SWANS NEWS OLI’S JOLLY AFTER GETTING BACK AMONG THE GOALS
Swans building momentum with another victory:
WHAT a difference a week can make. Swansea City went from looking to avoid a third straight defeat to racking up back-to-back victories to keep pace with those occupying the Championship play-off places.
This was three wins from four at the Liberty, in which time Swansea have scored 10 goals, and there were more positives for manager Graham Potter to take as attentions start to turn to away fixtures at Rotherham and Bolton.
Oli McBurnie was back on the scoresheet, Daniel James stood out again while Bersant Celina and Mike van der Hoorn were among those to emerge with credit, although this was very much a team victory.
Here are the talking points on another enjoyable afternoon in SA1. When you’re a striker, particularly the only recognised fit senior centreforward at a club, your worth to the team is largely measured by the number of goals you score.
So ending a 703-minute wait to find the net, as well as backing it up with a second to seal the three points, will surely be something of a weight off Oli McBurnie’s still relatively young shoulders.
Goal droughts, for want of a better description, tend to get closely focused on but it has been telling that during an eight-match scoreless run McBurnie has simply got on with the less glamorous or heralded sides of his job with the minimum of fuss.
Goals are important, of course, but one of his big strengths in this Swansea team is the way he works so hard to link play. So often he drops deep to create an angle for others to get into the game, but he makes countless feints and runs on the shoulders of defenders that can often go unnoticed.
Indeed, it’s those qualities that can have a part in a relative lack of goals because, having linked with others, he then has to turn and make up ground to get himself in the box and it’s not always possible when it’s someone as quick as a Daniel James that you are trying to catch up.
Maybe McBurnie would benefit from some additional help up there — he was highly effective working behind Courtney Baker-Richardson against QPR, and Wilfried Bony is said to be nearing fitness — but the way he did not allow a personal lack of goals to take away from his wider contribution speaks of a growing maturity from the Scotland international. Three home starts in a row and three devastating examples of wing play from Daniel James.
The 20-year-old is in a rich vein of form and is playing with a freedom that is a joy to behold. It’s like he’s playing in the back garden rather than in front of nearly 20,000 people.
Speaking to reporters following the midweek win over Blackburn, the former Hull wide man revealed how Potter has told him just to keep doing the things that made him such a stand-out in the club’s under-23 setup.
Anyone who watched James in the age-grade side will know just how impressive he could be, and Potter’s desire for the player to express himself is manifesting itself in performances carrying a spark of electricity to the heart of Swansea’s play.
He is a quiet, shy young man off the field, but his personality completely flips on the field where he is brimming with energy. His finishing needs improvement, but right now he is a handful opponents are struggling to get to grips with.
By consensus, Reading full-back Andy Yiadom, once a Swansea target, is among the quickest full-backs in the Championship. So for James to simply rinse the Ghanaian for raw pace to win the penalty for McBurnie’s opener told you everything about the speed the Welshman possesses.
Wales are blessed with a number of exciting youngsters at the moment, but in this form it is going to become very hard for Ryan Giggs to ignore him when he has to pick his squad for games against Denmark and Albania in the weeks ahead.
With Swansea starting to find a regular flow of goals and showcasing such an attractive style of play, it can be easy to forget the role the club’s defence is playing.
Aside from the defeat to Ipswich, Swansea have been very solid in their rearguard efforts and still have the second-best defensive record in the league, with just 11 goals conceded in 15 games.
While the hosts were dominant for long spells on Saturday, it is very rare to go through an entire 90 minutes without having to weather periods of discomfort, and so it proved against the Royals.
The visitors stepped up their game after the break, while the hosts were a little sluggish out of the blocks at the start of the second period and there were nervy moments.
What’s needed in those moments is an ability to roll with the punches, bending but never breaking.
Swansea had that when it counted. Mike van der Hoorn made several
key interventions, including a superb covering tackle on Sam Baldock, Joe Rodon made his own brilliant recovery to stop Jon Dadi Bodvarsson, and Kristoffer Nordfeldt made his saves.
Swansea’s style of play is winning the plaudits, but it’s built on one of the more solid foundations in this division.
NORDFELDT FINDING HIS FEET
Of all of Potter’s selection calls this season, his decision to restore Kristoffer Nordfeldt to the role of starting goalkeeper has arguably proved the most debatable.
After all, Erwin Mulder had kept five clean sheets in nine appearances following the Sweden international’s injury. It was hard to see what the Dutchman had done wrong and, it has to be said, his demotion back to bench duties still feels harsh on him when you consider his displays against the likes of Birmingham and Nottingham Forest.
It has left Nordfeldt with plenty to prove and, when supporters were asked to pick their preferred keeper via the Swansea City Online Twitter page before the Villa game, Mulder was the unanimous choice.
It has taken Nordfeldt time to settle back in but against Reading he turned in what was probably his best display since returning between the sticks.
There were fewer nervy moments with the ball at his feet and a greater degree of comfort in possession, while he kept another clean sheet and made four saves, including key stops from Tyler Blackett and Yakou Meite.
It’s also interesting to note that Swansea have won 57 per cent (four out of seven) of the games in which he has started to 25 per cent (two of eight) when Mulder has started.
Nordfeldt also has the best pass completion rate of any Championship keeper. Against Reading his 89 per cent figure dwarfed the 59 per cent of Anssi Jaakkola.
You sense he still has some convincing to do but this felt like a step in the right direction for Nordfeldt.