Swansea City suffered their fourth consecutive away league defeat last Friday night away at league leaders Norwich City but there were still plenty of positives to take from the performance, particularly in the first half.
Graham Potter’s side dominated large spells of the first half but without Oli McBurnie up front, they were missing a striker to finish off chances. Dan James was excellent up front but he lacked attacking support in the penalty area to compliment his energy across the attacking line.
Norwich fans were also impressed by our first half performance in particular and you can read some of their comments after the game in the article linked below:
Norwich City fans’ reaction – “Swansea were excellent”, “They never looked like scoring”
Looking at some of the positive aspects of the performance at Carrow Road, some of the main ones have been highlighted below via Twitter:
High press
Swansea City adopted a high press, not something they’ve adopted previously this season and it was very effective in the first half. Grimes pushes into Norwich’s half, wins the ball and sends Dyer down the right. pic.twitter.com/3stkSuZPGT
— Swans Analytics (@SwansAnalytics) March 11, 2019
Dan James
@Daniel_James_97 movement up top was excellent, constantly on the move and trying to find space. Diagonal runs here before receiving the ball in a wide right position, beating his man and getting a low cross in. pic.twitter.com/sj7qQvXGT4
— Swans Analytics (@SwansAnalytics) March 11, 2019
Playing out from the back
Swansea City vs Norwich City (L1-0) Video Analysis Thread
Norwich's press lacked intensity and organisation in first half, making it too easy for #Swans to recycle ball backwards and make space in midfield with @G_byers dropping in. Nordfeldt confident playing out short pic.twitter.com/i7dd01P47r
— Swans Analytics (@SwansAnalytics) March 11, 2019
Swansea City #Swans Average #PassMap vs Norwich City #NCFC (0-67 mins)
Celina active on either side of the pitch so his average position is central pic.twitter.com/HuAkrpr0ae
— Swans Analytics (@SwansAnalytics) March 11, 2019
Along with the positives though, you can’t ignore the negatives and where there’s still obvious room for improvement. The subs bench showed a lack of depth and Graham Potter had next to nothing to work with in an attempt to get his side back in the game after Norwich took the lead after 54 minutes. They adjusted their press in the second half, blocked passes into midfield and as a result we struggled to create chances. As well as that, we also couldn’t find an alternative way to play and get through the opposition as Potter switched to a 4-3-3 as Baker-Richardson played on the right with McKay coming on to play through the middle.