Hmm. The pundits and the bookies (...okay, and myself) got it all wrong. The draw specialists changed into a winning machine up at The City Ground today, prolonging Swansea’s poor away form and snatching three points that would have seen the Swans sitting higher in the table. Oh well. The biggest defeat under Brendan Rodgers does have a positive. It shows how lucky we are to have Scott Sinclair, as he really was missed today. Positives over!
It seems that the Swans’ strengths really lie in the midfield and this showed with the amount of homework Forest did. They totally snuffed out any fire that Pratley tried to start and, by rendering him useless, they ruled the midfield. Gower and Cotterill struggled to contain their men, which quickly led to constant attack and goals (the first courtesy of a penalty given away by DeVries). Despite a consolation goal by substitute Van der Gun, Swansea had no chance of coming back. It ended 3 – 1.
It was a shame that Dobbie was injured during the warm up and therefore unable to play as we needed him – again Nouble failed to really impress. At 19 (oh yeah, happy birthday for yesterday Nouble) he is fast and eager, but hasn’t managed to get into the Championship mindset yet. He needs another game maybe, but then he will have to perform or the rumours of a permanent signing after the loan period will come to nothing. Even with one little injury to Dobbie, it shows how much Swansea are in need of a permanent striker who can consistently produce. In related news, Kuqi scored for Derby today. He is a good guy to have on the bench – a bench that was missing striking force today. Lucky Derby.
All credit to Forest though. They fought well for the victory; allowing Swansea no room to manoeuvre and running back to defence every time they lost it up front. Their win takes them within a point of Swansea and two places below (Swans currently at 9th and Forest at 11th in the table).
So those were my thoughts on today’s match. I’m sure you will have some similar and some different opinions. Feel free to comment and let me know what you think of Swansea’s inability to produce away results and the lack of striking numbers.
Roll on Tuesday, where another away game (v Watford) looms. An away game that we need to win (... a draw would be acceptable) to get back on track for Championship glory!
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