Swansea City played their first game in front of spectators this pre season at Home Park, Plymouth last night. As expected the swans dominated a lot of possession, but as we saw last season that possession didn’t turn in to the goals we all want to see.

Russell Martin didn’t sound too disappointed with yesterday evenings overall performance and highlighted his side are getting more aware of what is required of them on the pitch in what he described as a flexible formation. After an excellent start and a superb strike from Joel Piroe the swans found attacking opportunities hard to come by. The form of the Plymouth keeper xxxx kept his side in the game and for the first time in front of fans we saw Harry Darling, Nathan Wood and Matty Sorinola. Darling it has to be said looked assured and extremely competent on the ball reaffirming Russell Martin’s eye for a player. With Flynn Downes moved on for an incredible profit by the swans it’s hard to argue that Martin hasn’t returned the financial investment in him to come to the club five fold.

As we pointed out before the game yesterday Morgan Whittaker would be missing from the squad as he pursues other avenues to play football next season. Also Ryan Bennett now completely out of the picture at Swansea was also missing. Speculation now will also surround Jordan Garrick, another exclusion.

Martin was positive overall. “On the whole it is a really good exercise for us, we played a good team, one who like to get the ball down and play themselves.We were playing in front of fans again which always adds a lot to the game and it was great to see our supporters again who made the long journey down here. I really liked how we started, the start of the game was fantastic. We had so much control and got the goal. We then got a bit sloppy, but did well to regain control of the game over the first half and I liked a lot of it. We have tweaked things a little and been more flexible with our formation and it’s good to see the boys adjusting well to that”

The start was fantastic, agreed, but it’s that intensity the swans have to maintain in games this season if they are to worry the top six in the championship. The controlled passing was there but at times it lacked determination limiting the swans to a few chances.

Martin added. “I felt we played some really good stuff, it got a bit disjointed towards the end with the number of changes and a number of young lads playing in front of fans in the first team for the first time. On the whole it is a really good exercise for us, we played a good team, one who like to get the ball down and play themselves”

The opposition were more than happy with their performance and of course the result, As the game wore on Argyle played their way into it, and deserved the draw given to them by Ryan Hardie’s late equaliser. Defender Dan Scarr thought his side deserved to take something from the game. “It was good to test ourselves against good Championship players,” said Scarr. They’ve got good rotation, a lot of players who know what they are doing. They are probably better than what we are going to come up against this season. To do well against that, and limit them to not many chances, I thought we did well. These are the games you look forward to in pre-season, because you want to see how you shape up against a team like that that is going to keep the ball, predominantly. We have a lot of the ball in the league, so it is good to come up against teams where you are not going to have so much of the ball, and it’s all about your shape, being disciplined and resolute. They had a couple of long-range shots. They have quality players and we limited them to those sorts of chances. The shape was good. Everyone talked and dug in.”

Plymouth manager Steven Schumacher was also happy reflecting on his sides work, but his assessment of the Piroe goal showed some signs of limited thought. “I thought the defensive shape was good,” he said. “Everyone was organised. It wasn’t perfect, and we probably could have got a bit more pressure on the ball from midfield. There’s plenty of stuff to work on, but overall I’m pleased they didn’t have that many shots on goal, everything was from long distance. The goal was from a mistake; a poor clearance from us. That happens; it’s the rustiness of pre-season. It was a tough test, as we knew it was going to be. They are one of the best teams in the Championship in possession of the ball and they showed it at times tonight. I felt that we were organised, we looked okay and then when we did force them into errors, we didn’t make the most of the opportunities.”

Swansea City will need to up their performance levels for the next two games, one against Bristol Rovers behind closed doors then away at Charlton Athletic before the serious business begins away at Rotherham in around two weeks time.

Swansea City: Andy Fisher; Nathan Wood (Joel Cotterill 75), Harry Darling (Brandon Cooper 75), Kyle Naughton (Ryan Manning 61); Joel Latibeaudiere (Kyle Joseph 68), Jay Fulton (Dan Williams 75), Matt Grimes (captain) (Ollie Cooper 75), Matty Sorinola (Nathanael Ogbeta 61); Joel Piroe (Cameron Congreve 75), Olivier Ntcham (Jamie Paterson 61), Michael Obafemi (Liam Cullen 61).

Artwork Swansea Independent : Photographs licensed from Reuters

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