Another ex-Swan coming back to haunt us today, now in the twilight of his career, 33 year old Neil Taylor.
He was an unused sub in their last game, a 0-2 home defeat to third placed Huddersfield last Monday.
Here we are then, four matches left, the aim being to finish as high as we can after a season of transition with Russell Martin’s unique style of possession football. We showed both sides of his way of playing against Reading, the good and the bad, great to watch the attacking football but it leaves us wide open at the back trying to play the ball out instead of hoofing it. Weak goalkeeping is also a factor that’ll have to be addressed in the close season if we are to mount a challenge for the play-offs next season.
Middlesboro are the next visitors to the Swansea.com stadium on Saturday. They are chasing the last play-off spot, and are 3 points behind sixth placed Sheff Utd with a game in hand. Last away game they drew 0-0 at Bournemouth so will be a tough side to beat.
Ex-Sheff Utd Manager Chris Wilder will have them fired up and they will high-press us into making mistakes as they did in the reverse fixture, where they won 1-0 from a breakaway goal.
Swans players will be smarting from the defensive collapse against Reading last Monday and looking to bounce back this Saturday in front of the unwavering support of the Jack Army.
I anticipate a tight game with the odd goal either way deciding it.
Another ex-Swan coming back to haunt us today, now in the twilight of his career, 33 year old Neil Taylor.
He was an unused sub in their last game, a 0-2 home defeat to third placed Huddersfield last Monday.
Kyle Naughton has signed a one year extension to his contract
https://www.swanseacity.com/news/kyl...ity-contract-0
Flynn Downes on the Middlesboro match “We want to keep our unbeaten run going because I think we can build a bit of momentum going into next season as well. I think we can really set a marker and if we can win our last four games then I think teams will really fear us going into next season.”
No travel fatigue for Middlesborough players then, they flew down yesterday from Teeside and will fly back after the match this evening.
No goals and no wins in the last four games, Chris Wilder will go wild if they don’t win this one!
Last edited by Iolo; 23-04-2022 at 06:15 AM.
Todays teams -
Swansea: Andy Fisher, Ben Cabango, Kyle Naughton, Joel Latibeaudiere, Cyrus Christie, Flynn Downes, Matt Grimes (c), Ryan Manning, Joel Piroe, Hannes Wolf, Michael Obafemi.
Subs: Ben Hamer, Jay Fulton, Korey Smith, Olivier Ntcham, Kyle Joseph, Nathanael Ogbeta, Cameron Congreve.
Middlesboro: Luke Daniels, Anfernee Dijksteel, Marcus Tavernier, Jonny Howson (c), Paddy McNair, Duncan Watmore, Sol Bamba, Marc Bola, Isaiah Jones, Josh Coburn, Riley McGree.
Subs: Joe Lumley, Neil Taylor, Martin Payero, Andraz Sporar, Lee Peltier, Aaron Connolly, Folarin Balogun.
Swansea 1 - Middlesborough 1
Obafemi 48’ McGree 46’
Jamie Paterson was out injured.
Match report -
https://www.swanseacity.com/news/rep...iddlesbrough-1
Disappointing result, we just could not break down a resolute Boro team, who had big strong players, five at the back and managed to high press us effectively.
The game opened up second half though and both teams had chances to win it, both going close hitting post and bar.
Swans had the majority of possession but couldn’t turn it into goals. Boro relied on closing us down and counter-attacked on the break to good effect.
RM “We had some brilliant chances to win it. I am sure Chris Wilder will feel his team could have won it, and I feel the same, but it is a good point against a team battling to get into the play-offs and another sign of how far we have come in terms of mentality.”
https://www.swanseacity.com/news/rus...chances-win-it