Swansea City v Everton, PL, Match Report

Nobody said it was easy.............

Very recently, Guillem Balague, one of my and many people's favourite Sky Sports pundit, spent some time with our estimable Manager Michael Laudrup, in South Wales.

The interview confirmed, for us Jacks, that ML is both aware of our Club's history, and it's need to develop without selling out its past. Don'cha just love it ??

Given that, and our encouraging start, despite last week's set back at Villa Park, the bulk of us Jacks were looking forward to an intriguing meeting with one of the Division's stronger sides - namely- Everton FC.

I guess they were feeling much the same, given their concrete start, and a 2-2 draw at Home to Newcastle that they could, and should, have won, only to be denied by some bad officiating on pitch.

On another sunlit early Autumn day, the sold out Liberty rocked. Our visitors had done their part, and the remaining Home Tickets had proved to be as hard to get as ever.

Reports throughout the week had suggested that several Swansea City players were struggling, so it was no surprise to see the teams announced.

Everton replaced the injured Jelavic with Anichebe, and Heitinga stood in for Distin. Coleman slotted in at RB for Hibbert.

As for City, without Chico, Tate again filled in, and in MF the flu stricken Britton was consigned to the bench, so Ki stepped in, and Hernandez wide sent Dyer to the bench. The teams looked like this.......

Swansea City
01 Vorm, 05 Tate (Britton - 55' ), 06 Williams Booked, 22 Rangel Booked, 33 Davies, 09 Michu Booked, 11 Pablo (Dyer - 46' Dismissed after an earlier booking ), 15 Routledge, 20 De Guzman, 24 Ki Sung-Yeung Booked, 10 Graham (Shechter - 71' )

Substitutes
25 Tremmel, 16 Monk, 21 Tiendalli, 07 Britton, 12 Dyer, 17 Shechter, 19 Moore

Everton
24 Howard, 03 Baines, 05 Heitinga, 06 Jagielka, 18 Neville, 23 Coleman, 21 Osman Booked, 22 Pienaar (Gueye - 85' ), 25 Fellaini (Oviedo - 85' ), 11 Mirallas (Naismith - 71' ), 28 Anichebe

Substitutes
01 Mucha, 15 Distin, 34 Duffy, 08 Oviedo, 14 Naismith, 19 Gueye, 27 Vellios

Ref: Taylor
Att: 20,464
We Swans had been fearful prior to the kick off given that Everton were one of the few sides to truly out class and outplay us last year, both at Goodison and even here at the Liberty. After last week's mugging at Lambert's Villa, this week, cruelly, turned out to be another salutary lesson.

From the very first minute, the Toffees were first to the ball, pressing us high and fast (again), and our languid tempo saw our goal come under threat time and again, with Anichebe, Mirallas and Pienaar all drawing good saves from Vorm, and we lived on our nerves with an inability to get out of our own half even.

Even this early it appeared that Hernandez on the right was not offering defensive support to Rangel, and Baines and Pienaar were pouring forward at every opportunity.

On the right, Mirallas, Coleman and Osman were doing similar, and Ben Davies did well to cope with the overload.

However, up and through the middle,it was worse - our CB's were getting bullied.

Anichebe speared, and was making muscular runs, but the outstanding threat was who we'd guessed - the dominant Marouane Fellaini was not only bashing the struggling Tate and Williams, but bringing all of Everton's myriad threats into the game by making the ball stick and then laying it off cleverly. We were truly knocking and rocking, and I lost count of the times a last gasp desperate block just kept them out.

Truly, the first time at the Lib in the last 5 or 6 years where I thought we might concede 1 and more from the very start, and the fact that we got to the 21st minute before a breach was down to luck as much as judgement.

At that time, however, our luck ran out.

David Moyes is both practical and clever. This 20m assault had contained not just a hard fast press and balls fed into the box on foot, but an aerial bombardment that lent muscular threat to their possession. Alan Tate, loyal servant, conceded a free kick near to the half way line just from trying to get in front of Fellaini, but I have to say he was not helped by any MF interjection getting in font of the jumper.

From the resulting FK, we didn't learn again, and from a ball driven into the area from L to R, Ash Williams again tried to get in front of the Belgian behemoth, only to see him chest it down, and from a brave second follow up, move it on to Anichebe, six yards from goal, who volleyed it left footed into the net for the opening goal. Despite a suspicion of hand ball from Fellaini in his onward movement of the ball, the goal stood. 1-0, and it had been coming.

It felt like a boxer must feel after being pummelled for the first 5 of 15 rounds, wow, a way behind and things would have to change.

To be fair to City they did, although the next period of the game was as crazy as the first, as Swansea threw even more men forward in trying to get into the game when it might have been more profitable to have sat back and consolidated.

What it led to of course was not only Swansea almost getting back in the game from frenetic attack, but looking, if possible, even more vulnerable to any Everton counter atack- and there were lots of those.

The killer blow came on 43m , just before half time, when from a Swansea attack repelled down in the RB corner, Coleman, Neville and Fellaini played out with skill, leaving the big MidFielder free to play Pienaar free on the right past a despairing and exposed Ben Davies.

South Africa's captain, who has enjoyed a stellar return to the club of his choice, played a blessed ball across the desperate back 4 in retreat, and the fast marauding Kevin Mirallas, who had stayed ahead of a tardy Rangel, met it with a first time clip from 12yds out and central.

The resilient Michel Vorm almost got Swansea out of jail, his classic part parry sending the ball to ricochet onto the crossbar and down, but before the scrambling Vorm could recover, the eager Mirallas dived forward to head home.

2-0, and it was a dagger blow to the heart, but no less deserved for that.

Swansea's pride was stung, and in this fantastic PL encounter, despite a shot ratio of some 17-7 in the first half to the visitors (which should tell you who was on top), the home side contrived to carve two great chances that could have sent them in equal at the break.

From the first of the two decent Swansea moves, de Guzman's ball set Rangel free inside Baines, in almost a carbon copy of his goal against West Ham. This time though, instead of Jaaskelainen's pushing the shot in, Tim Howard produced the first of a series of top class saves and pushed the chance wide.

Just a minute later, Routledge out on the left produced a super ball that cleared everyone and saw Rangel, again, breaking forward, completely mis-time his connection when it looked easier to score. The ball dribbled harmlessly wide, and despite taking a pounding, on another day the 2-0 half time scoreline for the visitors could have been a bizarre 2-2.

Let's have a brief consideration of what had gone on in this half.

Swansea had been bossed and out-thought from a vibrant Everton all the way, but had summoned enough sufficient gumption to almost claw their way (surprisingly) back into the game. The second half promised as much, and didn't fail to deliver, although Scoucers will be happier than us West Walians. Still, sh*t happens.

ML had obviously seen some deficiencies in our performance, and Nathan Dyer replaced the shell shocked Pablo Hernandez at HT (hey - this is the PL, give him some time please), and on 55m he took a gamble further, replacing Alan Tate with Leon Britton, Ki Seung Yung slotting in at CB.

Whilst Everton continued to pour forward, further great Swansea chances came and went, Tim Howard producing another two world class saves from Ki and Michu, either of which efforts would have beaten most GK's.

The game clinching incident came in the 57th minute. Nathan Dyer, just 2m previously, had earned his first yellow card, when, after a foul, he was called by the Ref to come hither for a bollocking. Whilst Dyer, with his hands outstretched, continued to back away, the Ref insisted more. Dyer resisted, and Mr Taylor lost patience, producing a yellow card which most will argue was needless.You can't always get what you want.
It goes without saying that when, 2m later, a clumsy Dyer challenge (possibly pumped?) brought down Baines, out came a second yellow and off went Dyer.

My heart sank, as I realised without doubt this was a day to just take our medicine, hopefully learn, and move on.

Most modern Clubs nowadays practise 10 v 11 on a regular basis, but we forget that when they do so it's usually against their fellow club pros and youth team graduates. Against a top class side like Everton, it's a little different.

They were content from now on to keep the ball, rotate it it regularly to stretch the Swans, and close out the game all the time seeking to add a third. There were several near misses, from both Anichebe and Fellaini, but when a Baines FK from the left left Williams one on one with Fellaini, the big Belgian nodded home a deserved third. Ouch, 3-0, and we really couldn't complain.

Now I'm not one to whinge against circumstance, but I do want to make a comment on the Referee. With a foul count of 16-2 at HT, and 23-7 at FT, either Swansea were significantly dirtier than we've ever been, or the officiating was a little one eyed. I suspect most Evertonians would believe he leaned somewhat their way, for whatever reason.

Who knows, perhaps he just had a bad day - I certainly believe so.

Nonetheless, let's not detract from a fantastic side who reflected their good form so far- they certainly deserved to win comfortably on the day. If I'm allowed to quote the foul stats, then it's only fair I offer the shots stats........18 to 30 and 11 to 19 (total and on target) which reinforces that they had the better of the game.

So, two days later, what do we make of the game?

Well, the first thing is to admit we were outplayed on the day. No shame in that, since we've been outplayed previously, but have equally shown that we've learned from a chastening experience. If you doubt this, compare last year's dismal 3-0 loss at QPR, and our somewhat more successful sojourn there this year.

Secondly, we were playing Everton- as I've said previously - this is a serious, serial, PL member of the better order. Again, we must learn, hopeully.

Finally, to all of the keyboard warriors who are predicting doom and gloom from this one result - here's a message - DO ONE.

I'm a Swansea City fan, and like the majority of fellow Jacks, I'm hurting from an embarrassing loss. Do any of you fools who are denigrating us think our team feels any different.

Tomorrow starts at Crawley.

Keep the faith..........

Onward, Swansea City.

Swansea City v Everton, PL, Match Preview

Time to "Man up" ?

Last season, Everton were one of the few teams to do the League double against us, and in neither game could we realistically complain.

After a 1-0 defeat at Goodison Park, where, apart from Leon Britton, the shortest man on the pitch scored a bullet header from a corner (it was Leon Osman), in the return at the Liberty we were mugged by David Moyes' evolving and committed team - they always start slowly, and then get better as the year goes on.

Well, at least they used to! This year, they've started strongly, and this weekend's fixture promises to set us one of our harder tests.

The reasons for their better start are not hard to discern - this year, for once, Moyes got his incomings and outgoings done early, to good effect, and this most competent of PL Managers was able to drill and train his squad such that they were ready for the off from the get-go.

Their most recent fixture, a fizz bang cracker of a game last Monday against Newcastle Utd in a classic advertisement for Sky Monday Night Football saw most commentators concur that in a 2-2 outcome they were slightly unfortunate, having had two justifiable "goals" ruled out by poor officiating decisions.

For that game, they went with this line up...............

24 Howard, 02 Hibbert, 03 Baines, 06 Jagielka, 15 Distin, 18 Neville Booked, 21 Osman, 22 Pienaar Booked, 25 Fellaini Booked, 07 Jelavic (Anichebe - 44' ), 11 Mirallas (Naismith - 83' )
Substitutes
01 Mucha, 05 Heitinga, 23 Coleman, 34 Duffy, 14 Naismith, 19 Gueye, 28 Anichebe

They lined up in a distinctive 4-1-3-1-1 with Howard in goal, Hibbert, Jagielka, Distin and Baines across the back, Phil Neville holding, allowing a 3 of Mirallas, Osman and Pienaar to support the rampaging Marouane Fellaini, just behind Nikica Jelavic. It worked,once again, too.

Those players were chosen from this full squad.........

1 Jan Mucha GK, 2 Tony Hibbert Def, 3 Leighton Baines Def, 4 Darron Gibson MF, 5 John Heitinga Def, 6 Phil Jagielka Def, 7 Nikica Jelavic Fwd, 8 Bryan Oviedo MF, 11 Kevin Mirallas Fwd, 14 Steven Naismith Fwd, 15 Sylvain Distin Def, 18 Phil Neville Def, 19 Magaye Gueye Fwd, 20 Ross Barkley MF, 21 Leon Osman MF, 22 Steven Pienaar MF, 23 Seamus Coleman Def, 24 Tim Howard GK, 25 Marouane Fellaini MF, 27 Apostolos Vellios Fwd, 28 Victor Anichebe Fwd, 30 Francisco Junior MF, 34Shane Duffy Def, 42 Luke Garbutt Def, 43 Conor McAlenny Fwd

Let's look initially at the most recently chosen first team.

The American keeper Tim Howard is nowadays a PL veteran, and must be rated as one of the PL's best. Gone are the days of his Man U period doubts, and he continues to make excellent stops when times are tight.  Covered by Jan Mucha.

Hibbert, at RB, Jags and Distin at CB are all solid defenders. All have PL experience in spades and all are classy and reliable footballers.

Baines, at LB, is all of these things and then some. Many Swans will remember his last year FK goal, a thing of beauty to all but us Swans. This marauding LB is on the cusp of overtaking Ashley Cole as the best LB in England, and his combination with South Africa's captain at left MF (Pienaar) is one of the things this side relies on to give them attacking momentum.

Pienaar, for his part as well, is no lightweight. Back at Everton from a rocky sojourn at Tottenham, he has proved that his talent and class endures, and he always influences games.

The rock solid Phil Neville, the Club Captain, has of late played as the holding MF'er, but has the flexibility to fill in at either FB. A top class, classy professional footballer, he is Everton's Gary Monk/Alan Tate in spades. Never, ever, lets his side down. Btw, if you don't follow him on Twitter, @fizzer18 is always a good read. One of the few modern footballers who are real.

Leon Osman, just like our Leon, is influential. Always underrated, but trusted by Moyes, he has a habit of changing passages of play with key goals.

On the right last week was one of the Merseysiders' new acquisitions, Kevin Mirallas, who came from Olympiakos as a Belgian International ( and we all know how good they are). Able to play as an out and out forward or in midfield, centrally or wide, he was a fine addition.

The front 2 last week are special.

This is the PL, and Marouane Fellaini is thus far the one of the most impressive players in the League. We remember him well. Apart from bullying Ash Williams and Neil Taylor before squaring a ball that Jelavic tapped in, he's this season embarrassed Man Utd and other luminaries. We will do well to keep him in check. He of the Shock-Peter hair and 6ft plus stature is a handful in every game.

Last week, up front, they started Nikica Jelavic, signed last year from Glasgow Rangers, and the best stat I'm aware of about him is this - in his first games for Everton, from his first 12 touches of the ball, 9 were goals. Wow. First touch and in. Impressive. Reports suggest that he may be injured and thus we may get to miss him, and his replacement is likely to be the in-form Victor Anichebe, the young Nigerian who has started the season well, too, although both Fellaini and Mirallas can lead lead the line on occasion.

The thing to remember about Everton is this. This is a physically imposing, energetic and intimidating, tactically astute, serial Premier League member. This is a side that has been in the PL since its inception - and comfortably, too, apart from one wobbly season. Coupled with that, they are managed by the impressive David Moyes, and as I've said before, he's a PL Manager you really wouldn't want to start a fight with. He strikes me as if he'd win, and his players and team reflect this.

So, you can bet your life we're in for a hard, hard game.

There is, nowadays, a greater depth within their squad.

Jan Mucha is the reserve GK, and cover at the back is provided by Dutch World Cup finalist CB John Heitinga, last year's Club player of the year, but currently kept out by the evergreen Sylvain Distin and current England CB "Jags".

Again on the bench against the Toon were Seamus Coleman, RoI International and ostensibly a RB but who often plays as a Maicon style Wing Back or MF'er.

Shane Duffy is the County Derry born CB who emerged from the Club's fabled Academy along with the class of Ross Barkley (currently out on loan) and Jack Rodwell, sold to Man City for £15m plus. Forward cover came from Steven Naismith, the Scottish Int'l striker picked up cutely from Rangers on a free, and Magaye Gueye, the French born youngster who represented Senegal at the Olympic games.

Mf'er Darron Gibson, ex Man Utd, is out with a thigh injury, so we're unlikely to see him.

Squad depth runs from Forwards Conor McAlenny, a Liverpool born further Academy grad, Apstostolos Vellios, a Greek U 21 Int'l central Striker. Mf'ers Fransisco Junior, a young box to box runner born in Guinea-Bissau, Bryan Oviedo, a Costa Rican Int'l left sider with 13 caps both give middle of the park cover. Another young Defender, Luke Garbutt, became an Everton scholar from Leeds Utd, and is progressing well.

David Moyes, as you know, is one of the PL's best and most experienced Managers, and in assembling his squad for this season, has shown his ability to attract decent talent to the Club by all the various routes, both Internal and External, and coupled with that the Toffees have started the season in good form.

We know to our cost how effective they were against us last year.

As for our own form, we will want to put behind us the disappointing showing at Villa Park last week, and return to more profitable ways, although from a personal point of view I feel there were instances in that previous fixture that had things gone our way - I'm thinking of the Guzan double save and Danny G and Luke M's misses- things just might have been different. Ah well, " If my Granny etc......".

ML may well, I feel, make some slight changes.

Against a physical side like Everton, Ki's prowess, both on and off the ball, and even Kemy Agustien for similar reasons, may be considered. The options at the back are limited, and I don't see any change there.

Lastly, Pablo's encouraging cameo in the last 15m may see him give a spell to either of the wide men.

Whatever line up ML chooses, this will be a difficult encounter, but in this Division, when was it any different?

And that's what makes this journey all the more rewarding. I, along with all my fellow Jacks  will be there to give my unstinting support; because that's what we fans do.

Enjoy the game.

Onward, Swansea City.

Aston Villa v Swansea City, Match report, PL

A Grey Away Day.

A visit to Villa Park is anything but grey - as one of the PL's more pleasing grounds, it's a riot of Technicholor mixed in with Villa's claret and blue, and the aesthetic harmony of old and new at this traditional PL home is perhaps a lesson for all who would go their way as a long term and serious Club.

Add to that a brilliantly sunny early Autumn day and after our encouraging start what could possibly go wrong??

As it happens, on the playing front, quite a lot -  it turned out to be a slap in the face and a reminder of "know your place" etiquette for any of us Jacks who were getting ahead of ourselves, and, as ML hinted in his post Match interview, that may turn out to be no bad thing.

Given our superlative performance in our last year's PL Season - our first, don't forget - I suspect we've all been privy to the premature crowing of a minority of our Fanbase (Newbies, perhaps?) in thinking that we'd just roll over teams who, like Villa, have suffered relatively lean times in comparison to their illustrious past.

Hey, Quelle surprise  - this is Football in  the Premier league and it just doesn't happen that way.

Both I and my three fellow JackArmy travellers had arrived in good time and had space to take in a pleasant lunch and light refreshment in close proximity to the ground, and our front row seats in the Lower Doug Ellis stand meant we had a first class view of an enthralling PL matchup.

As for the teams, they lined up as follows...........

Aston Villa
22 Guzan, 04 Vlaar, 06 Clark Booked, 30 Lichaj Booked, 34 Lowton Booked, 07 Ireland (Westwood - 70' ), 08 El Ahmadi, 25 Bannan, 09 Bent, 14 Holman (N'Zogbia - 79' ), 26 Weimann (Benteke - 71' )
Substitutes
01 Given, 29 Bennett, 10 N'Zogbia, 15 Westwood, 11 Agbonlahor, 20 Benteke, 21 Bowery

Swansea City
01 Vorm, 05 Tate, 06 Williams, 22 Rangel, 33 Davies, 07 Britton (Shechter - 79' ), 09 Michu Booked, 12 Dyer, 15 Routledge (Pablo - 57' ), 20 De Guzman, 10 Graham (Moore - 71' )
Substitutes
25 Tremmel, 11 Pablo, 24 Ki Sung-Yeung, 26 Agustien, 29 Richards, 17 Shechter, 19 Moore

Ref: Mason
Att: 34,005
The Jack selecion from ML showed just one change, with the long serving Alan Tate stepping in for the suspended Chico Flores, and both Ki and Pablo (the Club's record signings) started on the bench.

Lambert's Villains reflected the change within the Club, with several members graduating from their deservedly acclaimed Youth Academy, supplemented by key and influential senior acquisitions - in sharp contrast to the previous defensive and negative McLeish regime they had last season.

Paul Lambert has always proved against us that his tactical acumen often sets us a puzzle, and so it proved.

It's widely known within football nowadays that ML has set us up in in a structure that's a variation on our previous 4-3-3 Manque with wingers hugging the touchline. Nowadays, we're more like a 4-2-3-1 with both Routledge and Dyer as the wide men in the three playing a lot narrower, and Michu as the middle of that three both supporting and changing with  Danny Graham.

Villa's response was to compete in both formation and commitment, and their constant harrying and closing meant that it took Swansea a lot more effort to get into the rhythm and tempo of their normal game.

The first 15m saw Swansea press forward neatly and tidily, but the swarming nature of Villa's MF contribution made it hard to make an impression. Coupled with that, Villa too were prepared to break and threaten, and both Wegmann and Holman were influential, and Lowton at RB was prepared to maraud as Rangel does for us, with extra pace.

For all the perceived pressure, Swansea created two great early chances, both of which were to confirm the wisdom of starting Brad Guzan ahead of the benched and senior Shay Given.

From a corner won on the right, Jonathan de Guzman sent in a cross that was headed bullet hard goal ward by Ash Williams , only to be denied by a fabulous parry that sent the ball out to the left wing, where Wayne Routledge picked it up. He cut in and rolled it square to Nathan Dyer, who sent a terrific curling shot to the top left corner, only for Guzan again to palm it over at full length. Saves, sometimes, win games. These two certainly had an influence.

The scale of the interventions became evident soon afterward.

After this early period of fairly even football, with a leaning toward Swansea dominance even, the next phase of the game became different.

Villa began to swarm at Swansea, pressing hard and fast, designedly structured to stop City playing out from the back, and it worked. Moreover, when in possession, Lowton was playing the Maicon role as a marauding wing back, and his runs forward, both inside and out, began to cause problems for Swansea.

On 16m, Ben Davies was forced into conceding a corner on the right, and from Barry Bannan's driven cross, Ash Williams headed clear outside the box, only to see the confident Lowton not only chest the ball for control, but then to follow up with a left foot volley that skimmed Alan Tate's hair but then swerved two ways on its way to defeating the despairing dive of Michel Vorm who had gone to the right hand post only to see the viciously hit volley scream into the middle of the goal.

1-0 to the Villa, and it was a blow to the solar plexus as the home fans came alive after a nervous start.

The goal came, as I've said, in the 16th minute, and presaged the applause in the 19th minute (in honour of his number) to support the stricken but recovering Villa skipper Stiliyan Petrov, generously and classily supported by the large JackArmy. Respect, all round.

The rest of the half remained a cut and thrust encounter, with both sides showing promise - Vorm saved well from both Wegmann and Ciaran Clark, but the end to end nature of the game cost Swansea dear just before half time.

A super move on the right allowed Rangel to play Dyer free, and from his fine cut back across the box, Danny Graham, just 6yds out and clear, was unable to get a touch on the ball and the gaping chance ran free and safe.

I suspect the psychological damage of the miss went on to hurt the side, since just two minutes later they went off for the half time break with Villa still 1-0 up, instead of being level at 1-1.

Did this cost us? I think so, but find myself unable to castigate DG, who had continued to run his heart out for the cause throughout the half. Sometimes, often even, football is a cruel game.

In the second period, City did their darndest to get back on the front foot, but Villa, with the crowd's backing, were generally coming out on top. We've seen the same at our place, where we begin to grind the opposition down just from relentless pressure, and now Villa were doing it to us.

Don't be misled though, - despite being on the ropes, the Swans were content to soak up the pressure and seek to break for an equaliser. Hey - this is the Premier League, not some vague awayday at Cheltenham (no disrespect), so it was a source of pride to at least stay in the game.

Villa's pressure led to a series of corners, the last of which saw Leon Britton heroically clear off the line from a Weimann strike to maintain the status quo.

Pablo Hernandez came on for his Swansea debut for Wayne Routledge to be followed by Luke Moore for Danny Graham on 70m.

Almost immediately for Villa, Lambert countered by introducing Westwood for Stephen Ireland and Benteke for Weimann, coincidentally switching their formation to a 4-4-2, with Bent and Benteke foraging at the front.

Whilst Pablo gave a promising cameo of his ultimate worth to the Swansea team, consistently and pleasingly both dribbling and feeding his classy control of the ball, and almost creating a breakthrough, Villa by obdurate defence were able to resist.

The best City chances fell to a Luke Moore header from a great move and cross from Rangel - unfortunately not up to his Man City standard goal from last year and comfortably taken by Guzan, - and a Ben Davies drive and shot which Moore, again, was unable to touch in. Both, unsurprisingly, were celebrated by the Villa fans, coming, as they did from an ex Villa player. Ah well.

As I've hinted, the dual threat of Bent and Benteke ultimately put the game to bed.

On 89m, Guzan sent a hit and hope ball forward. Bizzarely, in a vague echo of the Sunderland game, the ball skimmed off Ben Davies' head and Darren Bent outjumped the solid Alan Tate to send it forward again.

Ash Williams, some 25yds out, made to head it back to Vorm and safety, but miscalculated, and his diffident touch allowed Benteke to get to the ball before Vorm, flick it up and over the keeper, and run it into the net.

2-0, a horrible mistake, but these things do happen - even to a player as good as Williams. ML was decent in his approbation, and I feel that it would be unfair to criticise a player who has almost NEVER missed a game and will know only too well what went on. If it's hurtful for us fans, just think how both he and the team feel. Ouch and bloody ouch.

Schechter's late replacement of Britton had given us nothing, and we fell to our first defeat of the season, 2-0.

So, in retrospect, what do we take from the game?

Well, the first point to be made is this, - by all means read Internet blogs and the like, and weed out the fatuous and foolish. I've read lots that have been both critical and all but defamatory in their criticism of City as if the team didn't bloody care.

There's only one response to that sort of analysis - ignore it and move on - it's probably posted by some sad sack of 15 or 50, seeking in his (it's always a him) bedroom loneliness some sort of response. DANGER - " TROLLS FISHING HERE ". Move on.

ML provided a dignified and sensible response, and both Managers interviews are again  here........               

My generalisations are these.........

1) City didn't perform to the level that they had in the previous 3 games. This may seem simplistic, and may well have been influenced by Lambert's cute setting up of his side - after all, he has won 5 of his last 6 games against us.

2) Our squad has talent in breadth but is somewhat lightweight on depth. Witness the trouble we're in at CB, where, with Flores suspended and Bartley and Monk injured, we're down to exhausted Ash Williams and the stalwart Alan Tate.

3) We have cover wide and MF - Ki, Agustien, Pablo..............but, but, when Danny G goes off (for whatever reason), Luke Moore and Schechter don't seem to cut the mustard. I am NOT knocking our players, Moore particularly who has played his part in getting us to where we are, but I feel in January it might be something that we ought to look at.

Anyway, enough of the negative perceptions and emotions.

Let's be realistic. Even after the defeat I was proud and pleased to come away from Villa Park as a Swansea City supporter. I shall be at our next home game against Everton, both hoping and believing that we can get back on track. We really are good enough to do that.

I'll also be travelling to Stoke away, where, hopefully, this year we can show the rest of the division that it's more pleasing to play football in the Swansea City way. (Btw- no more viruses Michel V, please.........).

See you later in the week for an Everton preview and........

Onward, Swansea City.

Swansea City v Sunderland, PL, Match Report

Strength through Adversity.

Laudrup learns lessons in rip roaring Sunderland skirmish.

In our short PL tenure, I've learned quickly that there are games, and then there are games. This was one such Game. Packed into it's eventual 100 minutes, it had almost everything the modern Premier League has come to mean - goals, thrills, excitement, hurtful and disappointing injury, elation, controversy, quality......... I could go on and on, but if you've been lucky enough to have seen it you'll know exactly what I mean. Wish you were here.

The fixture had promised much pre match, with Swansea buoyant on their two game winning start, and Sunderland boosted by their signing two quality upgrades in Steven Fletcher and Adam Johnson .

Before the kick off as well, City paraded their deadline day new Club record signing, the impossibly cool looking Pablo Hernandez from Valencia, who exuded the confidence of a man recently stepped off a private Spanish beach (somewhere around Marbella, eh?) as he took in the applause of another upbeat record City crowd in his saunter to the centre circle and back. Born slippy. 

Whilst Pablo H was not in the Matchday squad, ML went with the team unchanged, but the bench contained both Ki Sung Yeung, the extravagantly talented S Korean, and Itay Scheckter, the Israeli International. Sunderland meanwhile stayed with both Gardener and Colback at FB, and a full strength team from all those available.

This is how they lined up...........

Swansea City
01 Vorm, 03 Taylor (Davies - 20' ), 04 Chico Dismissed, 06 Williams Booked, 22 Rangel, 07 Britton, 09 Michu (Ki Sung-Yeung - 78' ), 12 Dyer, 15 Routledge (Tate - 73' ), 20 De Guzman, 10 Graham
Substitutes
25 Tremmel, 05 Tate, 33 Davies, 24 Ki Sung-Yeung, 26 Agustien, 17 Shechter, 19 Moore

Sunderland
22 Mignolet, 16 O'Shea, 24 Cuellar, 06 Cattermole (Meyler - 38' ), 07 Larsson, 08 Gardner Booked, 14 Colback, 21 Johnson, 23 McClean, 28 Sessegnon (Campbell - 84' ), 26 Fletcher (Saha - 67' )
Substitutes
20 Westwood, 12 Kilgallon, 19 Bramble, 18 Meyler, 09 Campbell, 17 Ji Dong-Won, 25 Saha

Ref: East
Att: 20,350

The Referee was Mr Roger East, a Premier League debutant, and, given the eventual rumbustious nature of the ensuing  game, more of that later.

Both teams started strongly, with City bringing their usual flair, and a strong Sunderland side matching their competitive endeavour. Early, Seb Larsson sent in a free kick, which reminded how dangerous both he and it could be - it would come back to haunt us later.

Swansea's best early chance, over and above a couple of corners, came from a Dyer chip/cum shot, which saw the confident Mignolet clasp it comfortably high having read its flight.

On 15m came the incident that saw Neil Taylor suffer an awful injury.

From a ball worked to the right toward the overlapping Craig Gardener, Taylor put in a challenge that was slightly late and was undoubtedly a foul. He was really unlucky in that whilst making the challenge he fell backwards, exacerbated by Gardener's momentum forcing him hard down toward the turf. His left ankle, studs having taken a grip, was bent backwards horribly, and one could see from his beating of the ground in pain and his and other players signals toward the bench that it was a bad one. The game stopped immediately, and the bad news was confirmed by the Swansea Physio's crossed armed signal to the bench to indicate a break.

All this happened just 15yds in front of where I sit, and the almost 7m delay passed uncomfortably for everyone as the Medics strapped on the inflatable stabilisers to his stricken leg, and he was eventually taken off to hospital under oxygen administered stabilisation.

The first point to be made is that despite understandable Home fury from some, Gardiner was in no way to blame - it had been unfortunate that his weight going forward drove Taylor into the turf, but it was no more than happenstance.

I want to make two more points about this incident.

Whilst Taylor was receiving attention, John O'Shea, Sunderland's CB did himself no favours in getting involved in a demeaning slanging match with some Home supporters in the Lower West. Neither party did themselves proud.

Secondly, the bulk of the Sunderland support joined in with the sympathetic applause as Taylor was carried off, but a shameful few visitors saw fit to boo. Shameful, as I say, but every club has its attendant fools, ourselves included.

ML and the OS later confirmed that Neil had suffered a triple break plus dislocation and will be out for the season - it goes without saying that ALL football fans will wish him well in his recovery, and this terrific player deserves nothing other than our complete support and encouragement. Huge respect.

Young Ben Davies came on to replace Taylor after the necessary delay of some 7 to 8 minutes.

The game went through a quietish 10m period, unsurprisingly, but was brought back to life by the impressive Wayne Routledge going outside Gardener, only to see the FB bring him down and be the first into the book. De Guzman's FK was punched bravely clear by Mignolet, only for Rangel's follow up cross to be cleared by O'Shea.

On the half hour, the dangerous Routledge burst clear of Cattermole in MF, only to be brought down by the Black Cats' combative MF'er, and he , Cattermole, was not only booked but took a blow to the inside of his right knee, a knock which forced his substitution by David Meyler just 8m later. Both teams had now lost an influential player, and on 40m the first break came.

A Sunderland clearance carried into the Swans half along City's LB side and Ben Davies' aerial challenge saw the ball skim off his head and run 10 yds further where the covering Ash Williams, under pressure from Fletcher attempted to turn the ball back to Vorm in goal, only to see his mis hit pass dribble toward the GK.

The ever alert CF drove toward the Swansea goal with the ball. Williams desperate attempt to make up ground on Fletcher, and Flores' attempt to cut him off came to naught as the striker cleverly manoeuvred the ball onto his preferred left foot, and he curled a sublime shot past the advancing Vorm to nestle into the only corner, bottom right, that he could have scored. 1-0 to the visitors, and a horrible mistake had been converted by a finish of the highest quality.

This second major blow could have knocked the City team sideways, but, to be fair, they set about retrieving the deficit in fine style.

Swansea attacked strongly, but suffered a scare when a delicious Sessegnon cross from a break right to left saw the powerful James McLean volley just over the bar, with Vorm scrambling - a dive that told us that it was really close.

However, just as the 4th official signalled an extra 6m on 45m, Swansea attacked on the right.

A neat passing move saw Michu central play to Dyer on the right edge of the box, and the winger's wonderfully delivered dink sent the ball past the square defense and into WR's path, the other winger having made a wonderfully timed run to beat the flat back 4. Some 10yds out and just wide of the keeper's L Hand post he volleyed a spectacular screamer past Mignolet into the cenral roof of the net.

1-1, and a wonderfully uplifting equaliser. The noise in the Stadium, which had been constant throughout, just went up another notch. 11 on the scale of 10, as it were.

The remaining 6m and 04 seconds of the half saw two other threats on the Swansea goal from SAFC, one repelled, one not.

Another dangerous Sessegnon cross, again from the right, saw the visitors scream for a penalty as Rangel's clearing header seemed to involve a slight push on Fletcher prior to his clearing the ball, but in this instance the debutant Mr East sided with us. At the very death of the half, he did the opposite.

Adam Johnson, their other high profile signing, hit a cross field pass that the rampant McLean touched first time inside Rangel, and the Referee's deeming of a handball from the Spaniard led to a last gasp free kick.

It was taken by the technically excellent Seb Larsson, who has a habit of making these count. His in-swinging ball from the left cleared the Swansea defence by a skimming head that seemed to freeze Michel Vorm as he came for the ball, and that delay allowed the wide running Fletcher to mug Chico at the back post and to poke a low finish into the net. 2-1, and whilst the visitors danced, we slumped into the break. I use the word mugged deliberately - it just felt like that.

No matter, there was another 45m to come - time enough to get back at them I thought.

The consensus around me was that whilst the winning of our first 2 games 5-0 and 3-0 had been reasonably straightforward, the upcoming half half would truly test the mettle of the team, and, as it turned out, as I've suggested in the title and intro, it was to be a half that told us a lot of good things.

Whilst the first 5m or so were even, with both teams testing each other, Swansea began to exert more and more pressure, particularly by retaining possession, but more effectively, by expanding their game to test Sunderland deeper and deeper.

A word here for both Dyer and Routledge. Each was by now consistently seeking space, and finding it, between the lines, and their ability to receive the ball and turn toward the Sunderland goal left Graham and Michu to employ crossing and dangerous runs, and the marauding FB's Rangel and Davies to get further and further forward.

Similarly, de Guzman was having his best game in a Swans shirt, regularly finding the key pass and putting people free. Sunderland were rocking, and a period of heavy pressure led to the equaliser on 66m.

Just 4m before, an in-swinging de Guzman cross from the left had seen Michu head down and goal ward, only to see the ball bounce just over the crossbar.

So when James McLean lashed a deep ball clear from almost his goal line, de Guzman had time to deliver a curling head height ball in from the right. As the CB's came to meet it, a superb run by Miguel Michu across them allowed him to get in a terrific header that used the pace on the ball to send it in. 2-2, and the Liberty rocked.

The goal saw Sunderland replace the 2 goal Fletcher with Louis Saha, and a crunching and disputatious Chico Flores tackle on McLean (no foul awarded) left MoN to have his Kevin the Teenager moment............he was throwing water bottles and whatever else was to hand down in his frustration at not being awarded the foul. In all honesty, I could see what he was getting at, and on 70m, the fabulously committed Chico committed an aberration too far.

From a ball knocked down the left hand touchline, as Chico and Saha went for it, the Frenchman headed it forward down the line. It was obvious that Flores was late, but his 6ft high stretch for the ball whistled closely past Saha's ear, and he fell to the ground as if shot.

Hey, listen, I ain't here to defend my own player (but I will offer this) - Chico's challenge had been foolish in the extreme, and he deserved to be sent off for dangerous play, but I can't help feeling that if Louis Saha hadn't milked it quite so much, it might, just might, have been a Yellow rather than Red. It looked, on all the replays I've seen, as if there wasn't any contact. Whatever.

Down to 10 men with 20m to go, the Swans were now up against it, but, to my eternal pride this was the period when the team, crowd and particularly Manager showed their street smarts, coming up with a period of football of which we can all be proud.

Each on field player seemed to double their efforts, and the crowd got progressively and proudly louder and louder, in total accord and in support of the team.

ML, meanwhile showed his tactical acumen, his immediate replacing of Routledge with Alan Tate to shore up the backline given proof by Tate's excellent performance and brave block late on : this was trumped by his introduction of Ki Sung Yeung for Michu, allowing the Swans to dictate the possession in the last 16m almost 80% to 20% despite being down to 10 men.

Ki, the young South Korean, gave a cameo Masterclass in how to get and keep possesion, never once giving it away in a 100% pass completion rate, and driving Sunderland into acceptance of a point long before the end.

As the clock ran down nearer to the finish, I too was beginning to accept that at 2-2, given the circumstances that had enfolded, was equally as happy with a point.

I came away from the ground quite proud of our performance, and with each progressive watching of the game, and each progressing day, I can honestly say that that pride is equally as strong.

It was a typical PL encounter against a strong and well performing Sunderland side that had just about everything in a hugely exciting match.

Given those circumstances, although it would be tempting to criticise the debutant Referee for a leaning toward our opponents, I find I really can't. I didn't think his performance was good - but then I didn't think it was awful, either. Somewhere in between really.

A word, too, for the competing Managers.

Whilst we are justifiably proud of ML for his rational and sensible demeanour, don't let my description of MoN's frustration earlier blind you to the fact that he is one of the few PL Managers to have come here and given us nothing other than decent and honest praise. Respect, and both interviews can be found here.      

All in all, Unbelievable.

Wow, I'm tempted to say we need an International break. See you soon,

Onward, Swansea City.