Swans v Stoke | Vital Football

Swans v Stoke

K

keith margam

Vital Football Legend
Swans v Stoke Tues 27 Oct 2020 19:45
It seems like we’ve had more than our fair share of inept refereeing over the years. Yet again we were left scratching our heads at the latest controversial decision that cost us the win and 2nd place in the table at Bristol last Saturday. We are not a dirty side but Midlands based Oliver “Bonnie” Langford dished out yellow cards like confetti to the Swans compared to Bristol’s one. He is renowned for it, and this season alone he has already produced 30 yellow cards and 1 red card in the 6 matches he’s officiated, averaging 5 cards per match.
We move on to Stoke at the Liberty on Tuesday, another team where we’ve had our fair share of poor reffing decisions.
This time the ref is Andre Marriner (remember him costing us a place in the FA Cup semi-final - the Aguero blatantly offside goal and the Sterling non-penalty v Man City at the Liberty)
Here it is:
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Also stuck in my mind from the last Stoke encounter was the ex-Swan Sam Clucas goal celebration in front of the West Stand last January when Stoke came to the Liberty and won 0-2.
I can’t remember seeing an ex-player behave so disrespectfully to their old club like that before, so an extra incentive to beat them this time around.
Here it is:
 
Last Saturday Stoke went 3-0 up at home to Brentford.
With nothing to lose Brentford changed formation, and pulled two goals back in a late rally, but with 67% possession couldn’t get the third goal to draw the game. Man of the match, on form R.O.I. winger James McClean, one to watch out for on Tuesday night.
W3 D3 L1 F9 A7
24/10 Stoke 3 - Brentford 2
21/10 Stoke 2 - Barnsley 2
17/10 Luton 0 - Stoke 2
4/10 Stoke 1 - Birmingham 1
26/9 Preston 0 - Stoke 1
20/9 Stoke 0 - Bristol City 2
12/9 Millwall 0 - Stoke 0
 
Stoke are hoping midfielders Jordan Thompson and Sam Clucas will be available to play tonight.
Northern Ireland international Thompson took a bang to the head in Saturday’s 3-2 home win over Brentford.
Clucas has missed the last two games with calf and shin injuries but could be fit to play against his former club.
Player in form is youngster Tyrese Campbell, who will start again after scoring in the last two.
Joe Allen is out with a long term injury and is in the final stages of his recovery after an operation on a ruptured Achilles.
 
This sounds familiar.
Some Stoke fans are critical of three at the back system for being negative at home.
Manager Michael O’Neil:
“I wouldn’t agree with that at all. We’ve lost one game in 14 or 15 since playing with three at the back. We’re playing with three strikers on the pitch and I’m not sure that’s negative either.
So what we’ve essentially done is take a central midfielder out, add a centre-back and pushed our full-backs-stroke-wing-backs further forward. It’s not a negative system at all to be honest.
We aren’t at a level as a team when we are going to start playing four at the back at home and three away. We also have to play every three days so we have to be consistent in the work with the team. We’ve been that.
We’ve had several clean sheets in games so I think there’s more to be positive about than negative.
We work diligently on what we play, whether we play 3-4-3 or 3-5-2 and certainly people shouldn’t associate that with being negative.
If you look at the Championship now there are as many as 50 per cent of teams who play with three at the back and given the personnel that we have, given the young players we have in the team, I think there are maybe things we should be a little bit more positive about.”
 
The teams, Naughton replaces Cabango, Manning replaces Bidwell, Dhanda replaces Korey Smith.
Swansea City: Freddie Woodman; Kyle Naughton, Ryan Bennett, Marc Guehi; Connor Roberts, Jay Fulton, Matt Grimes (captain), Ryan Manning; Yan Dhanda; Andre Ayew, Jamal Lowe.
Substitutes: Steven Benda, Ben Cabango, Jake Bidwell, Korey Smith, Kasey Palmer, Liam Cullen, Viktor Gyokeres.

Stoke City: Adam Davies; James Chester, Harry Souttar, Morgan Fox; Tommy Smith, John Obi Mikel (captain), Tashan Oakley-Boothe, Josh Tymon, James McClean; Jacob Brown, Sam Vokes.
Substitutes: Amgus Gunn, Danny Batth, Lee Gregory, Steven Fletcher, Jordan Cousins, Nick Powell, Tyrese Campbell.
 
HT Swans 1 (Fulton 30’) - Stoke 0
Possession: 62% - 38%
Shots: 8 - 0
On target: 1 - 0
Corners: 5 - 0
Fouls: 3 - 4
Cards: 0Y - 0Y
 
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FT Swansea 2 (Fulton 30’, Palmer 87’) - Stoke 0
Possession: 50% - 50%
Shots: 18 - 3
On target: 5 - 0
Corners: 10 - 2
Fouls: 13 - 17
Cards: 2Y - 3Y
 
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Steve Cooper: "It was a good scoreline, 2-0, and it was another clean sheet. I thought we were excellent in the first half in terms of our general play - as good as we have been all season in how we want to play the game.
It would have been easy to sulk after that penalty decision at Bristol last weekend but I thought we showed an excellent mentality and attitude. Things changed tactically in the second half and we had to work hard to get a foothold in the game. Then Kasey came on and wound things up.”

Michael O'Neill: "It is our first defeat of the season away from home. We didn't start well and it was a poor goal to concede in the first half. I thought their second goal was offside but over the course of the game we didn't do enough to win. We didn't get to the pace of the game quickly enough and we didn't handle the pressure they put on us.
We were still in the game at 1-0 but we didn't create enough chances. We are missing key players at the moment. We've had a good start to the season but this is a disappointment. We've got to put it behind us and move on."
 
On his changes for this match, Cooper said: "I'm pleased for the boys that came in today. Nobody got dropped. I've explained to the players that we're going to need everyone. You might play great one game and not be in the team the next one because you need a rest."
 
An excellent performance and more of what we expect to see at home. Dominant and limited them to pretty much nothing especially in first half. Great cameo from Palmer and Fulton was superb. Hope for more of the same now in future games, get Fulton playing again, an attacker behind the front 2 and we should do well this season. Dhanda also looked good early on but drifted out the game. Manning decent but not a out an out threat like Bidwell is
 
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