Although you could argue that the Premier League is no
place to be trying new things, this game offered the perfect platform to trial
it. As Swansea were all but safe it
offered reduced risk if it all went wrong yet at the same time there was enough
riding on it (Premiership prize money for a higher table finish and Wolves’
pride after being relegated) that it would be more telling than bringing the
formation out in a pre-season friendly.
Despite the almost perfect first 15 minutes,
Swansea only had 11 attempts all game (to Wolves’ 17) and Swansea only had 3
attempts at goal in the second half, 2 of which came within a minute towards
the start of the second half (Sigurdsson’s only efforts of the game) meaning
only 1 attempt in the last 40 minutes.
Although almost every goal is usually down
to an error somewhere along the line, some are more stoppable than others with the last goal in particular bringing back
memories of the collapse against Wolves at Molineux with players out of
position and goals conceded despite having numbers back.
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1st Wolves Goal - 3 v 1 in the box but Fletcher in plenty of space |
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2nd Wolves Goal - Again plenty back but Jarvis with time to shoot |
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4th Wolves Goal - 4 Swans players within touching distance of each other and Jarvis ahead of them all |
Whilst conceding 4 with his introduction
alongside Caulker and Williams, Garry Monk’s stats at least suggest a decent
performance winning 4 out of 4 tackles attempted, 9 out of 11 ground duels and
4 out of 5 aerial duels.
Being the centre of a back three meant that Monk's role was the most normal of the three, with both Caulker and Williams having to change aspects of their games.
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For Williams the long diagonal to the right was unsuccessful |
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Vorm's pass success of 30% in the second half far below that of the 72% in the first half and 71% for season overall |
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In addition to Henry's passing, Edwards made 33 successful passes from 34 attempts in the second half |
In games where there are a number of early goals, it may be the case that composure goes out the window and no matter the deficit, the opposition will feel that there are still goals in the game and the mentality of the side leading becomes one of protecting rather than extending the lead.
Twitter: @we_r_pl http://www.twitter.com/we_r_pl
Match Stats: Created using http://eplindex.com/ and Statszone
Chalkboards: Created using Statszone http://fourfourtwo.com/statszone