After bursting out of the block at the start of the season, Swansea City have lost their last three games without troubling the scoresheet.
There were many people predicting that Swansea would struggle this year (myself included), and those people looked pretty stupid (myself included) after the first two matches of the season, when the Swans put five past QPR and three past West Ham, both without reply.
Those performances indicate that Swansea have enough in them this season to win enough games to keep them clear of relegation, but the form they have shown since is a great cause for concern.
A home draw against Sunderland followed, and since then Swansea haven’t scored in the league, losing 2-0 away at Villa, 3-0 at home to Everton, then 2-0 away at Stoke. There were probably two main questions that were posed for the Welsh team pre-season that are still not conclusively answered.
How they would adjust without Rodgers? Would other teams have figured how to play against them? The indications are not looking good for the Welsh team, they are being outfought by the teams they are playing, and have struggled to get their passing rhythm going. Everton even managed to come away from the Liberty with the prized scalp of 54% possession.
Next up for Swansea is two home league games that look very winnable on paper. Reading, yet to register three points in the league, are visiting the Liberty on the 6th October.
After the international break, Wigan then come to Wales. If Laudrup can inspire his team to pick up two wins there, Swansea can regain the momentum they have lost with the recent defeats, momentum they will need heading into the matches with Man City and Chelsea that follow.
They are the hardest team to predict in the Premiership at the moment. Everyone now has an idea of what they expect Swansea to do on the pitch but no-one can say how successful it will be on any particular match day.
Teams are lining up against the Swans knowing what they are going to face, but as QPR and West Ham have shown, knowing what’s coming isn’t the whole battle. It does create an extra challenge for Laudrup though, building in nuances to their style to combat certain opponents who mostly know how Swansea will line up.
The key is to maintain to confidence amongst the players in the system, the easiest way to do that is success on the pitch. If Swansea slip up in their next two fixtures, that confidence might be in sort supply.
image: © Ronnie Macdonald
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