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Reply | Watford v Swansea City : Match day thread
at 13:20 1 Feb 2026
If something works more than happy to use as needed but you would have expected the top goal scorers to be marked properly or are we being coached better for set pieces. Good whipped in corners into the front post only needs a little space in front of the defender and a minimal contact with the ball, very hard then for defenses to react quick enough. |
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Reply | Who's that new right winger?
at 09:48 1 Feb 2026
Nice to see him get the goal and yes he has the pace to play on the wing and playing in front of a defensively strong full back he could be an asset similar to the way Connor Roberts played in front of Naughton and Bidwell played in front of Manning under Cooper, possibly in front of Ward, Galbraith, Parker or even Ronald?
Really think Key had picked up so many bad habits under Martin and Williams the pressure on him to keep possession of the ball led to him taking far too many touches on the ball in dangerous positions, the emphasis on a wingback style meant he was expected to get forward with the ball expecting cover at all times to be in place from the midfield or the back three, leaving his defensive skills abandoned and almost considered unnecessary, leaving him seemingly hapless in the art of defending against a winger, does he get tight to stop the skillful winger having the ball to feet enabling them to run him ragged or drop off to prevent the ball over the top for a pacy winger.
You have to say Tymon suffered the same problems as well but now Tymon seems to have learnt under Matos that the correct position as a full back enables him to read the winger, able to get a foot in, intercept passes and know how to defend the ball in behind him and when it is going to be used. A good defensive position also allows the fullback to attack the aerial ball which again Tymon is doing. A good winger is always cause fullback problem and often doubling up is required when they have balls in their control.
Key just hasn't got to grips with his defensive role in the Championship because of what has been asked of him previously. Yes we do want to see fullbacks joining the attack at times , playing both Stamenic and Fulton maybe afforded the fullbacks the cover to mark the wingers tighter or allowed our fullbacks to get forward at times but as commented during the game Stamenic left too much space to players in the midfield dropping off, that was addressed later in the first half as Fulton experience being allowed to be used you could see him having a few words with Stamenic, quite amusing really as we had previously seen Fulton under different managers and different captains being far too deep at times.
Really hope Key can now get his confidence back and with help amend his game under Matos because under other managers, I will exclude Sheehan , it looked as if no defensive coaching had been done expecting players to be of Championship quality which meant young players were dumped and forgotten while others were left trying the same old thing that didn't work.
Good players try and improve their weaknesses to compliment their strengths but often need advise on how to do that. |
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Reply | Watford v Swansea City : Match day thread
at 18:12 31 Jan 2026
We are getting results a lot of the time through set pieces.
Job done today not too many silly slip ups in the first half and took advantage of the spaces left as the home team are obliged to pressing the second.
Happy withwin. |
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Reply | Watford v Swansea City : Match day thread
at 15:55 31 Jan 2026
Messy first half, we had a chance, as you would expect Vipotnik shoots but maybe should have been laid to Eom as the space opened up for him.
Fulton on the left of central midfield Stamenic on the right hence the number of attacks against on the right. One point Fulton urging Stamenic to lose the player on the ball quicker. If Stamenic is better placed the ball doesn't get played to the free player.
Will be interesting how long Ward stays in or does he getthefull game and Galbraith comes on in the midfield? [Post edited 31 Jan 18:06]
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Reply | Watford v Swansea City : Match day thread
at 15:04 31 Jan 2026
Fitting all the pieces together is the problem, Sheehan had a load of newbies but also the high expectations upon him.
Matos has a team players who knows bit more now, slowly getting there. Fingers crossed |
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Reply | Watford v Swansea City : Match day thread
at 14:25 31 Jan 2026
Had a wobble when Widell wasn't on the team sheet. He needed to get use to the physicality of the Championship, now looks for me, one of the first names on the team sheet, initial preformance against Man City, quality ball into Vipotnik, and aren't the team stats for when he is in the starting eleven excellent?
Late knock for Widell, protecting Galbraith seems sensible since the loss of Inoussa. |
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Reply | Cabango and his astonishing handball loses the game for Swansea City
at 19:55 25 Jan 2026
As you say Millar was a thorn in our side but we seemed to be on top at the beginning of that second half with Millar taken off we seemed to press home our advantage with the players on the pitch I appreciate he may have though the centre of midfield needed a new burst of energy but Ronald Eom and Franco seemed on top, maybe a he took off too many of our players who were causing Hull problems?
Matos trying to find that winning formula away from home but not helped by bad mistakes.. |
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Reply | Cabango and his astonishing handball loses the game for Swansea City
at 10:56 25 Jan 2026
And yet Burgess left footed delivery to Tymon has enable Tymon to recieve the ball infront of him, so he comes onto the ball at speed, the same could be said for Cabango when he got the ball out to Ronald in the past when he bypassed Key for quick ball(Key got the ball forward a lot quicker yesterday it had to be said).
We have seen both Burgess and Cabango trying to force the pass and trying to play in tight areas when teams have tried to press us, all about making the right decisions.If in doubt take the easiest option and the one that doesn't maintain pressure on us.
For a midfielder the easiest option is for the defence to attack the ball so the midfielder doesn't have to keep on dropping deep to support the tippy tap play at the back allowing the midfield to support the attack quicker.
Cabango and Burgess have their weaknesses one of the main one is that they haven't sorted out who is going to go for the aerial ball both in defence and attack they really should be more mindful or each other differcult in defensive set pieces but in attack they should be better placed maybe making better runs to pull defenders about or apart, having said that a number of our goals have come from set pieces this season so something is better than previous ones.
Happy to play good quick football to feet to exploit the spaces made by good movement but the centrehalves have to take into account how the opposition team is set up to press and close us down, which the opposition are more inclined or expected to do when they are the home team or considered to be the superior team.
Picking the correct options, for the most part yesterday we did, we did get ourselves in a flap at 2-0 but weathered it until half time and regained our composure after the break. |
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Reply | Cabango and his astonishing handball loses the game for Swansea City
at 09:41 25 Jan 2026
We have seen both Cabango and Burgess make bad forward passes so you can understand why they are both a bit cautious in getting the ball forward quickly but every player makes mistakes, the better the player the less mistakes, which is required in defensive areas of the pitch, pressure on players takes it's toll of players whether it is up top in the midfield or defence. The only reason for Cabango error is the pressure that Cabango feels, I not going to let McBurnie score against us, I not going to concede again from a set piece, I must win every aerial challenge and I'm Captian everyone is depending on me to do my job but that is not the case in a team you have to let other take responsibilities, do your job to the best of your abilities and let others do theirs. Stupid decision but you can't say we haven't seen " better" professional footballers make the same mistake.
It has been pointed out the that Key and Ronald don't work together well, Key wouldn't play the forward ball to Ronald but yesterday he did nice and early and between them they were causing Hull no end of problems. Key doing his job which basically while in possession work as a team to get the ball forward quickly , once Ronald has got the ball at his feet it is up to him to access the situation and act accordingly making his descions based on the movement around him. We know Key's forward movement is good seems a shame that after we scored the pressure Matos is now under made him change things. He wanted to get Widell on but didn't want to take Cullen off because he can score goals but things changed they went all defensive and we lost one of our best tools in attack someone who can run at players, sometimes not particularly with finesse but Ronald was causing problems with the help of Key.
It seemed strange that we scored in the 59 minute were well on top but Matos changed things in the 66 minute, taking our two wide players and one central midfielder off and putting two central midfielders and one winger on, we had been stretching Hull with our play and having some success out wide, I can't recall if Hull's changes made a difference but ours seem to slow our build up down. Is Matos feeling the pressure being unable to find that winning performance away from home.
But for a couple of mistakes the game could have gone another way? |
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Reply | Hull City v Swansea City : Match day thread
at 23:35 24 Jan 2026
Are you underestimating how good we have been at stifling teams, the thing that is killing us off is bad decision-making, bad finishing and not taking the right option in the final third, not when the home team has piled the defence up to prevent us from making space but away from home when the opposition is expected to attack we had a lot of openings in their third of the pitch that we did not exploit properly having said that our build up play is getting so much better in open play but the lack of that quality or experience to finish things off is telling. [Post edited 25 Jan 8:49]
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Reply | Hull City v Swansea City : Match day thread
at 17:39 24 Jan 2026
Key got the ball to Ronald a lot better working off each other and were causing problems, then we changed it. Ronald choice of ball into the box could have been better but we caused them problems on the right, not enough problems being caused on the left but the best crosses by Tymon should have resulted in at least one goal.
Disappointed that we are not turning good away performance into more points. [Post edited 24 Jan 17:44]
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Reply | Hull City v Swansea City : Match day thread
at 15:47 24 Jan 2026
If Vipotnik had scored his first chance it would be a different game, now giving the ball away easily and suffering as a consequence. Need to gather themselves and play a bit longer getting the midfield further up the pitch. |
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Reply | Hull City v Swansea City : Match day thread
at 14:26 24 Jan 2026
I was surprised at Widell on the bench but he did work hard in the last two games. He did have his his hands full with one of Blackburn best players Baradji and did well against him.
Cullen picked to offer a goal scoring threat? Would prefer Widell to give us more in the midfield, defensively and in getting us forward quicker, maybe saving him to keep an attacking threat when substitutions made. |
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Reply | FA YOUTH CUP 4th Round
at 21:36 23 Jan 2026
One thing I was going to add that I think Parker was 17 for his initial championship appearances. |
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