Swansea City lost this game, as many expected, however it wasn’t as easy as Boro fans predicted. The issue for Luke Williams was a clear failure to make incisive passes throughout the game, and as we saw last season a complete lack of calmness when making on field decisions. Some will find consolation from what they saw but the betting is the majority will now be concerned, not least because of the lack of ownership on the ball when goals could have been scored.

The Swans looked comfortable bight with Eom getting good height on a flick on in the third minute but when a shot looked on the ball went backwards. Boro on the other hand were confident and finding space in the Swans right flank. It was definitely a case of both sides feeling each other out. More pressure on seven minutes led to the first corner of the game, Grimes found the keeper. From there a lively long kick out found Boro’s Jones with Vigouroux running in to no man’s land fortunately the chip went wide. It was a poor effort. Referee Allison gave a few questionable free kicks to the home side. One against Cabango which was definitely not an infringement.

They say referees can’t change the games flow, from there the Swans gave away a corner. The delivery saw Vigouroux go into ‘calamity mode’ almost putting the ball in to his own net. More Allison whistling and another free kick. Josh Tymon was robbed on thirteen minutes but again the Boro couldn’t take advantage. Cabango was booked on fourteen minutes for seemingly dragging back his opponent. There seemed no mercy on the away side whatsoever.

Boro were looking by far the better side, jumping on errors and dominating, in fact the away sides sharpness and concentration just wasn’t there. Tymon the main offender early on. There was only one team in it as the Swans right side was breached continuously. That needed a drastic remedy. Yet another Swans error on nineteen minutes Boro having another chance but the defending of Darling saved the day. The Swans had a chance on twenty when Eom crossed and the ball seemed to clip the bar. It was begging for a big striker to latch on to.

Then on twenty three ministers a blatant penalty was awarded to the home side after a poor challenge by Abdulai. Latte Lath had no problems putting his side up. And the work and effort by the Swans to that point counted to nothing, with the right side of their defence wide open, Swansea were looking disorganised and poor. Questions have to be asked regards the constant fouling by the Swans, it was so unprofessional.

A free kick on twenty six minutes saw another Boro chance. van den Berg threw himself to the ground in what can only be described as blatant cheating. The Swans came more in to the game on twenty nine minutes, but it was slow passing and possession. With the way this game was progressing a look to the bench was most certainly happening. Two banks of Swans fans continued to cheer their team on but the rewards on the pitch were not evident. Sharp passing continued from Boro but their final ball was poor. However, their overall commitment made them the far more capable side. Another chance for Jones was beautifully blocked by Darling again. Swans fans were now living on their nerves.

An Eom and Key move on thirty four minutes saw the Swans reluctant to shoot again. Fulton who was having little impact on the game flicked on to nobody with the Swans looking fragmented. Playing players out of position again was clearly not the way forwards. The threat from Swansea seemed more prominent on their right side as Josh Key slowly got into the game. An Eom cross was too deep with Abdulai stretching to control the ball. As we entered the last ten minutes the central attacking role with Liam Cullen looked blunt. The away side continued their passing game, and credit to them for those long stretches of passing, but they unfortunately went nowhere. Engel was booked for Boro for a foul and the resulting free kick was just misjudged by Darling in a dangerous position. Franco introduced himself to the game with a crunching tackle with five minutes to go.

Aidan Morris gave the ball away on forty one minutes but a desperate challenge from Clarke saved the day for Boro. For some reason Allison chose to award the Boro a free kick with no infringement evident. Swansea’s effort was definitely better and Franco earned his side a free kick on the Swans left. Grimes took it, the delivery poor. Franco then had a card for an obvious foul in his own half. Again Boro failed to capitalise. Cabango clearing. The Swans were clearly looking to get in to the dressing room at just 1-0 down and with just a minute of additional time. Jones again caused issues in the Swans area but his shot was deflected wide for the last ‘action’ of the half. Frantic work had to be done by the Swansea defence to clear the ball. It was worrying, make no jokes about it.

Half time

Middlesbrough 1 Swansea City 0
Latte Lath (25)

As the teams came out for the second half Ronald came on for Azeem Abdulai, a sensible choice. But the real concern was in the striker department. Zan was still on the bench. Boro made no changes. From the start open spaces were noticeable in the Swans defence as Latte Lath found an opening but was offside. Poor Swans passing from Darling and Franco featured early in the second half. Ronald drove into the Boro box and earned a corner on forty seven minutes. It was taken by Tymon, it was deep but Darling found himself crowded out. More poor passing continued. Poor decision making grew into the game as well, Engel shot from distance after Eom was clearly fouled. Franco again went down after a challenge from Hackney. He looks quite theatrical at times. It held the game up, nothing more. Josh Key failed to take advantage of a gift of a ball but as has happened all game the away sides players were pretty clueless when forced into quick decisions.

The Swans were showing no real urgency with slow passing again, looking generally for Ronald, but the final ball to him was extremely poor. A term for the whole game for sure. On fifty four Ayling crossed low and dangerously but the Swans managed to clear. Referee Allison was ignoring some of the harsher challenges on Key and Tymon. The Swans support over to the far corner of the ground, and very impressive it was were getting very agitated at referee Alison’s game management.

Then a Boro move led to a corner after a scramble. The corner was good and Latte Lath missed a sitter of a header. A quick Swans passing move saw Cullen out muscled, he really wasn’t significant in the game at all. The Swans pressed, and again a gift of a ball saw Eom fail to collect the ball. As the sixty minute mark arrived Williams was deep in conversation with assistant manager Ryan Harley, and something really needed to be done.

The story of this game for Swansea was a failure to take up chances given to them and a persistent failure to pass the ball. When they did Eom was found in a dangerous position on sixty one minutes, which led to another Swans corner. The header again came from Darling but dropped out of play. Then Kyle Naughton came on for Key with Zan Vipotnik at last coming on as well. It needed a change of formation as he joined Cullen as an extra forward. For all that. Vigouroux, who looks like he will cost the Swans a few goals this season nearly had the ball taken off him by Latte Lath.

The last twenty five minutes were upon us.

It seemed the Swans game plan was to remain utilising Ronald out left, but again and again the passing was ridiculous for professional footballers. And being caught offside when it was entirely unnecessary. Swansea were trying to make space in a hugely packed midfield, thatwasn’t working, and the complete lack of Swansea being able to find their players a continuing factor as the minutes clicked by. On sixty nine minutes that was confirmed. A decent cross in saw Cullen failed to take advantage.

Franco earned himself a free kick right in the edge of the Boro box on seventy one minutes.

Eom took it and the ball was so close to the goal. The game picked up. Boro were rattled but time was cracking on. Then Cabango found himself turned inside out by Latte Lath and Vigouroux made a fine save. From the corner another Boro chance hit Latte Lath and bounced out for a goal kick. Then Tymon who was having a bit of a mare of a game gave the ball away again and a deflected shot went out for a corner. All the Swans could do was defend their territory and continued to make poor passing judgements with shocking ball control.

Franco then was replaced by Oli Cooper.

On seventy seven minutes Tymon again gave the ball away and this led to another Boro chance but the ball floated wide. The Swans pushed on with Cooper involved in a set piece, the Swans failing to make an opportunity from possession in the opponents half. The Swans were now in desperation mode. Unfortunately with Tymon far and away from his usual game, and the Swans looking toothless and well off the pace the script was already known by the many Jacks at the game. On eighty two minutes Darling earned a free kick in a dangerous position. It bounced out for a deflected corner. The corner bounced out for another go. The result was a negative once more. However, at last the Swans, with four minutes to go were having the better of the play. Ronald was offside once again when there was no need to be so, frustration again.

Everything the Swans tried was fraught with errors, nothing was that free flowing, and positional and passing errors were so frustrating. Tymon earned another corner on the left which he also took. The ball fell to Jones who burst forwards causing more minutes to be wasted. The away sides complacency when passing with a minute to go, with slow movement was also wasting precious time. A last ditch effort saw Eom close to scoring, but the Boro keeper pulled off a great save.

That was a really decent chance.

A break away by Boro saw a superb stop and clearance off the line by Cabango and the Swans looked for one more chance. Desperate times saw another Swans corner with a minute to go. Eom who was injured went off for Josh Thomas, and the tension continued. Grimes corner was defended for another corner. Ronald played daft football after that. Completely out of control. The clock had stopped on the additional time and really Swansea were the victims of their own poor game. The whistle went and Boro had won their opening game of the season for the first time in ten years. New boy Zan Vipotnik made little impact on the game, but he only saw twenty minutes action.

Let’s hope more recruits are found in the next couple of weeks or so, as this game ended pretty much as expected with Swansea City losing. And that doesn’t feel right at all.

⚽️ Middlesbrough: Seny Dieng, Rav van den Berg, Matt Clarke, Hayden Hackney, Riley McGree (Jonny Howson 90), Emmanuel Latte Lath (Josh Coburn 86), Isaiah Jones, Luke Ayling (captain), Aidan Morris Finn Azaz (Delano Burgzorg 81), Lukas Engel.

Unused Substitutes: Tom Glover, Dan Barlaser, Alex Gilbert, Anfernee Dijksteel, Micah Hamilton, George McCormick.

⚽️ Swansea City: Lawrence Vigouroux; 6 Josh Key 5 (Kyle Naughton 63), 6 Harry Darling, 6 Ben Cabango, 6 Josh Tymon; 4 Matt Grimes (captain) 6 Jay Fulton 4 (Žan Vipotnik 63), 4 Gonçalo Franco 6 (Ollie Cooper 77); 5 Azeem Abdulai (Ronald 46), 5 Liam Cullen, 4 Jisung Eom 7 (Josh Thomas 91).

Unused Substitutes: Nathan Broome, Kristian Pedersen, Nathan Tjoe-A-On, Dan Watts.

Referee: Sam Allison 3/10 : Incompetent at times and his assessor should tell him.

Artwork by Swansea Independent: Stats WhoScored

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