Relegation from the Premier League may be what Swansea needed as they can rediscover their roots in the Championship
Swansea City’s promotion to the Premier League in 2011 saw them heralded as a team with a progressive, attacking style – but there was a suspicion that they might struggle playing ‘nice’ football in the unforgiving Premier League.
Swansea have survived seven years at the top level, winning a League Cup along the way, but their final undoing turned out to be losing the style of play that led to so many fearing for them in that first season in the big time.
It had been a hell of a journey to get there; Swansea were always moving forward, always seeking to improve on their passing philosophy, and found success as they moved up the divisions.
It continued in the Premier League under managers Brendan Rodgers & Michael Laudrup, but fast forward to 2018 and Swansea have completely lost touch with what got them there in the first place.
Swansea were involved in seven games this season where a team had more than 70% possession. That’s an impressive statistic and a few years ago you’d naturally – and likely rightly – assume that they were the team with the majority of the possession – but Swansea had less possession of the ball in the league every time they played during the 17/18 season. No team matches that.
This is very far from the Swansea that most neutrals came to admire, and if reports are to be believed, the club may be looking to get back to their roots.
De Telegraaf in the Netherlands reports that the Swans are moving for former Reading manager Jaap Stam – a coach whose love of possession football wasn’t as well received in Reading as it may be in Wales.
Things were close to being very successful at Reading as Stam led the club to a play-off final in 2017, but in the end, he was unable to make his love of possession as effective as it needed to be, leading to dull, negative displays that understandably brought criticism from the fans.
At Swansea, however, it should be easier to implement, given their background in possession football. That’s not to say Swansea and Stam would be an instant success that brings them back to the Premier League, but it does suggest that a move back to the long-term approach of their last spell in the football league is one they want to take.
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Swansea initially bought into a possession style of football in 2007, when in League One under Roberto Martinez, and successfully stuck with it through three different managers.
Stam and the current side may not be the set up that guides Swansea back to the Premier League, but surely appointing Stam as manager is step in the direction of an ethos that once set Swansea apart – and that they know full well can eventually get them to where they want to be.
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