Ouch, so much for my pre-match optimism.
Whilst not a good performance, the
scoreline flattered QPR slightly, even if Ashley Williams called the
performance ‘garbage’ on Twitter after the game.
The match hinged on QPR scoring right at
the end of first half which largely came about as a couple of Neil Taylor
errors, the first was letting a pass roll under his foot to give QPR a throw
and then from the throw fouling Zamora on the touchline to give the free kick
from which QPR scored. I’m assuming this
sequence of events rather than any injury was why Taylor was substituted at half
time.
It’s not exactly advanced analytics: set
pieces are great opportunities to score so concede fewer set pieces and you’ll concede
fewer goals and I’d imagine Rodgers was fuming at half time.
Prior to the goal, things were relatively
even (7 shots from QPR, 5 from Swansea) and plenty of boos from the home fans
as Swansea kept the ball for long periods suggesting that had it stayed level
until half time the crowd would have got increasingly jittery.
The Swansea performance seemed
to be low on energy with their best chances coming from Sigurdsson's corners.
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| Credit must go to the QPR defence as 6 of 11 of Swansea’s attempts were blocked, 5 of these from within the box with 3 of the 6 blocks being made by Clint Hill. |
No Swansea player managed more than one
successful take-on (notably Sinclair 1 from 5 and Dyer 0 from only 1 attempt),
Diakite for QPR had 4 from 4 and Taraabt 3 from 4). To be fair to Dyer he was the second most fouled player during the game despite only playing 45 minutes (fouled 3 times, Barton most with 4).
Swansea were made to work hard in defence centrally as can be seen by the areas of tackles made as opposed to QPR whose tackles were largely along their right hand side (i.e., Sinclair's wing).
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| Allen was again top tackler for Swansea with 5 tackles |
Conspiracy theorists may like to note the
odds on the next Spurs manager where, (as of afternoon of 12th April) Rodgers is as low as evens to
be next permanent Spurs manager. Much
has been made of Spurs’ form since Capello resigned as England manager and it’s
inevitable however fanciful, that similar parallels will be drawn with regards
to the situation at Swansea and Redknapp’s possible departure.
Personally, I feel if he was to be offered
the Spurs role he wouldn't turn it down as you don’t get jobs at that level
coming along too often and probably sees someone like second favourite David
Moyes who is always the bridesmaid but never the bride and managers such as
Phil Brown, John Gregory and David O’Leary who were once flavour of the month but
now are more likely to be thought of in terms of ‘Whatever happened to..?’
Away from rumours and speculation however, this was a game where some sloppy defending resulted in the opener with Swansea being outplayed in central midfield and being unable to pull themselves back in to the game in the second half.
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