Barnsley v Swans | Vital Football

Barnsley v Swans

keith margam

Vital Football Legend
With Covid in the camp, Brentford’s next two matches have been called off (Wed 13/1 Brentford v Bristol City and Sat 16/1 Reading v Brentford). This means that we stay in second place in the table at least until Saturday when we play Barnsley. Bournemouth the other club that could have overtaken us could only draw at home to Millwall on Tuesday night.

Barnsley v Swans Sat 16 Jan 2021 19:45 Live on Sky Sports

League Form Guide last 6 matches:
Barnsley WWLWWL W4 D0 L2 F8 A7
Swans WLWWDW W4 D1 L1 F8 A3


Barnsley last 6 home matches:
WLLWWW W4 D0 L2 F8 A8


Swans last 6 away matches:
LWLWLW W3 D0 L3 F6 A5
 
Barnsley away on Saturday night where we hope to continue our fine form.
The home fixture against them was only just over three weeks ago so some strange fixture scheduling by the EFL.
That match, the last before the pitch was pulled up on 19 Dec, was a 2-0 win against an in form side, who before this match had taken 12 points from the last 5 matches.
Steve Cooper:
“Defensively I thought we were excellent, they can be difficult to deal with but I thought we controlled the game.
We took a step back on Wednesday (Derby 2-0 defeat) and we wanted to put that right today and we did that. I thought I would get a response and we did, there was a real intensity in training"
Valerien Ismael:
"It was a strange game. It is not possible every time to concede early. It is not the first time. It is very difficult to come back every time. In the first half we were near to 1-1, I told the guys at half-time to accept the awful pitch and to fight and to go back to the basics.
But the intensity was not there, there was fatigue. We have to take into account the situation, in such a schedule we can get such a performance. We go again, we accept today was not the best we will see, we deserved to lose, the pitch was really awful, but probably it affected Swansea more."
On the injury front no word yet on the fitness of our two central defenders, key player Ryan Bennett and Joel Latibeaudiere, but we managed okay without them in the cup game last weekend.
Barnsley are a strong side at home, having won four out of the last six matches, so we’ll have to be at our best in order get the points.
 
A pleasing result this afternoon as far as the Swans are concerned. Bournemouth lost at home to Luton, which keeps us in second place. Cardiff failed to do us a favour however as they lost at home to the leaders Norwich, who are now on 50 points.
 
Tonight’s team:
Swansea City: Freddie Woodman; Kyle Naughton, Ben Cabango, Marc Guehi; Connor Roberts, Korey Smith, Jay Fulton, Matt Grimes (captain), Jake Bidwell; Jamal Lowe, Andre Ayew.
Substitutes: Ben Hamer, Ryan Manning, Wayne Routledge, Liam Cullen, Yan Dhanda, Joel Latibeaudiere, George Byers, Oli Cooper, Jordon Garrick.


New signing, back-up goalkeeper Ben Hamer, is on the bench. Manning drops to the bench to make way for Naughton. Latibeaudiere is back on the bench from injury. Byers is back from long term injury after playing in the Cup last week.
Looks as if injured for the last few games Ryan Bennett failed a late fitness test
 
Last edited:
Goal 0-1 46’ Cabango header from a Roberts long throw.
HT: 0-1
It’s been a game of heading tennis on a slippery pitch.
 
FT 0-2
Time to switch off the biased Sky Sports now as they talk down the goals and say they shouldn’t have been allowed. It’s our turn to have decisions going for us I think.
 
It was hard fought win last night in poor conditions on a muddy pitch, where we adapted our game plan accordingly.
Not easy to watch with the ball in the air most of the time, but the positive outcome gave us a four point cushion over 3rd place Bournemouth after they had lost at home earlier in the day to Luton.
Although we must not forget 4th place Brentford, who have two games in hand and could catch us if they win both. It makes our re-arranged home match with Brentford on Wed 27 Jan a crucial one.

One game at a time though and next up we have another tough away match at Blackburn on Wednesday night, before the FA Cup home tie against Forest next Saturday.
 
Barnsley v Swansea Match Statistics:
Possession: 53% - 47%
Pass accuracy 56% - 50%
Shots: 15 - 7
On target: 3 - 2
Off target: 5 - 3
Corners: 8 - 5
Fouls: 11 - 8

Cards: 1Y - 1Y