Aston Villa 2-0 Swansea
Everything comes to an end and Michael Laudrup's fantastic unbeaten streak finally came to an end as Aston Villa managed to secure their first win of the season much to the detriment of Swansea.
At the start of the day Aston Villa looked like a team who were really struggling in the Premier League and with pressure building on both the manager, Paul Lambert and the players they needed a good performance. That's exactly what they got from the off.
The deadlock was broken early in the game as Michael Lowton opened the scoring and put Villa 1-0 around the quarter of an hour mark thanks to a genuinely spectacular strike that evaded Michael Vorm thanks to a minor deflection. After taking the lead Villa were unwilling to let Swansea back into the game and pressed hard every time the visitors had the ball neutralising almost all the threats by the Swansea attack.
Whilst were very tough at the back, Swansea did manage to come close forcing Brad Guzan to make an excellent double save whilst it was still 1-0. Despite leading for much of the game there was a slight nervousness to Villa that wasn't done away with until they sealed the points in the 88th minute thanks to Belgian international Christian Benteke. Despite not coming on until late into the game Benteke looked sensational and worth every penny of the £7million Villa paid for him.
Villa fans may have been feeling despair just a few days ago though with their first win on the board and with Benteke looking a little bit special they will now be feeling very relieved. Though they may have their first win, they still look like a club who could struggle to stay up, especially if Benteke takes a knock as he looks like he could well be the key to the teams success.
Swansea's great start may have come to a premature end but I doubt many will worry too much at this stage. The Swans are still one of the most attractive to watch teams in the Premier League and a blip here and there will not see their season turning to a horror. This wasn't them are their best but they certainly are not a team to worry about.
Showing posts with label Michael Laudrup. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Michael Laudrup. Show all posts
Thursday, 20 September 2012
Saturday, 25 August 2012
Premier League Week 2-Write up Swansea v West Ham
Swansea 3-0 West Ham
Things went from good to better for new Swansea manager Michael Laudrup who's team will sit atop the Premier League for at least a couple of hours having won the early kick off of the day. The Swans have not only collected a maximum 6 points from their opening 2 games but also netted an impressive 8 goals which conceding 0 and looked very impressive so far.
Early in the match it was West Ham who looked impressive starting fast with new signing Matt Jarvis almost setting up Kevin Nolan inside 90 seconds or so. Quickly however West Ham's impetus faded and Swansea grew into the game before grabbing the lead thanks to a huge blunder by Finnish keeper Jussi Jääskeläinen who effectively tipped a Angel Rangel shot into his own net. It took little time for West Ham to shoot themselves in the foot for a second time as James Collins (who was awful throughout the game) allowed Michu an easy opportunity to double the lead and he duly took it netting his 3rd Premier League goal in just 2 games.
West Ham finished the first half they way they started it, looking very dangerous. They had 3 corners one after the other as the Swansea defense struggled to cope with the threat in the air. They came close during this spell of pressure with Carlton Cole having a shot cleared off the line by Neil Taylor though couldn't breach the defense as Swansea held on for dear life hoping to go into the half time without conceding.
Thankfully for Swansea the half time effectively killed West Ham's threat and the visitors rarely looked like scoring in the second half with the nearest they came being a chance that Carlton Cole tried to bicycle kick but missed completely. Whilst West Ham looked like an ever more toothless team Swansea looked to increase their lead and came close a number of times before Danny Graham sealed the game with the 3rd goal of the match. After this the game was all but over and West Ham were greeted to some rather unflattering chants by the Swansea fans who were willing to describe the West Ham players in a way they saw fitting.
For Swansea this is a perfect start to their season and one that no one could have expected. 6 points and 8 goals is just something no Swansea fan would have dreamed of though it's something that will see them marking their cards. It's amazing to think that the story of Scott Sinclair not even being on the bench will be completely forgotten following this result and the Swans won't care if he stays or not.
Although Michael Laudrup will be understandably chuffed to pieces it's fair to say that Sam Allardyce won't be anywhere near as happy. Last week his team didn't look anything special but still easily beat Aston Villa, this weekend however his team looked genuinely awful. Matt Jarvis aside there was little positive to take from this game for West Ham who perhaps feel lucky it was only 3-0 following a nightmare for their defense. It's fair to say the Hammers will just want to put this behind them and look towards their next match.
Notes-
Michu becomes the Premier Leagues Highest Scorer so far with 3 goals
This match featured 6 yellow cards, tied most for a fixture this season.
Although the opening goal was originally put down as an own goal, it appears the "dubious goals panel" has awarded it to Rangel.
Things went from good to better for new Swansea manager Michael Laudrup who's team will sit atop the Premier League for at least a couple of hours having won the early kick off of the day. The Swans have not only collected a maximum 6 points from their opening 2 games but also netted an impressive 8 goals which conceding 0 and looked very impressive so far.
Early in the match it was West Ham who looked impressive starting fast with new signing Matt Jarvis almost setting up Kevin Nolan inside 90 seconds or so. Quickly however West Ham's impetus faded and Swansea grew into the game before grabbing the lead thanks to a huge blunder by Finnish keeper Jussi Jääskeläinen who effectively tipped a Angel Rangel shot into his own net. It took little time for West Ham to shoot themselves in the foot for a second time as James Collins (who was awful throughout the game) allowed Michu an easy opportunity to double the lead and he duly took it netting his 3rd Premier League goal in just 2 games.
West Ham finished the first half they way they started it, looking very dangerous. They had 3 corners one after the other as the Swansea defense struggled to cope with the threat in the air. They came close during this spell of pressure with Carlton Cole having a shot cleared off the line by Neil Taylor though couldn't breach the defense as Swansea held on for dear life hoping to go into the half time without conceding.
Thankfully for Swansea the half time effectively killed West Ham's threat and the visitors rarely looked like scoring in the second half with the nearest they came being a chance that Carlton Cole tried to bicycle kick but missed completely. Whilst West Ham looked like an ever more toothless team Swansea looked to increase their lead and came close a number of times before Danny Graham sealed the game with the 3rd goal of the match. After this the game was all but over and West Ham were greeted to some rather unflattering chants by the Swansea fans who were willing to describe the West Ham players in a way they saw fitting.
For Swansea this is a perfect start to their season and one that no one could have expected. 6 points and 8 goals is just something no Swansea fan would have dreamed of though it's something that will see them marking their cards. It's amazing to think that the story of Scott Sinclair not even being on the bench will be completely forgotten following this result and the Swans won't care if he stays or not.
Although Michael Laudrup will be understandably chuffed to pieces it's fair to say that Sam Allardyce won't be anywhere near as happy. Last week his team didn't look anything special but still easily beat Aston Villa, this weekend however his team looked genuinely awful. Matt Jarvis aside there was little positive to take from this game for West Ham who perhaps feel lucky it was only 3-0 following a nightmare for their defense. It's fair to say the Hammers will just want to put this behind them and look towards their next match.
Notes-
Michu becomes the Premier Leagues Highest Scorer so far with 3 goals
This match featured 6 yellow cards, tied most for a fixture this season.
Although the opening goal was originally put down as an own goal, it appears the "dubious goals panel" has awarded it to Rangel.
Saturday, 18 August 2012
Premier League Week 1-Write up QPR v Swansea
QPR 0-5 Swansea
Last year QPR really struggled to stay up, it appears they will again be struggling to stay in the Premier League despite making a number of notable signings over summer. The talking point here however wasn't QPR, but instead Swansea, who under new manager Michael Laudrup looked sensational.
New signing Michu opened the scoring for the Swansea in just 8 minutes announcing his arrival with a shot that just appeared to roll away from the keeper. He doubled his personal account early in the second with an excellent finish to cap off a wonderful counter attack by Swansea as QPR chased an equalised.
The second Michu goal appeared to open the floodgates for Swansea who were in a mood to fill their boots and that appeared to be what they did with Nathan Dyer netting twice himself before late substitute Scott Sinclair added a fifth and final goal for the Swans.
Despite the rumour of Scott Sinclair leaving Swansea in the near future this was a promising performance by the whole team who, under Laudrup looked genuinely sensational, especially on the counter. The Danish manager has made several very shrewd buys, including the signing of Michu who may end up being the buy of the season.
Mark Hughes appears to have a pretty good squad on paper, though it could take a while for his players to gel, this could be the big problem with QPR, however the bigger problem appears to be their finishing. With over 20 shots today QPR only managed to hit half of them on target, with 0 goals from 11 shots on target you need to wonder whether they have the strike force which can keep them up. The fact Swansea found it so easy to rip them apart on the counter should also be a very worrying sign for the Loftus Road club. This isn't how you start a season.
Last year QPR really struggled to stay up, it appears they will again be struggling to stay in the Premier League despite making a number of notable signings over summer. The talking point here however wasn't QPR, but instead Swansea, who under new manager Michael Laudrup looked sensational.
New signing Michu opened the scoring for the Swansea in just 8 minutes announcing his arrival with a shot that just appeared to roll away from the keeper. He doubled his personal account early in the second with an excellent finish to cap off a wonderful counter attack by Swansea as QPR chased an equalised.
The second Michu goal appeared to open the floodgates for Swansea who were in a mood to fill their boots and that appeared to be what they did with Nathan Dyer netting twice himself before late substitute Scott Sinclair added a fifth and final goal for the Swans.
Despite the rumour of Scott Sinclair leaving Swansea in the near future this was a promising performance by the whole team who, under Laudrup looked genuinely sensational, especially on the counter. The Danish manager has made several very shrewd buys, including the signing of Michu who may end up being the buy of the season.
Mark Hughes appears to have a pretty good squad on paper, though it could take a while for his players to gel, this could be the big problem with QPR, however the bigger problem appears to be their finishing. With over 20 shots today QPR only managed to hit half of them on target, with 0 goals from 11 shots on target you need to wonder whether they have the strike force which can keep them up. The fact Swansea found it so easy to rip them apart on the counter should also be a very worrying sign for the Loftus Road club. This isn't how you start a season.
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