Yorkshire Evening Post 28/2/11
Swansea City v Leeds United: Whites Welsh woes worsen
On their first and only other appearance at the Liberty Stadium, Leeds United all but conceded defeat in their pursuit of the League One title.
In the same arena on Saturday afternoon, the
club’s chance of automatic promotion from the Championship went much the same way.
An eight-point deficit with 12 games to play? “If people want to right us off then that’s up to them,” said United’s manager, Simon Grayson.
“I still think a lot will happen yet.” Ever the optimist, despite a game which left him with a face like thunder.
Mathematics did not make the League One trophy an impossibility when Leeds were beaten in south Wales at the end of 2007 but they accepted their loss as evidence that they would have neither the skill nor the endurance to outrun Swansea City. As it did on Saturday, United’s defeat to a distinctly better team gave rise to sober reflection about their competitive limits.
Those of sympathetic disposition will talk of the header that shook Swansea’s crossbar and a valid penalty appeal which caught referee Phil Dowd and one of his linesmen asleep but the truth of Saturday’s pivotal fixture was that Leeds deserved nothing from it. Swansea hold a reputation for fluid football and ripe confidence and their swaggering performance did not weaken it. “We were wonderful,” said coach Brendan Rodgers.
The Welsh city spent much of last week reminiscing about 1981, the year when their football club produced – in the words of one former player – the “biggest win in our history” and routed Leeds by a margin of four goals. Saturday’s victory could be more significant for a club who have methodically cleared a long path to the Premier League. On Saturday’s evidence, the division would be pleased to include them.
United are rarely found as devoid of vigour as they were in Swansea, and Grayson’s pride does not allow clemency for days so forgettable. It will be some time before Leeds cross a team as unbridled as Swansea were. But the timing of a sorry lull was expensive, as Grayson knew it would be. City were five points better off than United before kick-off and eight by full-time. The chase of second position might now defer to a defence of sixth, barring a change in the Championship’s landscape.
A goal from Scott Sinclair at the start of each half was all Swansea needed to profit from their concerted dominance. Luke Moore’s tap-in made the final 18 minutes a formality. How heavily a second defeat in 21 league games rested on Grayson’s failure to recruit a new player and employ a five-man midfield against a persistent Swansea attack is open to debate – by the final whistle it felt like a serious handicap – but Leeds were examined with wholly unflattering results.
“You can talk about systems,” Grayson said, “but it doesn’t stop you running around and putting in a shift.” He had no appetite for such comments after a four-day window in which four points went begging against Norwich City and Barnsley. He will look back on last week with no fondness at all, aware of the damage it has done to the league table.
It was United’s intention to agree and announce a signing before Saturday – the club’s team bus transported shirt-printing equipment to south Wales in anticipation of a last-minute transfer – but their attempts to prise a suitable midfielder from another club came to nothing. In the absence of the suspended Bradley Johnson, Grayson fought fire with fire by throwing Davide Somma into his line-up, the most aggressive option available to him.
It would be argued by some that Somma should be part of Grayson’s team regardless, on account of a record which runs close to a goal a game, but there was still a sense that United’s boss had been forced into adopting the lesser of two formations. It did not follow that the use of a lone striker was more appropriate at home to Barnsley than in the depths of the Principality. The difficulty of the game in Swansea took no time to sink in. In the sixth minute, the immensely elusive Stephen Dobbie controlled a pass from Nathan Dyer and stroked the ball against the legs of Alex Bruce. Kasper Schmeichel’s left-hand post repelled a deflection which the goalkeeper could not have read. He was as vulnerable again when Sinclair met the resulting corner with a loose volley inside United’s box.
Sinclair is Swansea’s leading scorer and it went without saying that he would not need many chances of that nature to punish Leeds. In fact, he needed only one more. With 13 minutes gone, the winger exchanged passes with Luke Moore and met an exquisite back-heel with an equally delicate shot which curled around Schmeichel and crashed into the net.
By that stage, it was doubtful as to whether Somma had touched the ball in a meaningful sense. His isolation was symptomatic of a team trapped in their own half. Eric Lichaj received the game’s first booking after flattening Sinclair and Robert Snodgrass narrowly avoided the same punishment for picking fault with Dowd. Midway through the half, Glynn Snodin appeared on the touchline with urgent instructions for Neil Kilkenny and Jonathan Howson, both of whom looked visibly unsettled in the centre of midfield. The strain on Leeds was barely disguised.
Grayson’s consolation was a scoreline that could have been worse. Schmeichel saw off a shot from Dyer with his body in the 23rd minute and George McCartney cleared a side-footed finish from the same player off his goalline. Luciano Becchio’s miss-hit effort only just passed as a serious attempt on Swansea’s goal. Injustice was prevalent, however, when Dowd decided to look away as a shot from Snodgrass struck the flailing arm of Alan Tate inside City’s box.
The appeal came amid a sudden surge of inspiration among United’s players and shortly before Somma hit the bar in the penultimate minute of the half. “It was blatant,” said Grayson. “How they’ve have missed it I’ll never know.” As he berated the fourth official, Swansea lost track of Somma and left him lurking beneath a cross from Kilkenny, free to produce a header which De Vries touched onto the woodwork. Unmerited though an equaliser would have been, those moments were key.
Ten minutes into the second half, Max Gradel clipped the heels of Dyer on the very edge of Schmeichel’s area and Sinclair hooked a penalty to the left of the keeper. The game might not have been up had Somma beaten de Vries on the hour after finding himself unmarked and in possession 12 yards from goal but United’s chance to avert their demise did not come again.
Swansea exerted themselves again when Mark Gower rattled a post, and Sinclair attempted to complete a hat-trick when he confused Lichaj with his control of the ball and lashed it a yard wide. Eighteen minutes from time, Moore anticipated Dobbie’s sweet through-ball and dinked a finish over Schmeichel. Between the movement and invention of Rodgers’ expansive armoury, Grayson’s players were run to a standstill.
The majority felt his wrath and Dowd did too. “I spoke to him at half-time,” Grayson said, “and I’m not going to waste my time by speaking to him again.” Dismal though the official’s contribution had been, the greatest share of the blame for Saturday’s defeat belonged at the door of others.
Swansea City v Leeds United: Whites Welsh woes worsen
On their first and only other appearance at the Liberty Stadium, Leeds United all but conceded defeat in their pursuit of the League One title.
In the same arena on Saturday afternoon, the
club’s chance of automatic promotion from the Championship went much the same way.An eight-point deficit with 12 games to play? “If people want to right us off then that’s up to them,” said United’s manager, Simon Grayson.
“I still think a lot will happen yet.” Ever the optimist, despite a game which left him with a face like thunder.
Mathematics did not make the League One trophy an impossibility when Leeds were beaten in south Wales at the end of 2007 but they accepted their loss as evidence that they would have neither the skill nor the endurance to outrun Swansea City. As it did on Saturday, United’s defeat to a distinctly better team gave rise to sober reflection about their competitive limits.
Those of sympathetic disposition will talk of the header that shook Swansea’s crossbar and a valid penalty appeal which caught referee Phil Dowd and one of his linesmen asleep but the truth of Saturday’s pivotal fixture was that Leeds deserved nothing from it. Swansea hold a reputation for fluid football and ripe confidence and their swaggering performance did not weaken it. “We were wonderful,” said coach Brendan Rodgers.
The Welsh city spent much of last week reminiscing about 1981, the year when their football club produced – in the words of one former player – the “biggest win in our history” and routed Leeds by a margin of four goals. Saturday’s victory could be more significant for a club who have methodically cleared a long path to the Premier League. On Saturday’s evidence, the division would be pleased to include them.
United are rarely found as devoid of vigour as they were in Swansea, and Grayson’s pride does not allow clemency for days so forgettable. It will be some time before Leeds cross a team as unbridled as Swansea were. But the timing of a sorry lull was expensive, as Grayson knew it would be. City were five points better off than United before kick-off and eight by full-time. The chase of second position might now defer to a defence of sixth, barring a change in the Championship’s landscape.
A goal from Scott Sinclair at the start of each half was all Swansea needed to profit from their concerted dominance. Luke Moore’s tap-in made the final 18 minutes a formality. How heavily a second defeat in 21 league games rested on Grayson’s failure to recruit a new player and employ a five-man midfield against a persistent Swansea attack is open to debate – by the final whistle it felt like a serious handicap – but Leeds were examined with wholly unflattering results.
“You can talk about systems,” Grayson said, “but it doesn’t stop you running around and putting in a shift.” He had no appetite for such comments after a four-day window in which four points went begging against Norwich City and Barnsley. He will look back on last week with no fondness at all, aware of the damage it has done to the league table.
It was United’s intention to agree and announce a signing before Saturday – the club’s team bus transported shirt-printing equipment to south Wales in anticipation of a last-minute transfer – but their attempts to prise a suitable midfielder from another club came to nothing. In the absence of the suspended Bradley Johnson, Grayson fought fire with fire by throwing Davide Somma into his line-up, the most aggressive option available to him.
It would be argued by some that Somma should be part of Grayson’s team regardless, on account of a record which runs close to a goal a game, but there was still a sense that United’s boss had been forced into adopting the lesser of two formations. It did not follow that the use of a lone striker was more appropriate at home to Barnsley than in the depths of the Principality. The difficulty of the game in Swansea took no time to sink in. In the sixth minute, the immensely elusive Stephen Dobbie controlled a pass from Nathan Dyer and stroked the ball against the legs of Alex Bruce. Kasper Schmeichel’s left-hand post repelled a deflection which the goalkeeper could not have read. He was as vulnerable again when Sinclair met the resulting corner with a loose volley inside United’s box.
Sinclair is Swansea’s leading scorer and it went without saying that he would not need many chances of that nature to punish Leeds. In fact, he needed only one more. With 13 minutes gone, the winger exchanged passes with Luke Moore and met an exquisite back-heel with an equally delicate shot which curled around Schmeichel and crashed into the net.
By that stage, it was doubtful as to whether Somma had touched the ball in a meaningful sense. His isolation was symptomatic of a team trapped in their own half. Eric Lichaj received the game’s first booking after flattening Sinclair and Robert Snodgrass narrowly avoided the same punishment for picking fault with Dowd. Midway through the half, Glynn Snodin appeared on the touchline with urgent instructions for Neil Kilkenny and Jonathan Howson, both of whom looked visibly unsettled in the centre of midfield. The strain on Leeds was barely disguised.
Grayson’s consolation was a scoreline that could have been worse. Schmeichel saw off a shot from Dyer with his body in the 23rd minute and George McCartney cleared a side-footed finish from the same player off his goalline. Luciano Becchio’s miss-hit effort only just passed as a serious attempt on Swansea’s goal. Injustice was prevalent, however, when Dowd decided to look away as a shot from Snodgrass struck the flailing arm of Alan Tate inside City’s box.
The appeal came amid a sudden surge of inspiration among United’s players and shortly before Somma hit the bar in the penultimate minute of the half. “It was blatant,” said Grayson. “How they’ve have missed it I’ll never know.” As he berated the fourth official, Swansea lost track of Somma and left him lurking beneath a cross from Kilkenny, free to produce a header which De Vries touched onto the woodwork. Unmerited though an equaliser would have been, those moments were key.
Ten minutes into the second half, Max Gradel clipped the heels of Dyer on the very edge of Schmeichel’s area and Sinclair hooked a penalty to the left of the keeper. The game might not have been up had Somma beaten de Vries on the hour after finding himself unmarked and in possession 12 yards from goal but United’s chance to avert their demise did not come again.
Swansea exerted themselves again when Mark Gower rattled a post, and Sinclair attempted to complete a hat-trick when he confused Lichaj with his control of the ball and lashed it a yard wide. Eighteen minutes from time, Moore anticipated Dobbie’s sweet through-ball and dinked a finish over Schmeichel. Between the movement and invention of Rodgers’ expansive armoury, Grayson’s players were run to a standstill.
The majority felt his wrath and Dowd did too. “I spoke to him at half-time,” Grayson said, “and I’m not going to waste my time by speaking to him again.” Dismal though the official’s contribution had been, the greatest share of the blame for Saturday’s defeat belonged at the door of others.