Part 2 of our detailed tactical match analysis as Swansea City got their first three points of the season away at Crystal Palace – continuing their excellent Premier League record at Selhurst Park.
If you haven`t read Part 1 – which covered the first half, you can read it here.
Swans quickly make it 2-0
After a promising first half for the Swans, the second half got off to a perfect start as within a few minutes, we were gifted a chance to double our lead.
Kyle Naughton deserved the plaudits for seeing the opportunity to rob possession just inside his own half, before feeding a perfectly weighted pass through for Ayew to run through one on one with the goalkeeper to score past Hennessey.
Palace`s tactical changes
At the start of the second half, Frank de Boer made a sub and a system change in a quick effort to get his team back in the game. He switched to a back-four, instructed his players to go more direct and aim for Benteke, after he was lacking service and support in the first half.
Andros Townsend was also given a more free role across the pitch behind Benteke, and we`ll look in more detail at how he continued to be the host`s best creative player.
In the first half, Palace were struggling with their long, direct balls into the final third, just like the Swans really as they were often aimless and overhit.
The pass map below demonstrates Palace`s long balls in the first half, with only 23% success rate:
That long pass success rate doubled after the break to 47% and you can see their second half long-ball pass map below. Their success increased mainly because they were playing more lofted balls up for Benteke, rather than playing passes mostly aimed for runners through the channels. A lot of their long balls in the second half were aimed to Benteke in the central area – around 25-30 yards from goal.
Townsend`s creative influence in the middle third
Andros Townsend, and his link-up play with Benteke was Palace`s best hope of getting back into the game. After playing alongside the striker in the first half, the former Spurs man looked more comfortable in a free attacking role – as he moved from either flank as well as into the centre to link up the play and get Benteke more involved.
His touch map below (full 90 mins) shows how he was able to roam free across the pitch and in the final third, but he was never able to get a shot inside the penalty area.
Whether he was making runs by cutting inside or sending in high balls for Benteke, most of the attacking play went through him in the second half.
Clement matches de Boer and goes with a back four
As the second half went on, Palace were beginning to find more space and the Swansea defenders were having to make a couple of last-ditch tackles to deny clear goalscoring chances. Olsson made the first inside the box, before van der Hoorn made an even better one moments later to deny what would have been a certain goal.
You can also see below how space begins to open up in front of the back five, as Townsend receives the ball in the space between the defence and midfield lines.
This was something that Clement quickly wanted to prevent so he switched to a 4-3-3 system around half-way through the second half.
Routledge came on for van der Hoorn and the winger played alongside Abraham, with Ayew switching to the left in a front three.
The change had an almost immediate effect, as we were now able to push Palace further up the pitch – as we finally began to reduce the pressure on our back line.
The 4-3-3 quickly switched to a defensive 4-5-1 as Routledge and Ayew dropped deeper. You can see below how this was able to eliminate the space that Townsend was previously getting in between the lines.
The below screenshot shows debutant Sam Clucas` showing good awareness – ensuring neither player either side of him gets too much space.
Clement later said after the game that he was happy with the first half and our dominance, but was frustrated with how much defending we had to do in the second. He had a valid point as weren`t able to build on that first 45 minutes or on our 2-goal advantage.
The second half Swansea City pass-map below shows their complete lack of activity in the final third, with the only final third successful passes happening down the right flank.
Nevertheless, it was an excellent win for Clement`s side and their 100% away clean sheet record continues. I`m sure the head coach will be happy with the opening 3 games, as well as being confident that our attacking creativity and potential will improve following the deadline day signings of Renato Sanches and Wilfried Bony.
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