THE VERDICT: SWANSEA 3 TOWN 1 Errors cost the Terriers on Swan of those days
TOWN WRITER LOOKS AT WHAT WENT WRONG AT SWANSEA – AND SPECTRE OF LEAGUE ONE...
THERE was logic to the starting line-up, but that doesn’t make it right.
We were as surprised as any of you not to see Emile Smith Rowe’s name in the starting lineup when the teams came out. After he was given a reduced role against Derby, we expected he would return to the first XI in the number 10 role again here.
There was certainly sense in the decision to leave things as they had been in that Derby game.
Town have had good success playing The Brentford Plan against teams that like to play it short and hold onto the ball, after all. We also still think that for all Cowley is trying to turn this around and make Town a better team on the ball, their main attacking strength still lies in the counterattack, especially away from home.
Cowley was also consistent in his stated position last week that Smith Rowe may not be at the required fitness levels
The sense that Swansea were probably there for the taking makes this feel like a huge missed
opportunity
to play three games in a week. When you zoom out and consider that there are two home games coming up on Tuesday and Saturday (against Bristol City and Charlton respectively), this was probably the one for him to skip. The fact that Smith Rowe came on not long after the break (having already introduced Steve Mounie at half time to put Karlan Grant on the left) and instantly made Town look so much better was a source for both frustration and hope in equal measure.
The major irritation is that you wonder whether Town might have been able to sink a very ordinary, low-in-confidence and out-of-form Swansea side with a first-half goal had they been able to offer more of a threat in the early stages.
Everything is extremely easy in hindsight, of course, but the