Nathan Dyer was back on the scoresheet for the first time since 2014, scoring twice to help his Swansea City side to a much-needed home win against Brentford.
The Bees suffered another three-goal margin defeat at the Liberty Stadium and they were 1-0 down within 35 seconds as Dan James pounced on a defensive mistake, helping Nathan Dyer to an easy goal to break an almost five-year goal drought.
A quick and positive start was a must against Brentford as they dominated the first half against us in the FA Cup and that’s exactly what we got. They couldn’t cause us the same problems with space to attack in wide areas and we controlled and dictated the tempo of the game.
Like he did against Manchester City, Graham Potter was bold in his starting XI, putting Matt Grimes alongside Mike van der Hoorn in defence.
This added a second quality passer at the back to help build from deep and keep control of possession. It worked very well at Manchester City and you could understand Potter’s reasoning for doing the same against another side that like to play a passing and possession-based game.
With 58% possession in the first half and only facing 1 shot, which was blocked, the Swans could afford to have Grimes at the back rather than Carter-Vickers.
Grimes has slotted in between two defenders for the most part of the calendar year so in possession, his role as a centre back wasn’t too different. With Fulton in midfield as a defensive player, Grimes could then afford to move forward and out of the defensive line to support attacks as they progress through the phases.
⚡️ “Swansea City 3-0 Brentford”https://t.co/Q6TtUE2XNb
— Swans Analytics (@SwansAnalytics) April 2, 2019
Jay Fulton has come under criticism this season but he was a useful pawn in the middle, doing useful ‘dirty’ work, clearing up loose balls, making tackles and helping the ball on to more technical players. The Twitter Moment above outlines some of the key stats and Fulton’s tackling, passing and take-on stats during the game.
Brentford left far too many gaps across their defence and they were naive, giving Dan James too much space to work with down the left and the second half summed this up perfectly. Far from a route one side, the Swans scored from a long punt upfield from Nordfeldt as Dyer netted again to double our lead before the break.
#SWA 3-0 #BRE (via @StatsZone): Sometimes route one is best! 😃 pic.twitter.com/HGDfhM9iKQ
— Swans Analytics (@SwansAnalytics) April 2, 2019
Brentford had to come out in the second half and show some purpose after a controlled first 45 from the Swans and they managed to reverse the possession stats at least with 59% possession after the break.
However, while they did get into some promising positions, they didn’t use some of the width and wide open space down their left as Potter later moved Routledge to cover their overloads down that side.
They only managed one shot on target but a goal back for Brentford would have seen a nervy ending to the game as Swansea sat deeper to see out a 2-0 lead.
McBurnie and Baker-Richardson later came off the bench in an effort to ease Brentford’s further and to force them back. The subs proved effective as we got a third and guaranteed all three points with 12 minutes remaining. The two forwards helped release that pressure and we finally get to get more involved in the game in Brentford’s half.
The ball was worked down the left, Baker-Richardson pulled a low ball across that fellow substitute McBurnie miss-hit a shot but the ball fell kindly to Connor Roberts whose effort came back off the post. Again, the ball fell to Dan James who steered the ball inside the goalkeeper’s right-hand post.
It was a very professional and confident performance from the Swans. Brentford proved to be just the type of side that Swansea thrive against, a passing team with gaps at the back and we took full advantage. We also pressed higher up the pitch once again and took 2 of our 3 big chances created.
Middlesbrough and Stoke will both provide a different test but if we can produce the same level of performance and be stronger defending set pieces, then there’s no reason why we can’t register another three points.
