Our staff football writer Trystan Bending has reviewed this weekends home game against Sunderland. The highs and the lows in a game which produced five goals and more disappointment for the Swansea faithful. Trystan puts real context into this fixture.

Swansea had not lost to Sunderland in 5 of their last 6 meetings. Luke William’s side was unbeaten in their previous 4 Championship matches, but their good form unfortunately came to an end with a narrow defeat against Sunderland yesterday. The set up Swansea City set up in their conventional 4-2-3-1. Two changes from the midweek game. Futon replaced by Franco, Bianchini replaced by Vipotnik. Sunderland approached the game in a similar set up, a 4-2-3-1 with a sligtly more advanced midfield.

⚽️ The perfect start
Swansea, as usual, started the game well. The home support loud echoing around the ground, it clearly transpired onto the players who worked the ball well in the opening minutes. Ronald found an early rhythm to the game running at the Sunderland defence. This led to a free kick whipped in from Matt Grimes that fortunately came back to him. He delivered another cross into the box and found the head of Harry Darling, who leapt higher than Ballard. His header floated in the air, and Vipotnik, quicker than anybody else on the ground, met the ball with a simple finish to make it Swansea 1-0 in 5 minutes.

It wes clear that Sunderland felt comfortable playing out from the back. Mempham and Ballard the pinpoint to start of thr passage of play. Goncalo Franco read this in the 8th minute, winning back possession as he does so well. Cullen, in form, took a shot and met with a brilliant save from Patterson. In the first 10 minutes, Sunderland looked like a ghost of their usual selves, and Swansea looked as if they had the potential to score double digits. I do believe this was where Sunderland struggled initially. The high press from Swansea was present from the get-go, and it allowed Swansea to win the ball back high up the pitch.

⚽️ Swansea in possession.
Familiar with it now, Swansea, when working the ball up the field, looks to form a 3-3-3-1 shape. Grimes dropped to the centre with Darling and Cabango on either side, Franco in midfield with Key and Tymon the wide men, Ronald and Peart-Harris supporting Cullen whilst Vipotnik occupies the last man. This was working well. Grimes was brilliant in building the intensity; Peart Harris and Ronald, I thought, did well in providing options out wide and notably winning several free kicks early on.

⚽️ Out of possession.
Out of possession, the Swans look to return to a more compact shape as quickly as possible, more like the 4-2-3-1. The two wingers work incredibly hard to provide as much cover down the flanks as possible before transitioning into a 4-3-1-1. This looked to work well; however, there were early signs that Sunderland could quickly counterattack the more they worked into the game.

⚽️ Liam Cullen he’s one of our own. Goncalo Franco, who missed out on a start midweek and was clearly full of batteries, won the ball back once again from Bellingham high up the field. In a dangerous position, he was brought down and earned Swansea a free kick. In some dispute recently about Swansea doing better from set pieces, Liam Cullen took the responsibility to take ona free kick in a very promising position. Cool as you like, Cullen found the top corner, smashing it off the inside of the crossbar. Through every angle of the goal, it only gets better. This is a seventh goal for a man who is currently one of the league's most in form players.

Swansea’s press worked really well in the first half, forcing mistakes over and over again from the Sunderland side. Ronald and Peart-Harris did well on this front, both also making runs back into our own box and winning the ball bacl. As usual Goncalo Franco pivotal in this unit. His statistics imprsessive from the game again. He made 14 defensive actions, notably winning 13 duels as well. The question surrounding his name, is how long we manage to keep hold of his services and just how big an asset can he become. (Editor, this is why a watching brief can sometimes be incorrect when backed up by well analysed statistics such as this)

⚽️ Sunderland get one back
Swansea again poor to defend a set piece. Josh Key and Harry Darling failed to block out Ballard who found his way in between the two men and guided the ball into the bottom left and to the right of Vigouroux with a good header. A well worked set-piece, however it’s yet another goal that Swansea conceded from a set piece. In the first half Grimes and Franco did tremendously well in stopping Bellingham progressing, winning the battles against him and Dan Niel, proving their dominance in midfield and blocking out their threats. Swansea continued to make themselves a nuisance until the half time whistle was blown, Peart-Harris and Vipotnik both with half chances to extend the lead.

⚽️ Second Half
In the second half I do believe Regis Le Bris slighly changed the way Sunderland apporached the game. When in defence Sunderland defended their space very well, making it a hard job for Swansea to find the gaps and progress. This forced the Swans to play more backward passes with no route to goal. Their shape looked to be a 4-5-1 in defense. Mayenda, Rigg and Roberts quick to transition in to this shape.

⚽️ Sunderland’s 4-5-1 shape.
Jobe Bellingham a key factor in this because on the ball he was the one with the license to join the attacks almost as a false 9. The shape for Sunderland converted into a 3-3-4 at times. This caused Swansea problems when Sunderland recovered the ball and looked to counter. Josh Key and Josh Tymon on the ball we know, push very high. This is where so often we see it backfire, with the space easily exposed and a route for Sunderland to progress quickly. Below we seeJube Bellingham continuing to make runs without being marked down the middle.

Anybody who watched the game will understand how intense this fixture proved to be, a similar shape and a similar pressing game. This led to both sides covering vast amounts of the field. The GPS data for this game would certainly be impressive from both sides.

This is where Swansea started to noticably fall apart. The physical demands of Luke Willaim’s side are at times extreme. From the 60th minute the Swans started to give up poesssion to easily and started to chase the ball around the ptich, looking a completely different side to the first half. This led to the two chances that Sunderland capatalised on. Grimes the player to be dipossed led to a stunning Niel goal who beat Lawrence Vigouroux from far out. This made It 2-2 and the Swans looked completely on the backfoot. Sunderland was quick to pounce once again and created a chance that saw the change of shape from Le Bris work brillaintly. Bellingham made a run down the middle, almost crowding the penatly area with men arround him. The cross found Jube Bellingham who deservingly made it 3-2 to the away side.

The game ended 3-2 at full-time, a disappointing result given the Swans start. Despite this, credit must go to Sunderland who are probbaly the best side we have seen play at home this season. The difference in this game was that Sunderland managed to adjust in the second half, press high, and take advantage of a fatigued Swansea side that conceded possession many times in the second half. Williams looked fustrated in his post match press conference, quoting that Swansea were ‘pretending to play well’ in the first half. A man who was dissapointed and who feels that mentality is the differnce between where the Swans are and where the play off contenders are.

It is another game where Swansea have played well for a half of football and give up the good work in the second half. The statistics in comparison show that. In the first half Swansea with 60% posession, dropped by -10% into 50% in the second half. 4 shots on target compared to 0 in the second half. A -10 % in duels won too, all areas of the pitch with a signifcant decrease.

⚽️ The Problem
The problem for Luke Willaims is that to play football in his way, it requires every player to be fully fit and able to cover a large distance per game. This is where January should prove to be a big one given the new ownership. Williams needs the advantage of having a squad to rotate who can carry out the responsibilities each game. With such a thin squad, it makes life difficult for the manager.

Stats FotMob / BeSoccer Photographs Open Source & with permission Dimitris Legakis

jackpug added 08:52 - Dec 17 Excellent analysis - Thank you!
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