Swansea City fans were in the near five hundred calculated away support at Ewood Park this afternoon. As an adult paying for a match ticket and coach travel they will be closing in on a hundred pounds before refreshments. And we don’t even include a parent and junior ticket in these calculations. This is the commitment of the Jack Army, but was it matched on the field of play ?

The reward was a poor and unmotivated display from a Swansea side with absolutely no cutting edge whatsoever. Ollie Cooper started and had little impact on the game, as did Liam Cullen both fresh from playing for Wales during the international break. Ben Cabango, in the same boat worked admirably alongside Harry Darling who had two headed chances to score. Josh Key also a stand out player despite nobody willing enough to find space from his numerous crosses. Vigiuroux had his very good record in goal added to, but really overall he had little to be concerned about, that’s how poor this game was.

The misplaced passing was the main feature as well as the lack of real desire from this Swansea City side. That changed a bit over the last fifteen minutes when Joe Allen came on, but the lack of a precise pass or cross was so evident even local journalists commented on it.

The game started tentatively until the twelfth minute. The only real effort for the Swans came from a dipping and dangerous cross by Josh Key. On twelve minutes the Swans got away with a lovely low cross pass which everyone misses. The referee gave a corner, and from that move Dolan hammered a clearance into the Swans net. Assisted by Cantwell. That goal inspired the home side with the visitors looking extremely toothless and devoid of attacking ideas. Blackburn were spreading the play from wing to wing, pulling the Swans left and right with little chance to get forwards. The Rovers high press was working.

Hurried clearances, and on four occasions the ball was either given away by the Swans, or it went out of play. On seventeen minutes the Swans did get the ball into he Rovers box but it fizzled out. This was becoming the story of the first twenty minutes for Swansea. Miscontrol the feature, and a failure to deliver a ball of any note into their opponents area continued. On twenty two minutes the Swans had a free kick fairly central. From twenty five yards Harry Darling struck his shot but weakly. The keeper, Pears, gathered it without any issues.

The other concern when defending the Swans had was Franco had been booked early on and seemed slightly reluctant to challenge when side on to his opponent. This was exposing the Swans to more danger. It was a game the Swans most certainly were not able to get ahold of as we saw at Sheffield United. Then on twenty five minutes some lovely interplay by Ronald and Key led to the former Exeter City man working space in the box on the Swans right. Having done the hard work Key’s cross was easily blocked and cleared.

Key again found space in the box after a lovely through ball, again with time to spare he couldn’t pick out a Swansea player. However, the visitors were now pressing more despite the lack of finishing or awareness. What was noticeable was Key was now operating more centrally with Josh Tymon more on the right. Coupled with Bianchini and Ronald switching wings the Swans were clearly operating to a prescribed game plan.

Then a Swans corner on thirty three minutes. Tymon took it but it was far too deep and bounced out of okay. More opportunities to make a dent in the scoreline missed. At this point in the game the Swans had sixty five percent possession but little else to shout about. Bianchini was brought down on the left on thirty six minutes. Another Swans free kick. Five Swansea players in the Blackburn area. From that move it looked like Ronald was impeded in the area as he fell to his right making contact with the ball.

Nothing given.

Key again forced his way towards the Blackburn area but his footwork let him down but the Swans did get a corner. A dangerous clip into the box saw the referee oddly blowing up for a foul. It was just player contact from two committed players. At this point you got the feeling official David Webb was seeing the game from a home point of view. However, a second yellow card arrived, this time for Josh Key after hauling down an opponent. That was fair.

The home crowd seemed quiet and only willing to boo anything they perceived to be negative. A strange atmosphere. On forty four minutes another Swans corner on their left, taken by Tymon was defended for another go. As we sneaked into one minute of added time Tymon delivered again but the danger was cleared. The Swans willingness to pass the ball too much ended the half when Ronald could have at least weighed in a cross after a pass from Key. No urgency at all.

Half time, 1-0 to the home side.

The second half was pretty similar at the start, the Swans though now showing little urgency on the ball and Blackburn pretty happy to operate within themselves. The home side did have a couple of opportunities but they went pretty much the way this game was going, poorly taken. A Swans free kick in a dangerous position came from a foul on Matt Grimes, dangerous in as much it led to a golden chance for Franco. A good cross from Bianchini saw the ball headed across goal but Franco shot off target. Owen Beck now booked for the home side.

A journalist to my right, a local reporter mentioned the Swans were very frustrating and most certainly had the wherewithal to win this game. I agree, but the walking pace at times was driving all around me crazy. The half was really bad from both sides, and the Swans looked totally disinterested. Every pass forwards found nobody but a Blackburn player and the same could be said for the home side as well. On seventy two minutes we had gone from walking pace to walking football. A minute later Blackburn did have a shot on goal which Vigouroux saved easily.

On seventy seven minutes the Swans did work out an opportunity for Matt Grimes, a fierce low drive from a set piece rebounded out to safety. With Joe Allen and Vipotnik on the pitch the game did increase in tempo. However, in the main it was a story of loose passes and poor decisions from both sides all round. The passing was shocking for professional footballers. The final ten minutes were with us as Blackburn looked as bad as they had been all game. Ronald earned a corner on eighty three after Costello blocked his cross. Allen’s influence was telling. His first corner cleared, then he had a second. Every Swansea cross was defended easily.

Then another Swans corner on eighty five. Their sixth.

That again was defended, but Tymon crossed from the second phase which the home keeper tipped over the bar. The same story again as the corner from Allen was cleared. Ronald then picked up the ball and crossed for Darling who got his guided header on target but it was fairly routine for the keeper. This was surely too little too late. Then another Tymon cross, poorly delivered was scooped up by the home keeper. With a minute to go the Swans returned to their lapsidasacal passing.No urgency whatsoever.

With four minutes signalled of added time was there to be one more chance ?

With two minutes to go we saw a Josh key cross from the Swans right which came off the post. It wasn’t going to be the Swans day for sure. Vipotnik looked like he was pulled down in the area but in what was a pretty poor game of football the Swans got exactly what they deserved. That’s the first of the six fixtures down and no points. In fact that was the third game in a row the Swans haven’t scored. And all the international break has revealed is a defender and a winger on trial. And not even any news on that.

Shocking.

⚽️ Stats on the game with BeSoccer

⚽️ Please note that a shot on goal is only counted if the goalkeeper saves it.

⚽️ Swansea City: Lawrence Vigouroux 6 Josh Key 8 Ben Cabango 7 Harry Darling 7 Josh Tymon 6 Matt Grimes (captain) 5 Gonçalo Franco 6 (Joe Allen 72) 6 Ollie Cooper 5 (Žan Vipotnik 65); 5 Ronald 6 Liam Cullen 5 (Myles Peart-Harris 73) 5 Florian Bianchini 6 (Azeem Abdulai 53) 6

Unused Substitutes: Jon McLaughlin, Jay Fulton, Nathan Tjoe-A-On, Kyle Naughton, Nelson Abbey.

⚽️ Blackburn Rovers: Aynsley Pears, Dominic Hyam, Sondre Tronstad, Todd Cantwell (Lewis Baker 90), Makhtar Gueye (Yuki Ohashi 59), Tyrhys Dolan (Andreas Weimann 71), Joe Rankin-Costello, Hayden Carter, Ryan Hedges (Callum Brittain 71), Owen Beck, Lewis Travis (captain).

Unused Substitutes: Balazs Toth, Harry Pickering, Arnor Sigurdsson, Danny Batth, John Buckley.

Referee: David Webb

Attendance: 13,558 (469 away) Sourced.

Photographs JR & Anthony Dews ©️Swansea Independent 2020

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