Disappointed as dream ends, but Swansea’s season is still a memorable one
THE play-off dream was not to be for Swansea City. But it’s fair to say it’s been a truly memorable debut campaign for Steve Cooper and the Swans.
The play-off semi-final defeat to Brentford ultimately left a strong feeling of disappointment as Swansea failed to impose themselves at Griffin Park until the tie already looked dead and buried after a blistering start from the Bees, while defensive errors proved costly.
The scale of Swansea’s achievement can not be underestimated, though. The very fact that they secured a place in the top six was remarkable in itself.
Having finished 10th and shown real signs of progress under Graham Potter in their first season in the Championship since 2010/11, there were understandably high levels of trepidation ahead of the Swans’ second campaign since their seven-year stay in the Premier League was ended following the now Brighton manager’s exit, as well as the vast number of player departures that were on the horizon.
A three-man panel of Trevor Birch, Alan Curtis and Leon Britton pored through the credentials of numerous candidates before opting to appoint the inexperienced Cooper – a boss that had never managed at senior level prior to his arrival at the Liberty Stadium – as Potter’s successor.
However, there was one pretty significant attraction. His ability to work with young players.
With a World Cup win on his CV, Cooper – while not being a household name when it came to club football – was a man that ticked the boxes as far as those in the corridors of power at the Liberty Stadium were concerned.
Coaches and players alike have regularly spoken both privately and publicly about the tactical nous of the Swansea head coach, and his initial presentation that landed him the role is understood to have been a hugely impressive one.
Mind you, his first summer would fully expose the scale of the task in hand.
The experienced quartet of Leroy Fer, Martin Olsson, Luciano Narsingh and Wilfried Bony were among those released just weeks before his arrival at the club
Daniel James and Jordan Ayew were both sold, while 2018/19 top scorer Oli McBurnie joined Sheffield United just 24 hours before Swansea kick-started their campaign against Hull.
It meant Cooper had to put his faith in Borja Baston, a man who had netted just once for Swansea since becoming their record signing in 2016.
The Spaniard enjoyed a fine run in August, although the writing was soon on the wall as he joined the ever-increasing list of players to leave since Swansea dropped out of the top-flight as he joined Aston Villa in January.
In addition to the former Atletico Madrid man, Tom Carroll and Kristoffer Nordfeldt also left in January.
All the while, Cooper has brought in a total of nine players, only one of which he paid a fee for, during his two windows at the club so far.
Potter at least was able to spend cash to bring the likes of Bersant Celina, Barrie McKay, Declan John and Joel Asoro to South Wales.
The nominal six-figure sum they paid Heracles for Kristoffer Peterson remains as the only outgoing in terms of a transfer fee that there has been in Cooper’s tenure to date.
Jake Bidwell was signed on a free following the defender’s release by Queens Park Rangers while the other seven recruits all arrived on loan deals. And it’s in this department Cooper has excelled.
The 40-year-old has made full use of his contacts in the game, most notably to pip others by signing the likes of Liverpool striker Rhian Brewster and Chelsea duo Conor Gallagher and Marc Guehi.
The loss of such experience along with the additions of several players at the very beginning of their professional careers ensured Swansea had one of the youngest squads in a divithings sion that requires a amount of know-how.
But Cooper got a serious tune out of the vast majority of those he brought in.
He’s likely to face a serious battle once again this summer as Swansea continue to adjust to life outside the Premier League, with the coronavirus pandemic also set to have a major financial impact on the club, not least because of the wage deferrals taken.
The squad will be picked apart, although the wheels are already in motion when it comes to recruitment plans which will no doubt be music to the ears of the Jack Army, particularly given that the 2020/21 season starts in little more than five weeks.
As for the here and now, the Swans finished four places and five points better off this term that they did under Potter, while the class of 2019/20 ended the regular season with a goal difference of +9 compared to +3 from the previous campaign.
A large factor in that turnaround came from set-pieces, for which Cooper’s most trusted lieutenants – including Mike Marsh and Martyn Margetson – deserve an immense amount of praise.
Margetson’s attention to detail played a key part in seeing Swansea go from being the worst at defending setpieces in the Championship to the best.
His efforts were also vital as Swansea kept out three of the six penalties against them this season, although in a bizarre twist of fate, they failed to win any of the games in which Freddie Woodman saved spot-kicks (against Derby, Fulham and Blackburn) while they emerged victorious in each of the three matches (against Preston, Wigan and Reading) that they conceded from 12 yards out.
But Cooper and his staff have proven they can identify a weakness, and then fix it.
A pandemic wasn’t something anyone could have anticipated in Cooper’s maiden campaign with the Swans, and it’s certainly a topic that wasn’t covered on his coaching courses.
But he’s coped admirably, and has even shown in the post-lockdown era that he is willing to tactically change significant and get some top performances out of his team as a result.
After losing to Luton Town, Swansea won five of their next nine matches while drawing two and losing the other two to Leeds and Brentford, with the Swans deploying their threeat-the-back system in each game after the 1-1 draw with Millwall.
It was a system that seemed to reinvigorate Swansea, and their efforts since the restart ranked them in fifth when it came to the nine regular season games in the latter stages of the protracted season.
Of course, it wasn’t all plain sailing this season, with home defeats to the likes of Stoke City, Millwall, Derby and Luton along with the embarrassing FA Cup exit at QPR being low points during an inconsistent run between September and March. But after the season threatened to turn stale, Swansea were galvanised after lockdown and swiftly went about getting themselves back on track.
Such have been his efforts, Cooper became the first Swansea boss since Garry Monk to last more than a year in the role in June.
The play-off semi-final defeat to Brentford will rankle Cooper as he will know only too well that – as good as Thomas Frank’s troops are – his side were seemingly able to rattle the Bees when they did go for it.
When all is said and done, the double header with Brentford was as unexpected as it was pain-staking. They were given precious little hope of success ahead of the season.
From a dream August to the Miracle of the Madejski Stadium with a lockdown in between, it’s been a campaign of remarkable twists and turns.
And, more importantly, Cooper has proven that Swansea are progressing under his leadership. If that continues, the club have every chance of challenging once again next term.