Swansea v Sheffield United

K

keith margam

Vital Football Legend
Swansea v Sheffield Utd Tuesday 21 Jan 19:45

Next up we play the Blades who are second in the table and one of the favourites for promotion.

In the reverse fixture last October only an own goal by Tymon separated the sides with Sheff Utd extending their unbeaten start to the season to eight games. Chris Wilder said after the game “You've got to give credit to Swansea, they're a really difficult team to play against and I'm a big fan of their manager”.

Our team that day was not much different to the one we fielded against Cardiff but we were a more solid unit then and it’s hard to pinpoint what has gone wrong. We played a 4-2-3-1 formation then compared to a 4-3-3 now with Grimes playing a deeper defensive role lately which is obviously not working.

Last 6 games:

Swans W2 D1 L3 F7 A11

Sheff U W3 D1 L2 F8 A6

Swan last 6 home:

W2 D2 L2 F13 A11

Blades last 6 away:

W3 D2 L1 F10 A7 (their one away defeat 2-1 at Sunderland)

So a formidable but not impossible task awaits us this week, home to the Blades and away to the Canaries (who we beat at home 1-0 by an own goal last September).

The question is which team will turn up, the good the bad or the ugly? Has LW lost the dressing room after the West Brom episode or are we just so badly out of form? Are we too one dimensional in our play? Have we been found out by opposition teams in how to counteract our tactics, which seems to be the case recently? Are the players giving their all for the manager, it didn’t look like it at Cardiff? Will LW still be here at the end of this week if we continue our downward trend? Many questions but no answers - yet!
 
Swansea 1 (Bianchini 7’) - Sheff Utd 2 (Brewster 47’, Burrows 68’ pen)

It was 1-2 to the referee tonight with his biased decisions. He ruined the game with the non-penalty and the harsh sending off.

Swansea were much the better side first half and should have scored more than the one goal.

A Cabango header was saved by Cooper but he only parried it Bianchini who headed home after 7 minutes. It was a nailed on penalty when Norrington-Davies pulled back Peart-Harris in the box but not with this ref, who seemed reluctant to punish the persistent fouls by the Blades. Norrington-Davies had already been booked for a foul on Peart-Harris so it should have been a penalty and a red card. Five shots on target to nil by half-time, but only the one goal, in a dominant performance from the Swans.

As we know from experience our team are rarely able to play two halves with any consistency and within two minutes of the restart the ball was deflected to ex-Swan Rhian Brewster (guaranteed to score wasn’t he) to fire home the equaliser for a rare goal from the misfiring striker.

A few minutes later Darling was sent off for a reckless challenge which only deserved a booking.

A Key tackle on Campbell, who made the most of it, was judged a penalty and Burrows sent Vigouroux the wrong way. The match was seemingly over as a contest after the useless ref ruined it as a contest, but we fought to the end in a vastly improved display.

If it wasn’t for the poor and erratic refereeing (he was booed off at the end) the outcome of this match could have been very different.
 
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I’ve looked back at the tackle and I think Darling should appeal.
Here’s some info on red cards. As well as a sending-off the player also gets punished by:
For a so-called professional foul, a player will receive a one match ban.
If the foul in question is dissent, it will normally be a two-match ban.
If it’s violent conduct, the punishment is normally a three-match ban.
 
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