Newcastle fans may have to bring the same banner out under Steve McLaren.
Neutrals and newbies would be well advised to follow the Swans. Garry Monk, their dynamic young coach and his group of castoffs are making waves with their exciting brand of footie. After almost conquering Stamford Bridge and causing the {Special One} to go mental on his medical crew, this time it was the Toons subjected to the wiles of Bafetimbi Gomis, Andrew Ayew, Gylfi Sigurdsson, Jefferson Montero, and the shiny, bald pate of Jonjo Shelvey. On the bench Nathan Dyer, Wayne Routledge, and Kyle Bartley. As you can see the Swans don’t lack for speed down the flanks.
Swansea were on the front foot from minute one. Ayew to Sigurdsson, Shelvey to Gomis, Montero to Ayew, it was a slew of through balls and crosses killing Newcastle. Montero on his own earned four free kicks in the first half. And Shelvey showed again why he should be considered for an England spot putting through Gomis after splitting the defence for the opening goal, the culmination of a 20 pass move. A frustrated Darry Janmaat already booked had seen enough and in the 41st minute decided to grab the motoring Montero. Bad move, a second yellow shown and Newcastle were down to ten just like the Blues. The Swans are making this feature their calling card.
In the second half, Ayew who had to wait 599 minutes to score his first goal for the Ligue in stark contrast to his lightning quick 29 minutes for the PL, got his second as he headed Montero’s whipped in cross. The Ecuadorian winger has made a habit of leaving the right back (fill in name) frothing in his wake. About 10 minutes later it was Montero again to Ayew but this time his header was off to the right. There were 17 crosses and 19 goal attempts, 6 of them on target. The Swans dominated possession by 66% to 34% and it was not sterile domination at all.
Who’s betting the Swans will be making the likes of Chelsea, City, United, Arsenal, and Liverpool sweat profusely? That top four might just see a big breach.