What I found frustrating last night was certainly the lack of earlier substitutions but also everyone knows how Swansea play ( the gamesmanship linked to high press and workrate) but we still looked to play the same way as always. The opposition playing the way they did cut down space, put pressure on us all over the pitch. Swansea are a decent team with good game management partly based on bending the rules as far as possible. We don't have those sort of players, no one got in the ref and linos ear like the Swansea players. We are too nice and not a little naiive
Leaving aside the first 12 minutes we tried for the next 78 minutes to force the ball based on slow lumbering build up. We were crying out for real pace able to run behind the Swansea defence. We don't have that speed and in some of our players we don't have it mentally either. Am thankful we got some grip to stop it being another Luton but the passing wasn't sharp, too often inaccurate, players disappeared in the game, didn't seem to play or be comfortable in the positions they were supposed to be in.
Swansea caused part of it but I don't think I was surprised by what they did, so you have to assume MR and his team weren't. But we didn't have a plan to deal with it other than play the same way. It didn't work and never really looked like working
The officials added to a frustrating night. They were pretty dire, what was needed was strong officiating but we got errors and acquiescence of gamesmanship. Not good enough but it is becoming a recurring thing in this division.
