Holmes_and_Watson

Lovely call from Edozie and a good pass to him. He might not have had the control, but still willing to take his man on. COuld do with one falling to an Adams (not a tap in) or AA to get us in front.

Adams a mile onside there.

Super from Bednarek. Manning had done an overlap for Edozie (who ignored it, and never seemed likely to use him). But when Alcaraz's pass got intercepted, we had plenty of space at full back. Bedders handled it really well. Another one from us across the face of goal. Any runner at any time would put one of these away.

Oooooh. Lovely ball in from Charles. Really needed a runner at the back post.

Smallbone not falling for this end to end stuff. Gets the ball, asseses the options, swirls round and plays it back. Allowing a better ball to get to Edozie on the other side. Nice and simple, but good control.

A weaker effort from Manning there. Still, after attacks form everywhere else, a central, direct effort would have kept them on their toes if it had some pace to it.

Edozie did so well to take that ball in his stride. But for all the cutting in, he managed to pick out one of the few areas we didn;t have a player. We need a bit more accuracy with that final delivery. They all know where they;re supposed to be in the first two thirds of the pitch. Just that last bit.

Gah! THB off the post! I thought that was going to go in off the post.

Best finisher of disallowed goals in the league. Meh on their player picking up a yellow. Seemed a little harsh. Edozie and Alcaraz linking up well today. But as we're on the attack, we have a bit of a race to prevent one of their counters. We're alert enough, but a goal will always help 🙂

Alcaraz got the ball off of Charles. Charles picking up that position where he shot form in a previous game. Alcaraz did well to get a shot off after that.

KWP getting right through their defence. Just those final deliveries into the middle. We probably need another runner picking up in there, but we've everyone else back involved in the moves.

Nice passing there. Good work from Smallbone to win it back and composure from Edozie and Alcaraz. Always good to see the youngsters do those things well.

Offside for Adams! Really close one. Shame. Nice finish. AA with a long range chip! Trying to outdo Edozie's cheeky back heel! Good start.

AA with a good run. Adams did all he could to put that down into a lovely central spot. But we had noone else with that sriker's instinct. Smallbone was a bit further back. Edozie looking to take on his fullback again too.

2 - 0 to us! COYR!

Listening to our world class radio service telling us about Clive Woodward leading our team of talented youngsters to Premier League glory. 🙂

Habit

For a while it was looking that Championship wasn't his level, which just seemed odd. He's not blisteringly quick, and can look a bit ungainly. But he was lumbering and off the pace. So much better now.

Thanks for that as always Alex. Lots of good points about how we're developing and sharing the same frustrations along the way that we have. Particularly interesting on Aribo. I'd seen him on a number of occassions for Rangers. Over a fairly decent spell too. I was wondering if was an injury/ behind the scenes fall out/ personal reasons why we just didn;t seem to see the same player. A little flash or two early on, but that quickly went downhill. Way back, I was a little sniffy over the SPL. But then we started getting lots of gems from there. I was surprised that he just didn't look near cutting it. It's been really good to see him better than I remember him at Rangers. Form a few lumbering sub appearances to more regular impact appearances all the way to now. The last couple in particular, he's covering even more ground, even more eager to receive the ball too. Like a few of the others, there's a period of sharpness with the more minutes they play. Both fitness and Martin's system. But Edozie and Aribo and others are moving in the right direction. Happy for them. Credit to Martin. There does seem to be honesty, a supportive environment to develop, train and play in, he is using those who work for him and we've needed that. If and when our unbeaten run coems to an end, and when it startes to get to the business end of the season, hopefully that enviromnent will be boost the players to do well more than a shouty, finger poiinting, under pressure one. I know where I'd rather work. Martin's also been right about the opposition chances of late too. We do have areas that can be exploited. But we know that and look to mitigate that as much as possible. it's not always going to work. But we've had a few games where their player has been forced into a shot, on the move at an angle. We're back in numbers nearly all the time, which is about all you can expect.

Wow! Swansea have some decent players. They are as well drilled in our playing style as anyone in the league. We out worked, out fought, utterly out passed and out classed them. We were creating right to the end and they simply couldn't cope with it. They had a couple of early efforts. One from an angle and one from a set piece. None that are going to kep Martin worrying unduly. We've had games with more possession. We've had games with more shots. But our possession was dominant. When we didn;t have it we were structured and they often had it, because we'd been creating something. When we got a shot today, it was nearly always on target. Behind the shots, we simply controlled the game. A ridiculous amount of positives. In addition to the usual work rates for the likes of AA, Aribo looked even shaprer today. He was all over the pitch, offering us different options with his strength. Stephens, not long back, isn;t as sharpe. But he offered a lot of strong play, passing options and looked to drive us forward. Martin praised him a lot at the start of season for his vocal leadership. We saw him push us forward a fair bit today. Stu supported Edozie really well, getting the youngster the opportunities and being there when it needed to be passed back. Taking some of that decision making off his shoulders. Stu was also always about to get froward or track as needed. Edozie did very well. He's now getting enough minutes that he's not only back to the level he got to earlier in the season, but pushing past it. Martin impressed the need for goals from our wider players. Edozie is now delivering that. He offers something different from Fraser too. When their defence saw Fraser coming on, they must have hung their heads a bit. Direct, experienced and aware of opportunities. Having seen a lot of other Championship teams in recent weeks you can see the gap in quality in our passing style. We might not be as out and out attacking as an Ipswich. We might not be as fast or physical as a Watford. But we have so much more control over games. The work done has made us a lot more felxible. We have players instinctively taking up those positions they were coached into ealrier in the season. Bednarek and THB were solid, but Downes, Stephens, Smallbone and others like Aribo today gave them lots of out balls through the middle. It takes a lot of the strain off of Baz. He did very well with the quick passes he had to make from the back today, but didn;t have too much else to do. Cracking performance, and lets hope Leicester can do us a favour later.

Yay! So pleased for Adams. He takes up good positions just waiting and waiting. It looked like the chance was gone. Chested it down for the shot too.

Admas runs into their defence and they get a break. But we're so well drilled in getting players back now.

Another lovely move. KWP linking up well with Aribo. He's been so good today, Mara in a good position and Fraser is such a key finisher for us.

Martin is going to be thrilled at the work rate, that the possession after all the subs has led to dominance and that we're creating chances against a side who just can;t cope with us. I guess there will be some of him that will also see it as a sign of the progression of his own tactics in a different (and more lucrative) set up.

Aribo taking up the Smallbone poistion as we pass it out of defence. He's keen to get it back, and 20 seconds later is supporting Mara in midfield (and having a word in Joe Allan's ear when he fouls Mara)