SWANSEA
How in the heck did Swansea finish 12th, I hear you ask. Well it did look highly unlikely at one point (multiple points). Swansea sat two points above the relegation zone when Gary Monk was (rightfully) sacked on 9th December, and were only one point above the relegation zone when they finally got around to replacing him with Francesco Guidolin. By this point, they had played 21 games and secured just 19 points, and following a horrible defeat to Sunderland, they were in real danger of getting relegated.
Of course the buzz around this series of events was the same as it was around Southampton finishing in the top four a season or two ago, and about Leicester winning the league. Nah it'll never happen. Don't worry about Swansea. But of course, Swansea had many reasons to worry, and if they hadn't hired a good manager in Guidolin, they almost certainly wouldn't have finished as strongly as they did. As much as the protestations were to the opposite, Swansea were in alarming danger.
And they got off to a good start too. Andre Ayew and Bafetimbi Gomis were flying high, and two wins and two draws in August, with positive results against Chelsea, Sunderland and Newcastle followed by a brilliant win against Man United. But alarmingly quickly, things went south, and they only won one more game before Christmas, a 2-1 win against Aston Villa (which says it all really), alongside defeats to Watford, Southampton, Stoke, Arsenal, Norwich, Liverpool, Leicester and Man City. They picked up just seven points from thirteen games before a 1-0 win over West Brom desperately relieved some pressure. In fact Swansea minorly improved after sacking Monk, picking up draws against West Ham and Palace, as well as that victory. But humbling back to back defeats to United and Sunderland in early January left them scrambling for a new manager.
And once Guidolin came in, everything seemed to turn around. Back to back wins against Watford and Everton relieved the pressure even more, and from there Swansea were able to consistently pick up points. They couldn't continue their momentum into February, as draws to Palace and West Brom were followed by defeats to Spurs and Southampton. But March was a good month for the Swans, as they picked off Norwich and Villa, as well as their infamous win over Arsenal, left them all but safe on 36 points. And despite a couple of really shoddy defeats, admittedly to extremely motivated Newcastle and Leicester, they finished well, winning three of their last six and drawing on the last day with City.
So overall? Difficult to judge. A final position of 12th is about where they've been for the last four or five seasons, albeit disappointing after finishing 8th last season. So on paper, a slightly disappointing season. But a season of two halves really. A really poor and frustrating first half of the season, compounded by a lack of goals and a mid-table defensive effort, left them really struggling. Swansea just couldn't grind out a win for love nor money between September and Christmas. But a real recovery in the back half of the season left them in a comfortable finish. Swansea fans definitely would have taken 12th on Christmas Day, but overall a pretty poor effort. It was left to attacking midfielders Andre Ayew and Gylfi Sigurdsson to pick up the slack, as striker Gomis started hot and then completely flopped. They never replaced Wilfried Bony and Ashley Williams is one of the most overrated central defenders in the Premier League.
But they have a lot of talent in their squad and hopefully should come back stronger next season under Guidolin.
The Hard and Fast Section
- Roooooooot.
- Dortmund have built one hell of a team.
- David Moyes is back. This should be fun.
- Froome very nearly KO'd on the Tour. Tasty.
- Harrison: didn't make Olympics, but broke a world record. Wow.
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