Swansea started well with 3 shots inside the first 10 minutes but from then on it was a fairly flat performance:
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Shots by minute: 4 of the 6 shots on Target (2 from each side) came in the last 10 minutes including Rangel's save |
The only time Britton, De Guzman and Shelvey have all started the same match is the league cup defeat at Birmingham, obviously rotation is needed with the demands of the Europa league to content with but it did feel like there was a lack of understanding at times.
I still think there's an excellent player within Jonjo Shelvey but it'll take some nurturing (doing the 'Swim Away' gesture at the end of a match when you've lost and not played that well just seems foolish). Looking at the stats the one that was one of the more disappointing ones was that none of the midfield 3 (Britton/Shelvey/De Guzman) attempted a take-on (dribble past an opponent) during the game.
Obviously you wouldn't expect it from Britton but for me it's one of Shelvey's strong points being able to go past players in midfield, which in turn makes space for others. A lot of the time the ball would be played up to Dyer/Routledge who would be quickly bundled off the ball.
The details of where Cardiff recovered the ball by half show the areas Swansea tended to try to attack in, during the first half there was a lot more towards Routledge on Swansea's left but the second half was full of balls up the middle than didn't stick:
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Cardiff's Ball recoveries by half (i.e., where Swansea lost the ball), second half activity concentrated far more in central areas and also more in Swansea's half |
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Swansea forward passes by half, fewer passes in the Second half (also 76% success rate in 1st half compared with 70% in the 2nd) |
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Medel's pass activity, 20 more completed passes than any other player. His 10 ball recoveries was 4 more than any other player (Rangel/Neil Taylor with 6 each) |
Other Posts: Swans Players Shooting by position
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