refurb. Vigouroux saved extremely well with his feet. Then it was the Swans turn, a cross was just missed by Bianchini and Liam Cullen had a shot blocked. Then a lovely cross from Tymon was met wonderfully by Ronald but his fierce header was saved by Dovin. Then again we saw indecision and errors as Franco (below) completely miscontrolled the ball, Asante curled in an effort which caught Vigouroux off his line and all of a sudden the visitors were two up.
The issues in this half were the same as we have seen this season, the ball being given away by Fulton, Franco, Cullen and several others breaking down play leading to Coventry attacks. The amount of offsides by Swansea also displayed players who were unaware of their positioning as was exposed when Cullen missed a sitter right at the break. Then Swansea looked as ruderless as ever. Unsure and totally oblivious to any danger around them.
The half time team talk by Williams had to be inspiring.
At the start of the second period the Swans fell into ‘usual mode’ Christie passing the ball to Ronald who was offside. From there Coventry pressed and somehow Asante missed an opportunity literally three years out. Vigouroux gathered. Key then earned the Swans a corner on fifty minutes, Tymon again the taker. The cross was defended and Franco shot high over the bar into a very sparsely occupied South Stand. The home side were trying to build but it was slow and ponderous, and a continuation of this would certainly not see Swansea get back into the game.
The Swans were battling but it was frantic with little service into the Coventry area. When it did happen the ball went unchallenged and too easy for the Sky Blues to defend. Franco again gave the ball away which was the highlight of the game so far by much of the team today. On fifty seven minutes we saw Zán Vipotnik and Ollie Cooper readying themselves to come on. Surprisingly Cooper wasn’t to be seen for another ten days, so we could only keep our fingers crossed. Josh Key went off for Cooper and Bianchini was replaced by Vipotnik.
The ground didn’t seem enthralled.
Swans head coach, Luke Williams was pacing his touchline, he looked anxious and frustrated. Vigouroux again made a superb save from Rudoni, the danger not cleared saw another effort on the six yard line again wonderfully saved. The corner came to nothing but the Swans were having to take desperate measures to stop another embarrassing defeat by a number of goals. The whole half displayed a side that isn’t in any sort of condition to challenge in the Championship and a squad that hasn’t won a game this year. Despite all the frantic effort there was no plan and nothing coming from the bench to inspire.
This Swansea side is in a form of relegation scrap, there’s no doubt about that. Most clubs need forty eight to forty three points to feel safe in this league. The Swans are on thirty four with absolutely no confidence whatsoever. Luke Williams has those words echoing in his ears from Chairman, Andrew Coleman, ‘three vital games’ well that’s the third. This year the Swans have conceded twenty goals in seven league and cup games. They have scored just three goals. Tonight’s league table tells its own story.
This simply cannot be allowed to continue, the squad are directionless and very much out of their depth tactically and strategically. Anyone wanting to come to this club this transfer window has to be desperate because there is nothing here that inspires or creates confidence. The Swansea board have to take immediate action and despite the extra work ahead to get in a fresh face it really has to be done.
⚽️ Swansea City: Lawrence Vigouroux 7;Cyrus Christie 6 Ben Cabango (captain) 6 Hannes Delcroix 6 Josh Key 5 (Ollie Cooper 59) 6 Jay Fulton 5 (Myles Peart-Harris 77) 5 Gonçalo Franco 5 Josh Tymon 6 Liam Cullen 5 (Jisung Eom 77) 4 Ronald 6 Florian Bianchini 5 (Žan Vipotnik 59) 4
Unused Substitutes: Jon McLaughlin, Josh Ginnelly, Nathan Tjoe-A-On, Kyle Naughton, Sam Parker.
⚽️ Coventry City: Oliver Dovin, Bobby Thomas, Jack Rudoni (Tatsuhiro Sakamoto 79), Jamie Allen (captain), Ellis Simms (Norman Bassette 89), Liam Kitching, Jake Bidwell, Joel Latibeaudiere, Brandon Thomas-Asante (Josh Eccles 84), Milan van Ewijk, Victor Torp (Raphael 89).
Unused Substitutes: Brad Collins, Luis Binks, Jay Dasilva, Ryan Howley, Callum Perry.
Referee: Sam Allison: played the game ok, not the usual disaster. 6/10.
Attendance: 15,189
1,400 est away.