Tue Aug 14, 2007 10:43 pm
This will be a very bitty match report, as I had to keep giving my attention to my 11-year old - "What happened there Dad, why did he do that, is it our throw-in" etc. etc.
The Saddlers really weren't at the races, so to speak. Swansea had no more than four shots on target all the game, and scored from two of them. We had quite a few good chances, and a couple presented on a plate, but couldn't convert.
Player by player.....
Ince was very steady, had no chance with the two goals. Kicking occasionally wayward, occasionally atrocious.
Wrack was our right-back, and often ventured forth up the wing leaving a huge area vacant behind him. It was a left-wing cross that brought Swansea their first goal - it fell straight at the feet of a completely unmarked Swansea player, who was able to take his time and find the net. I thought Wrack played very well in fact, but perhaps he was trying to do too much.
Boertin at left-back had class that stood out - unruffled under pressure (and the Swansea forwards did put him under some pressure). Good link up play with Mooney, but no help at all from Carneiro.
I'll bracket Dann and Gerrard together, because both played the same kind of role, and both were not far short of immense. They broke up Swansea attacks, tackled well, and tried to supply some sort of service to the front men. The fact that some of the front men apparently couldn't be bothered to chase anything played into the channels is another matter.
Sonner - apart from a few neat touches, I found him anonymous (or, rather, I didn't find him, if you see my point).
Dobson - more solid than Sonner, but again, not joining in on all cylinders, so to speak.
Hall - Played like a man who's got himself a contract and doesn't see the need to exert himself. It is known that Paul Hall has pace (the man's supposedly a winger for goodness sake), but he certainly didn't show it tonight. Tried hard enough with his little delicate flicks-on with Mooney, but these went astray all to often.
Mooney - tried and tried and tried. After about 15 minutes with the score still 0-0 he intercepted a badly-played backpass by the Swansea full-back, and was one-on-one with the goalkeeper. As he was approaching the goal from the inside-left area he tried to slot it past him using his left foot. Bad move - the keeper got his legs to it. If that had gone in the whole game might have changed.
Carneiro - anyone that thinks this guy is even fit to lace Jorge Leitao's boots can think again. He was awful. Whenever he did make the effort of getting into a position to receive a ball played forwards to him, he was caught off-side. In the end he just didn't bother running, and was quite correctly substituted as the second half started.
Nicholls, coming on as sub for Carneiro, tried his best as a right-winger, but never quite had the beating of his man. Towards the very end he did twist and turn to wrong-foot the full back, and managed to get enough space to lash in a left-foot shot which missed the post by about 6 feet. That was probably our only direct attempt on goal in the second half.
Fox - I don't know what he was trying to achieve, and I don't think he did either.
We must have had around ten corner kicks to Swansea's one, but nothing came of them. The other statistic where we outnumbered Swansea ten to one was that of free kicks - you can't accuse Mr. Singh (referee) of being a "homer", because he was constantly awarding us free kicks, usually because Mooney was being held back going for a header, or tackled from behind as he ploughed a lonely furrow forward. However, our free-kick tactics fell into the same category as our corner-kick tactics - whatever they were, they didn't work. That's not to say it was a dirty game, because it wasn't. There was only one booking, and that for a Swansea defender kicking the ball away near the end to waste a bit of time.
Richard Money was shouting in animated fashion from the "technical area", all to no avail. Clayton Ince was often shouting at his nearest and dearest defenders, with the same outcome.
Changes to make...... based on this one game, Carneiro is a liability, as is Hall. When we have a fit and able right back (Weston) I would move Wrack up to the Carneiro role. ASBO should replace Hall straightaway, and whether Butler fits in with the Manager's plans has yet to be seen. With a slightly better rub of the green we might have given Swansea a closer game tonight. You can't place any blame on the pitch or the weather - both were ideal.
Still some settling in to be done. I'm not too downhearted, and even though Swansea reputedly had some reserves playing, they were obviously playing for places to be had.
Mini-rant over - I'm still optimistic of a mid-table finish.
