Swansea vs Newcastle a few quick thoughts
Dan Tracey
September 11, 2017
1,893 Views
- Rafa Benitez may well have missed the game due to illness but he would have been a very happen man from the confines of his sickbed as Newcastle earned their second successive win of the season
- A win that sees them move up to the relative comfort of 10th place thanks to Jamaal Lascelles second half winner
- Captain Lascelles was not only the hero due to his close range header but also due to the fact that he made a last ditch clearance when Tammy Abraham looked on odds on to score
- Abraham had rounded Rob Elliot and with the goal at his mercy it looked like it would be Swansea who would break the deadlock
- But Lascelles showed the kind of effort befitting of a captain as he kept the ball out of the net
- Despair for Swansea as that would have undoubtedly changed the complexion of the game
- As it stands though it is a third blank in front of goal for Swansea this season
- Their only goals coming against Crystal Palace who themselves are yet to score
- As for Renato Sanches, his much anticipated debut was one to forget
- The young Portuguese international had a torrid afternoon at the Liberty Stadium
- He had no shots on target and was dispossessed from possession a staggering 23 times
- If he is the replacement for Gylfi Sigurdsson then Swansea are going to be in for a long season
- He will quickly find out that the Premier League is a much different beast to the Primera Liga or even the Bundesliga for that matter
- This could be something of a rude awakening for the Bayern Munich loanee
- The first half offered little bar a flurry of chances for Newcastle with Lukasz Fabianski certainly the better of the two keepers
- Mikel Merino’s dive to win a penalty was laughable to say the least
- Soon after the restart we had another high foot challenge, if Jurgen Klopp was watching he would be asking himself why was Sadio Mane sent off and not Matt Ritchie
- Ritchie made contact with Alfie Mawson’s arm and I think the fact that the former Barnsley made very little of it did the Newcastle midfielder a huge favour
- That is not to say that the players reaction should have a bearing on the punishment but again it points to a lack of consistency
- Had it been 11 vs 10 then Swansea may well have gone on to record a victory of their own
- But with both teams having a full compliment of players on the park you would have to say that it was a fair result
- The winner came from Lascelles with just 14 minutes remaining,
- Matt Ritchie who perhaps should have not been on the pitch at this point swung the corner in and once again zonal marking showed its ineffectiveness as the Newcastle captain powered an unchallenged header past Fabianski
- A sloppy goal for Swansea to concede especially when they are so goal shy at the other end
- They drop to 15th in the table
- Wilfried Bony with the squad number 2, no. Just no
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