The recent line-ups have suggested we’re planning and developing now for next season. There were a lot of youngsters on the pitch and given that we’ve recently played the likes of Antonio German too, who also made the squad again, it’s clear to me that we’re developing for next season. So this was a great result, which was needed and very welcome.
It was a big test for a lot of the players. Swansea are a good footballing side and I really liked how they passed and moved the play in the opening 20 minutes. They all seemed to know exactly what to do in their system but to be fair to us, we eventually adapted and nullified them in a very pleasing way.
Initially it didn’t look like we had a five-man midfield, because the Swans popped the ball around ever so well and I though Darren Pratley was excellent in the midfield for them. But as time passed we hustled them into unforced errors and eventually blocked off all the dangerous points in their system.
You could argue the game was won due to one set-piece, but we’ll take that. It was a cracking delivery from Jordi Lopez and a great header from Mikele Leigertwood. But it was the youngsters of our midfield that I was most pleased with.
Hogan Ephraim, Matteo Alberti and Adel Taarabt can all be pleased with the shifts they put in and I enjoyed how all of them, including Leigertwood, were happy to pick up the ball to feet and run with it. That’s something that’s been missing from our play for a while and having two or three guys with the confidence to do it can help massively if done right.
Hogan put in a good shift in the midfield too. His work ethic is good and although he gave the ball away a few times, he was always looking to get on it and always trying to invent or create something and sometimes that’s all you need to get yourselves going. I thought Alberti did a great job whenever we didn’t have the ball and worked tirelessly down the right side, but he also had some nice moments as well.
The system we played also looked more settled and structured, which I felt helped give us better balanace and shape and apart from a very brief moment in the last 10 minutes, we held our shape pretty well throughout the 90 minutes. I still think we’re asking a lot of the lone man up front though. It takes a really intelligent and disciplined player to operate in the one-up role, and I don’t quite think any of our strikers are in that mould just yet apart from perhaps Rowan Vine, but it would be asking a lot of him to do it at this stage. Samuel Di Carmine did okay in there, but nothing more, and either you need someone with more experience or guile, or a more experienced midfield who know when to burst on and support appropriately.
As for the new guy Taarabt, it was my first look at him. He’s certainly got some creative tricks that are useful and nice down the top end of the pitch, but he needs to make sure he uses them at the right time and not become cocky with his approach. He definitely has the ability to use them and beat players though, which he did quite superbly at times and he linked really well with Hogan. The way they played together reminded me a little bit of how Hogan and Rowan Vine linked up last season and that bodes well for us. We need to find more partnerships and players who operate in tandem and on the same wavelength.
We started the match with a feeling of being unsure what was going to happen, but after 20 minutes we settled into the game and once we got our goal, we looked more lively and continously improved as the match went on. I was pleased about that, and whatever happens this season, it’s important the players continue to focus and give their all and do what they can to finish as high up the table as possible. We may not make the play-offs, but a strong finish will do a lot to help our confidence both for this season and next and with the lines of Rowan Vine hopefully returning to action, there’s still plenty to look forward to.
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