In recent weeks Swansea City manager Steve Cooper has found himself and his players being criticised on social media after disappointing results, despite sitting just four points off the Play-Offs in the EFL Championship.
Many Swansea fans have criticised Cooper’s brand of football which can be uneasy on the eye at times while longing for a return of the free flowing ‘tiki-taka’ football played by the side under Graham Potter’s management last season, and this is where my issue lies.
Swansea played some lovely football last season, no doubts about that, but the side was weak defensively and regularly got bullied at set pieces resulting in soft goals being conceded on what seemed like a weekly basis. Swansea were also far too inconsistent to even attempt a promotion push last season with defeats to teams in the lower echelons of the table occurring all too regularly.
Cooper has inherited a weaker squad after losing two of the division’s best players in Oli McBurnie and Daniel James to the Premier League while also seeing Dutch international and last seasons club captain Leroy Fer depart. Couple this with a disastrous off field situation at the club with money sparse for new signings then it really is an achievement that Swansea are so close to the Play Off spots.
Exactly a year ago to the day (March 5th) Swansea found themselves 13th in the league under Potter’s reign while they currently sit 9th under Cooper. Cooper has his faults and his brand of football isn’t the easiest to enjoy, but it’s been effective enough to give Swansea a fighting chance of promotion.
Potter’s football was excellent on the eye and it’s no surprise that he found himself being appointed the manager of Premier League club Brighton, but playing nice football doesn’t guarantee results and this is shown with Potter’s Brighton sitting just 1 point ahead of the relegation zone and pressure mounting on him after being the only side yet to win a Premier League game in 2020.
The clamour for an attractive brand of football is understandable but the Championship is a tough league where a lot of teams play direct football to a degree of success and teams like local rivals Cardiff have shown it’s possible to get promoted without playing football that’s easy to watch.
To conclude, I think that Steve Cooper has done well, and will continue to be the right man for Swansea. With obvious budget constraints he’s used his connections from his days with England U17’s effectively and has given Swansea an unexpected chance of promotion to the Premier League while improving on the clubs position from this time last season.
By Adam Cleary
AWC SPORT 