STALWARTS ENJOY DAY TO SAVOUR AS SWANS EDGE HOME
SWANSEA City are back to winning ways as they came through a thrilling and fraught contest to seal a 3-2 win over Brentford at Griffin Park.
The three points moved the Swans up a place to 12th in the Championship table and to within seven points of the play-off spots, while the margin for error over the bottom three rose to 11 points.
It was a day of no little drama and incident. There were five goals, and could have been five more had the woodwork not intervened, an unfortunate serious injury and a sensational return for two of Swansea’s old guard.
Here we reflect on a frenetic, haywire afternoon.
WHATEVER THE FUTURE HOLDS, THIS WAS A DAY TO SAVOUR FOR THE OLD GUARD
Say what you want about Graham Potter, but you can never accuse the Swansea manager of playing it safe with selection.
There were six changes here, including surprise recalls for Wayne Routledge and Nathan Dyer, and my, how calling on the men who are currently the club’s longest-serving players paid off.
Between them they either scored or helped create all three of Swansea’s goals and their considerable nous and experience were clear to see as they belied the fact they had not featured in more than two and a half months.
Routledge, in particular, was excellent. His early goal, the first time he had netted in a league game since April 2017, helped settle him and he just got better and better from there.
His Rabona cross for the third was a sensational bit of skill, and he produced some sublime moments in starting and leading a second-half counter which so nearly ended with him teeing up Barrie McKay for a clinching goal.
Dyer had a rough start, giving the ball away regularly, but he soon got into the game and went well even as he noticeably tired a little after the break.
It’s been a hard time for two players who have served the club so well over their lengthy Swansea tenures; between them they have more than 500 appearances and just shy of two decades in white under their belts.
They have had their critics, but they have stayed professional and not taken the opportunity to whinge or whine about their situation when they could easily have done so.
No-one knows for certain what comes next for them, and Potter himself had intimated they could leave if an offer came in that they felt would be better for them.
They showed here they still have plenty to offer at Swansea City if they remain in South Wales beyond January, although financial considerations will also likely be at play when it comes to their wages.
But whatever the future holds for the pair, this was a day they can savour and look back on with real fondness as they were leading lights in a key victory and got fantastic receptions from the travelling support.
A BIG PSYCHOLOGICAL WIN? YOU BET
As you looked across at the technical area on the far side of Griffin Park it was easy to have empathy with Potter and opposite number Thomas Frank as chaos unfolded around them.
It was agonising viewing for both sets of fans, so spare a thought for how the two men in the dugouts felt as they had to watch on helplessly.
Given some of Swansea’s previous experiences this season — think Rotherham away, Ipswich home, to name but two examples — there was an understandable anxiety once Brentford had got themselves back into the game and Swansea had spurned chances to put the game to bed for good early in the second half.
The Ipswich and Rotherham games had been hard enough to take, but to have taken anything other than three points after opening up a three-goal lead would have done tremendous damage to confidence and morale.
As we reflect now, it is easy just to look at it in the context of Swansea clinging on for three points, but the reality is that this could come to be a very important result in the overall picture of Swansea’s season.
Four of their next five games are against sides below them in the table and they can now approach that festive sequence having returned to winning ways and halted their recent slide.
Putting games away remains Swansea’s main weakness, and this one should have been over within five minutes of the start of the second half.
But the more they are able to come through adversity on the right side of
a result, the better it will be for the development of this side.
The potential impact of letting this one slip through their fingers would have been far-reaching.
OLSSON’S SAD INJURY CAUSES HEADACHES FOR POTTER AND PLAYER
The downside of this frantic, breathless win was the injury suffered by Martin Olsson after just nine minutes.
The Sweden international has been having a solid season and has been reliable when called upon, but when Potter himself admits the Achilles injury did not look good then you are inclined to fear the worst.
Hopefully it is not too serious, but the feeling is that the former Norwich man is facing a long spell on the sidelines.
That creates a headache for Potter as, on form, Matt Grimes would seem to be the obvious replacement.
But Grimes has been in fine form in his preferred midfield role and Swansea would lose something in that area if the former Exeter man drops back into defence.
Declan John is the specialist cover but an injury-disrupted pre-season has meant he has looked short of form and match fitness so far.
There is every chance that, if given a run in the side, he would grow into the job and gradually improve, but Potter also has the option of moving either Kyle Naughton or Connor Roberts over to that left side, and Roberts filled in more than capably here after being summoned from the bench.
It is an interesting call for the manager but it will be a real worry for Olsson.
He is out of contract in the summer and, should he be facing an elongated spell on the sidelines, it will put his future up in the air at the worst possible time.
GRIMES SETTING THE TEMPO
It says much about the manner in which Matt Grimes has approached his second chance with Swansea City that he has impressed whenever and wherever he has been fielded this term.
But as the weeks go by he is making an increasingly strong case to be one of the first names on the teamsheet, such is the growing authority he is bringing to the midfield area.
Jay Fulton and Leroy Fer alongside him may be more physical, but Grimes’s technical quality on the ball is proving a big plus point.
It was in evidence again here. He was busily moving around the midfield area helping to generate some tempo in Swansea’s play and it was telling that when a series of crisp passing exchanges opened things up he was normally involved.
Similarly, as Swansea began to go into survival mode and started to bypass him so they became less of a threat and struggled to keep the ball, while his ability to pick forward passes contributed to the impact the likes of Routledge, Dyer and McKay had on proceedings.
His influence is increasing with every game.
A FULL AWAY END AND A GREAT AWAY DAY
Despite relegation, the Swans continue to be fervently supported both home and away, and the 1,600 who ensured the Swans’ Griffin Park allocation was sold out nearly a month ago had a whale of a time in West London.
From before kick-off they made a right old racket, going through their repertoire of chants and being acknowledged by the likes of Alan Curtis, Billy Reid, Wilfried Bony and Roberts.
They barely let up during the game, and broke into their own version of Wham!’s festive classic ‘Last Christmas’ which concluded with them giving their collective hearts to their own ‘someone special’: Graham Potter.
They contributed to a great atmosphere at what is a proper old-school football ground, and Griffin Park will be a sad loss when Brentford switch to the new stadium they are currently building. In an age when there is much to bemoan about the direction in which the game is going and how money holds sway, days like this are good for the soul and a reminder of why football captured our imaginations in the first place.