Swans v Leeds | Vital Football

Swans v Leeds

keith margam

Vital Football Legend
Swansea v Leeds Sun 12 July 2020 13:30 live on Swans TV
This is the much anticipated return match, and it’s unfortunate that fans can only watch it on tv.
Leeds have shown consistency throughout the season at the top of the table, whereas we, after a brilliant start where we topped the table, winning 5 and drawing 1 of our first 6 games, have been inconsistent ever since.
With just 4 games left to play, each one is huge if we want to progress to the play-offs, with points more important than performance at this stage.
Leeds are on form, and their confidence is high, especially after Thursday night’s 5-0 trouncing of Stoke moving them above West Brom to the top of the table.
There is hope for us though, as in this mini-season of 9 games, of the 5 played so far they have had hiccups, drawing at home 1-1 to bottom club Luton, and losing 2-0 at Cardiff.
 
The corresponding away fixture this season on Sat 31 Aug 2019:

Leeds 0 v Swansea 1 (Routledge 90’)
Team: 27 Woodman, 23 Roberts, 5 vdHoorn, 4 Rodon, 24 Bidwell, 6 Fulton, 8 Grimes, 22 Ayew (Byers 85'), 21 Dhanda (Routledge 63'), 10 Celina,
9 Bastón (Surridge 63')
Subs not used: 1 Nordfeldt, 20 Wilmot, 26 Naughton, 41 Garrick


Swansea City replaced Leeds United at the top of the Championship after Wayne Routledge's late goal secured a sensational victory at Elland Road.
Routledge struck in the 90th minute to maintain Swansea's unbeaten start under Steve Cooper and inflict Leeds' first defeat of the season.
Marcelo Bielsa's side dominated but their finishing let them down.
The Swans are now two points clear at the top of the table, while Leeds drop down to third, below Charlton.


Steve Cooper’s post match comments:
"It's the perfect result, with a clean sheet away from home. We had to work hard for it. I liked us defensively. Anyone that comes here knows they are going to have moments where they are going to have to defend properly and we did that. Any game away from home in this league is a test but it's all about what we do. There are some areas we would definitely like to improve on but there are some areas that went well. I said before the game that these are games that we've got to be excited about. You can't come here and fear, you can't come here and hide. You've got to come and enjoy it and we did that."
 
With Cardiff losing 2-0 at Fulham last night for their second successive defeat, the door to the play-off’s is wide open.
Four matches left to define a season:
Leeds (H) Sun 12 July 13:30
Forest (A) Wed 15 July 18:00
Bristol City (H) Sat 18 July 15:00
Reading (A) Wed 22 July 18:30
 
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No change for the Swans:

Swansea City: Freddie Woodman; Kyle Naughton, Ben Cabango, Marc Guehi; Connor Roberts, Jay Fulton, Matt Grimes (captain), Jake Bidwell; Conor Gallagher, Andre Ayew; Rhian Brewster.
Substitutes: Erwin Mulder, Mike van der Hoorn, George Byers, Nathan Dyer, Wayne Routledge, Aldo Kalulu, Bersant Celina, Yan Dhanda, Liam Cullen.

Leeds United: Illan Meslier, Luke Ayling, Ben White, Liam Cooper (captain); Stuart Dallas, Jack Harrison, Kalvin Phillips, Helder Costa, Mateusz Klich; Tyler Roberts, Patrick Bamford.
Substitutes: Kamil Miazek, Barry Douglas, Ian Poveda, Ezgjan Alioski, Pablo Hernandez, Gaetano Berardi, Pascal Struijk, Mateusz Bogusz, Jamie Shackleton.
 
The ex-player curse strikes again as the Swans go down 0-1 at home to Leeds, Hernandez the scorer a minute before time, his shot going in off the post.
We matched Leeds throughout and a draw would have been a fair result.
Leeds players finished the fitter though, our players were visibly out on their feet at the end, and with Cooper reluctant to use our subs for some strange reason, we were caught on the break.
After the goal he made the substitutions, but too late to make a difference.
No way back as several minutes injury time were gobbled up with time wasting.

We’re not out of it yet but a massive opportunity has been missed today.
 
It’s surprising how many points we’ve dropped conceding late goals:
Swans 0 - Forest 1 (Semedo 85’) = 1 point dropped
Swans 1 - Reading 1 (Yiadom 90’) = 2 points dropped
Swans 1 - Stoke 2 (Hogan 90’) = 1 point dropped
Sheff Wed 2 (Forestieri 81’, Fox 91’) - Swans 2 = 2 points dropped
Blackburn 2 (Johnson 95’) - Swans 2 = 2 points dropped
Fulham 1 (Mitrovic 94’) - Swans 0 = 1 point dropped
Hull 4 (Eaves 95’) - Swans 4 = 2 points dropped
Swans 2 - Derby 3 (Lawrence 80’) = 1 point dropped
Swans 0 - Luton 1 (Collins 72’) = 1 point dropped
Swans 0 - Leeds 1 Hernandez 89’) = 1 point dropped

Total of 14 points dropped
 
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Steve Cooper:
"We felt comfortable in the game. They probably had a couple more clear chances than we did, but I thought we got into as many good areas as them.
We're really disappointed to concede like we did that late on. It's a tough one to take, but we've quickly got to get over it. There are still points to play for.
Whether we had drawn or won today, we still would have had to pick up points in the remaining games.
There were lots of good bits from the performance. I'd have liked us to keep the ball a bit more if I'm honest. I felt like a set-piece might decide it, whether it was for us or them. Both teams set up tactically well so for them to get through at the end is obviously disappointing."
 
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Our captain:
“To lose any game in the last minute is obviously tough to take but it is even worse when we put so much into the game.
Going forward I think we were creating more dangerous opportunities than they were but the goal goes in in the last minutes and gets them the win.
The performance was good. Leeds are a very good side with quality players so on their day they are very dangerous. We did well to match them toe-to-toe.
I don’t think any words were needed in the dressing room, everyone knew how devastating it was but I just said ‘look lads, just pull yourselves back up, there’s no time to dwell.’
There are three games to go and everything is still to play for - we look forward to Wednesday. We just need to focus on taking each game as it comes and see where it takes us.”
 
Match Stats:
Swans 0 - Leeds 1 ( Hernandez 89’)
Possession: 43% - 57%
Shots: 6 - 12
On target: 3 - 4
Corners: 6 - 7
Fouls: 12 - 19
Cards: 2Y - 3Y
Ref: Keith Stroud 5/10