Swansea v Birmingham | Vital Football

Swansea v Birmingham

K

keith margam

Vital Football Legend
Swansea v Birmingham Sat 4 Feb 15:00
Next up is a home match against Birmingham.
Birmingham sit 19th in the table on 32 points.
They are on a poor run of form with 5 straight league defeats since their last win in mid December.
Last 6 games:
WLLLLL W1 D0 L5 F7 A15 Pts 3
21/1 Birmingham 1 Preston 2
14/1 Bristol C 4 Birmingham 2
2/1 Birmingham 1 Middlesboro 3
30/12 Birmingham 0 Hull 1
27/12 Burnley 3 Birmingham 0
16/12 Birmingham 3 Reading 2

They were in FA Cup action last Saturday at Blackburn where they drew 1-1, before succumbing 0-1 to an own goal in extra time at home in the replay on Tuesday night after making 5 changes to the starting line-up.
Their manager is John Eustace, who took over from Lee Bowyer last summer.
Remember he was assistant to Mark Warburton at QPR and turned down the Swansea job before Russell Martin eventually took over.
John Eustace’s record at Birmingham:
P32 W9 D10 L13 win percentage 28%
Russell Martin’s record at Swansea:
P81 W28 D24 L29 win percentage 34%
The reverse fixture against the Swans last November was a 2-2 draw, with Troy Deeney scoring a last minute equaliser.

Swansea are in 13th position on 39 points.
Last 6 games:
W2 D2 L2 F13 A9 Pts8
Swans should edge this, coming in fresh from a two week break.
Compared to Birmingham players, who will be worn out after their Cup exploits, having played a total of 222 minutes of football since last Saturday.
 
Swans: Andy Fisher, Joel Latibeaudiere, Ben Cabango, Nathan Wood, Ryan Manning, Jay Fulton, Matt Grimes (c), Olivier Ntcham, Ollie Cooper, Liam Cullen, Joel Piroe.
Subs: Lewis Webb, Luke Cundle, Morgan Whittaker, Harry Darling, Kyle Naughton, Cameron Congreve, Joel Cotterill.
HT: 2-1
FT: 3-4
Swans: Piroe 23’, 58’, Cullen 29’
Blues: Hogan 14’ pen, Chong 55’, Jutkiewicz 90, Trusty 97’

A shocking capitulation second half cost us the game. First half we should have scored three or four goals as we ran rings around a poor Birmingham side. The missed chances were to prove costly.
The second half it all changed dramatically, with the Blues fired up, full of energy and outplaying us. This after they’d played 220 mins of football in the last seven days, whilst we had two weeks off.
Martin had used his three (puzzling because they were close together) sub change slots (five subs are allowed but only in three stages), big mistake, so when Latibeaudiere was injured we had to play the last 13 mins with ten men, then sat back (another big mistake) and let Birmingham come at us with predictable effect.
Our defence looked a shambles, just like the transfer window as our squad shortcomings were cruelly exposed by a team coming off the back of five straight defeats.

Footnote:
For the 2022/2023 English Premier League (EPL) season, clubs have agreed to change the rules relating to the number of substitute teams can make in a match. Each matchday, clubs will be permitted to use five substitutes, to be made on three occasions, with an additional opportunity at half-time.
 
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Andy Parslow was appointed Set-Piece Coach here at the beginning of the season.
RM said at the time “It's an area we need to improve on. Andy has real expertise in that area and has had great results with his previous club.”
Judging by Saturday’s goals conceded from set play and several other matches where defensive shambles have cost us points this season, there has been no improvement. We need to review this position at the club.

https://www.swanseacity.com/news/andy-parslow-joins-swansea-city-set-piece-coach
 
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