Swans v Blackburn | Vital Football

Swans v Blackburn

keith margam

Vital Football Legend
So we move on to Tuesday night and a chance to quickly erase the memory of the Villa defeat.
I would suggest the same team that finished the Villa match but with Mulder replacing Nordfelt.
We face another ex-player Danny Graham, in fine form for Blackburn, and who scored again on Saturday, so with our inherent weakness in allowing ex-players all the room in the world to score against us (four already this season), what are the chances of Graham scoring on Tuesday and Modou Barrow for Reading on Saturday.
Two home games coming up where we have the chance to claw back some lost ground and climb up the table to a more respectable position. More dropped points and we’re in trouble.
 
No need to analyse where our problems lie. We are not scoring enough goals, with 12 so far being amongst the lowest in the division and a carry over from last season’s goal drought .
Compare to WBA who have scored 31 goals, Leeds 23, Sheffield Utd 22, and you can see clearly that we need to improve.
With the limited resources available to Potter, the owners have left him out on a limb after refusing to reinforce the squad. Our only chance is to get Bony back and firing on all cylinders again, which will take a miracle after two years bench warming and injured,
 
Form Guide last six matches -
Blackburn W3 D2 L1 F8 A7 Pts11
Swansea W1 D2 L3 F5 A5 Pts 5
Blackburn have won their last two matches, we have lost our last two.
They have just been promoted to the Championship from League 1 this season.
Their last game was at home to high flying Leeds who they beat 2-1, despite Leeds having 68% possession, 20 shots on goal, 6 shots on target, and 11 corners.
Their only loss in the last six matches was a 0-2 home defeat at the beginning of this month to joint top of the table Sheffield Utd, which was their first home defeat in over a year, Billy Sharp scoring two late goals.
 
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I would not pick Fer to start tonight, and bring in Carroll instead, using Fer as an impact sub.
Bear in mind he is still recovering from injury, and that we have another game on Sat against Reading.
He was less than impressive against Villa, losing possession too easily.
 
Danny Graham -
“We were in the Premier League when I was in Swansea and I had a thoroughly enjoyable time there.”
"I still look out for their results and there are still a few familiar faces there from my time at the club.”
“I am a Blackburn Rovers player now and I’ll be doing all I can to help us get three points and go away happy.”
“Last time I went back to Swansea was when I was on loan at Hull and I scored, hopefully it can be the same again.”
“I didn’t celebrate when I scored for Hull that day and we’ll have to see what happens on Tuesday night. I’ll probably do another daft knee slide if I do score!"
 
Five changes again from the Villa starting eleven as Potter tried to find his best side for this match, after only one win in seven.
Blackburn got stuck into us from the off and gave us no room to play, as we endured yet another first half of misplaced passes and losing possession to a robust opposition.
A penalty on 26 minutes through a reckless challenge from Naughton gave Blackburn a half time lead, Mulgrew slotting home, and it looked like the Aston Villa match all over again.
But a half time pep talk and a reshuffle of midfield, Fer and Fulton coming on to replace Carroll and Olsson, worked wonders as we tore in to Blackburn on the restart and at last showed what we are capable of.
A scorcher from Fulton hit the post, and bounced of goalkeeper Raya into the net in the 64th minute for Swans to equalise and get the Jack Army singing again.
More was to come as our own Duracell bunny Connor Roberts, who never stopped running, slotted home a few minutes later, followed by a Celina chip shot over the keeper on 85 minutes to round off a deserved 3-1 win against a pretty decent Blackburn side.
What a difference a win makes, up to eighth spot in the table and a point off the play off positions.
Special mention for fleet footed Dan James who set up Roberts goal and much maligned goalkeeper Nordfelt’s brilliant save from Dack moments before Celina scored.
 
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Blackburn manager Tony Mowbray -
“I thought for long spells of the game we were good.
It started to get a little bit stretched towards the end of the first half, and second half the game became more end to end which suited them more than us.”
The first goal is out of nothing, a shot from 25 yards which hits the post and goes in off the goalie’s back. The second they got in between the lines and slid a nice ball through.
Then the fine margins of the game. The keeper made a miraculous save from Bradley, he said he was about to spin off and celebrate because he thought it was in, and within half a minute they go up the pitch and score a third and the game is over.
I thought we played well for long spells, but it didn’t suit us for the game to get stretched.”

Swans manager Graham Potter -
"What I said at half-time stays between me and the players, but it was a learning point for us all the first half.
We weren't ourselves and the penalty gives them the lead. Then we were just a bit flat, we didn't give the crowd anything to get excited about and it's one of those moments we'll get better from.
The response is what I'd expect from the players and the second half was more a reminder of how you need to play football."