Abraham and Bony look good on paper, but now it’s time to gel on pitch
THERE was plenty of pre-match excitement about the possibility of Tammy Abraham returning to partner Wilfried Bony for Swansea City’s trip to Stoke on Saturday, but the end product offered more questions than answers.
This was the first time the two had played a full 90 minutes together this season, and it’s clear there is plenty of work to do. So, can the two hit it off? Here’s a quick assessment... How did they do against Stoke? Abraham may be the club’s top scorer so far this season, but there is little question that he was comfortably over-shadowed by Bony, grabbing a brilliant opening goal after just three minutes and proved the Swans’ main attacking threat for most of the afternoon.
Here’s how their individual stats compared: Bony – Touches: Shots: 5 Passes: 19 Pass Success: 79% Aerial Duels Won: 3 (60%) Abraham – Touches: 18 Shots: 0 Passes: 9 Pass Success: 78% Aerial Duels Won: 0 (0%) 30 How did the two link up? There’s clearly plenty to work on.
There was precious little link-up play between the duo, with both men seemingly playing two very different roles in the final third.
Bony, for the most part, kept very narrow for much of the afternoon, while Abraham largely found himself drifting out into the wide areas, which in turn made it difficult for him to ever really get into the game.
As a result, Bony saw far more action in front of goal, the highlight being his expert volley to open the scoring early on.
Abraham’s inability to get a single shot away will have come as a rather disappointing surprise, but any striker would arguably struggle for chances in such positions.
It’s not like the Chelsea loanee had much luck in being a creator in the wide positions either.
Indeed, perhaps the most enduring memory of the partnership in Staffordshire will be the moment deep into the second half when Abraham managed to get away from his man and scamper to the byline, before shanking a cross straight behind for a goal kick, with a frustrated Bony lurking and unmarked in the middle. How can Swansea get the best out of the two? The first course of action is to recognise the strengths and weaknesses of the two players.
A quick look at the heat-map of Abraham’s game against Huddersfield – arguably his best game this season – suggests that while he found himself out wide on a number of occasions, he spent an increased amount of time playing through the middle.
This is where Abraham has often been most effective. During his breakout season for Bristol City, a whopping 80.5 per cent of his chances came by playing through the middle.
Fast-forward to this season, and Abraham’s performances in a Swans shirt have so far held a dramatic difference, with a third of his chances created coming from the the right wing.
There’s subsequently evidence of a shift in Abraham’s role, as he seems to fill the gap out wide far more than a striker ought to.
Given Swansea’s struggles to find the net this term, it’s clearly an approach that isn’t working at the moment. To put it simply, Abraham has to be the one getting on the end of crosses. Not putting them in.
Not that Abraham is much of a target man, mind.
He’s currently only won 35 per cent of aerial duels this season, but that’s where Bony comes in.
Bony’s power and strength has the ability to cause problems for even the most physical defender. His last season at Swansea saw him win more than half of his aerial duels (51 per cent).