Analysis: Swansea City a victim of their own success as Everton find the right … – WalesOnline

Swansea City 0 – 2 Everton

A CASE of being careful what you wish for, perhaps?

For some time now – whether they’ll admit it or not – Swansea City have been a side that have craved due respect.

Not just for being a Premier League side in their own right, but for the manner in which they’ve attained such a status.

Universally and deservedly, Brendan Rodgers’ men have now got that recognition for being a darn good side.

Yet it does not come without cost.

Because it was the very fact that Everton’s esteem for Swansea was so high that led them to this Liberty victory – and a near-perfect illustration of why David Moyes is rated so highly as a manager.

“David’s a great manager who does his work,” said Rodgers after his side’s three-game winning run had been halted by second-half goals from Leighton Baines and Nikica Jelavic.

The Northern Irishman was not wrong; Moyes had been in the stands to witness Manchester City’s beating on the banks of the Tawe a few weeks earlier and had clearly been impressed enough to make special plans for his own team’s trip.

“As soon as our game finished on Wednesday we had to focus fully on this,” explained Moyes’ captain Phil Neville.

“We worked very hard tactically and that’s full credit to Swansea.”

But the credit on the day was all Moyes’ as the Scot – some people’s tip to replace Sir Alex Ferguson at Old Trafford – set his side out with a plan of pressure and pace that got its rewards after the interval.

Why was it so impressive?

Mainly because Moyes had the bravery to accept that Swansea would better his side if he had not.

Few other Premier League bosses are comfortable enough in their own skin to make such a match-winning admission against a promoted side.

“I think it shows how far we have come,” said Leon Britton, Swansea’s deep-lying midfield conductor who was given so much close attention from Tim Cahill that you wouldn’t have been surprised to have seen the Aussie enter the home dressing room at the break.

“I wouldn’t say teams weren’t bothered about how we played coming here earlier in the season, but they definitely concentrated on themselves more than us.

“Now teams coming here know how well we pass the ball and are looking at how they can stop it.

“It’s a compliment in a way that a side like Everton are willing to change their game plan.

“We weren’t at our best but some of that’s down to Everton playing well and we’ll have to learn from it because other teams could look at what the sides who get results here are doing.”

There were similarities to Norwich’s Liberty victory in terms of the pressure applied to ball-playing defenders.

Even Manchester United’s success in South Wales was based on a first half of high-pressing.

Of course, this should not be completely new to Swansea.

There were crude versions in the Championship of teams just looking to be physical to prevent the pass and keep Swansea penned in, Derby being both the best and worst example.

But those who see pushing on the full-backs and trying to rush the pass as an all-conquering Kryptonite to Swansea’s supermen should be wary.

Not all sides have a manager as astute as Moyes who knew when and where to let Swansea have the ball.

Not all will have a group of players who clearly have unerring trust in their manager’s tactics and then have the ability to carry them out with such aplomb.

And, a bit more simply, not all sides will have Steven Pienaar, the South African wideman who showed just why he was one of the most talked-about players in the Premier League before his ill-judged move to Tottenham.

Here he was excellent in a second half where Everton took advantage of their boxing-style approach; having frustrated their dangerous opponent to start with, a flurry of counters provided the knock-out blows.

Pienaar was exemplary in the way he pressed high as Swansea dominated first-half possession and then attacked at rapid speed to force the errors when the hosts opened up in search of a breakthrough.

His work with Baines impressed, although it was the full-back who got the ball rolling for the Merseysiders when he was allowed to advance diagonally towards goal from the left before the returning Ashley Williams – clearly sluggish after illness – timed his challenge all wrong.

In response, Baines’ technique at the 59th-minute dead ball was all right, curling expertly past Michel Vorm.

Swansea fell away from then on in.

Where before they had been patient, frustration crept in and mistakes were made on an increasingly frequent basis.

Made all the more annoying from the fact they had been in such control in the opening period, Everton pressure or not.

There had been occasions when the killer pass was just an inch off and, as Neville pointed out afterwards, had Swansea got their goal then this result would have been very different.

As it happened, Phil Jagielka directly denied Swansea on at least three occasions as Danny Graham and twice Gylfi Sigurdsson were blocked out by the England centre-half.

Had he not stood tall and cut out the crosses and the shots then no-one would be mentioning Moyes’ masterplan.

As it was, Swansea stopped playing and became overran, defeat confirmed by Jelavic’s 76th-minute strike, a tap-in made possible when substitute Marouane Fellaini got around Williams.

“The consistency levels in our game are not so good and if you are not consistent with your touch and your pass, or tracking runners, then good players will punish you,” admitted Rodgers.

The 39-year-old was possibly more critical of himself than his players here, accepting his decision to shuffle with two up top in the second half didn’t work.

But if this is what comes from a new level of respect, Rodgers will clearly enjoy the tactical tussle of it all – and will ask his players to embrace the challenge just as much.

“You talk about tactics but that’s your job as a coach and manager,” he said.

“If I anticipate they are going to come and press us high we split the centre-backs and push a full-back on to become three at the back.

“For parts of the game it worked, but it’s just about retaining that confidence to keep doing it because these are situations we have to get used to, outnumbering the opponent.

“It’s something we will get better at because what we are learning is if we don’t have comfort in some games when we are getting pressed and pressurised it’s important we retain that arrogance.

“On a number of occasions we have done that but it is about being consistent with it.”

Do that and the respect will be even more deserved.