Friday 31 January 2014

West Ham United vs Swansea City

Saturday 1st February 2014
15:00
Boleyn Ground

West Ham United vs Swansea City

Analysis
This is the big one.

The point well-earned against Chelsea on Wednesday night was a bonus. This is the big one. This is the one we need to get some points from.

Swansea City are not a team you’d usually want to play when you need to get three points from a game, but they have been in stuttering form in recent time. Like West Ham, the Swans have suffered from an injury list as long as their playing squad and their form has suffered as a result. Prior to Tuesday’s comfortable win over Fulham, Swansea had gone eight Premier League games without a win, a run that stretched back to the start of December against Newcastle United.

So what do we need to watch out for? Well, we know that Michael Laudrup’s side will keep the ball, and that we won’t have much possession.

The tika-taka style approach is well known now the Welsh side are in their third Premier League season, but it is something that teams still struggle to deal with. Swansea have had had more than 50% of the ball in every one of their league games this season, with the least ball they’ve seen in a match a whopping 51%.

Against Newcastle United in December, the Jacks had 59% of the game, and completed an incredible 91% of their passes. The image below shows their passing map from that game. It’s almost impossible to pick anything out on there, but it gives a clear indication of the style they will take on Saturday lunchtime: keep the ball, no matter what.


We all know about the slow, methodical, patient passing game that Swansea employ. We know that they can pass a team to tears. But what Swansea have struggled with at times is the ability to change the pass and press forward as a team.

For me, the most important player in the Swansea site is Jonathan De Guzman. The Dutchman is equally capable of holding on to the ball as his midfield colleagues, but, unlike the likes of Leon Britton, De Guzman is always keen to get the ball forward.

In 19 appearances this season, De Guzman has averaged a passing accuracy of 90%, attempted to take on a man 19 times, and has had 24 attempts on goal. But the most important aspect of his game is that he has managed to create 34 chances, registering 4 assists so far this season. This means the Netherlands international has created a chance once every 41.7 minutes – an improvement on last season’s rate of one every 48.3 minutes.

The image below shows De Guzman’s most creative performance so far this season. Against Fulham, he created four goal scoring opportunities for his teammates. What is interesting is that 3 of the chances he created came from out wide, crossing into the box. And that is where De Guzman offers a slightly different approach. 61.7% of the chances he has created have come from the right wing.


And when De Guzman creates those chances, there is one man the Swans want to be on the receiving end.

I’ll admit, I was one of the people who weren’t overly keen on the prospect of Wilfried Bony signing for West Ham in the summer, thinking that the step up from Dutch football may be too much. Clearly, that wasn’t true.

The Ivorian has managed 16 goals in 31 games for Swansea so for, with a decent record of 7 in 19 Premier League games. And after something of goal drought (no goals in seven games), he has been back amongst the goals recently with four in his last five appearances in all competitions.

The image below shows the league goals Bony has scored this season. With the exception of one long range effort against Manchester City, Bony has been a bit of a ‘fox in the box’.


After a very important point midweek, a couple of potential transfers on deadline day and a weekend victory would nicely round off the week for the club. A win could see us leapfrog Sunderland and Stoke City, and put us within touching distance of Saturday’s opposition in 11th place.

Head to Head
46% Head to Head Win % 30%
26 Won 17
13 Drawn 13
17 Lost 26
107 Goals Scored 73
73 Goals Conceded 107

Recent Form
L L W L L D Last 6 L W L L W W
3 Goals Scored 9
17 Goals Conceded 10

W D L D L L Home/Away Form D L D W L W
8 Goals Scored 6
12 Goals Conceded 7

Form Player (Last 6 League)
Mark Noble - Jonathan De Guzman
6 Appearances 4
482 Minutes Played 297

108 Sum Squawka Performance Score 210
18 Average Squawka Performance Rating 53

222 Passes Attempted 281
183 Completed 249
82% Success Rate 89%

7 Chances Created 11
0 Assists 2

6 Attempts on Goal 7
2 On Target 4
1 Goals 0

4 Take Ons Attempted 4
3 Successful Take Ons 2
75% Success Rate 50%

25 Tackles Made 8
10 Successful Tackles 5
40% Success Rate 63%

14 Interceptions 4
13 Clearances 2
5 Blocks 0
5 Defensive Actions Per Game 2

2 Aerial Duels 4
1 Won 2
50% Success Rate 50%

1 Defensive Errors 0
0 Leading to a Goal 0

Last Meeting
27 October 2013
  
4-6-0 Starting Formation 4-2-3-1

Jussi Jääskeläinen - Michel Vorm
Guy Demel - Angel Rangel
James Tomkins - Chico Flores
Winston Reid - Ashley Williams
Rǎzvan Raţ - Neil Taylor
Mark Noble - Leon Britton
Kevin Nolan - Jonathan de Guzman
Stewart Downing - Nathan Dyer
(64') Mohamed Diamé - Miguel Michu
(78') Ravel Morrison - Wayne Routledge (61')
(35') Ricardo Vâz Te - Alvaro Vazquez (66')

Subs
Adrian San Miguel - Gerhard Tremmel
Joey O'Brien - Jordi Amat
(35') Matt Jarvis - Dwight Tiendalli
Matthew Taylor - Jose Canas
(78') Joe Cole - Pablo Hernandez (61')
Modibo Maïga - Alejandro Pozuelo
(64') Carlton Cole - Wilfried Bony (66')

Absentees
Injured/Doubtful
West Ham United: Winston Reid, Joey O'Brien, Mohamed Diamé, Joe Cole
Swansea City: Michel Vorm, Garry Monk, Jose Canas, Miguel Michu

Suspensions
West Ham United: n/a
Swansea City: n/a

Opposition Last Time Out (League)
vs Fulham
Goals Scored: 2
Goals Conceded: 0
Starting Formation: 4-2-3-1

Gerhard Tremmel

Angel Rangel  Chico Flores  Ashley Williams  Ben Davies

Leon Britton  Jonathan de Guzman (88')

Pablo Hernandez (58')  Jonjo Shelvey (79')  Wayne Routledge

Wilfried Bony

subs: David Cornell
Jordi Amat (79')
Neil Taylor
Alex Pozuelo (88')
Nathan Dyer (58')
Roland Lamah
Alvaro Vazquez
  
Best Player: Chico Flores
Squawka Rating: 93
Worst Player: Wilfried Bony
Squawka Rating: -14

Top 5's (Min 5 Apps)
Goals Scored
Carlton Cole 4 - 7 Wilfried Bony
Joe Cole 3 - 4 Nathan Dyer
Ravel Morrison 3 - 4 Jonjo Shelvey
Ricardo Vâz Te 2 - 2 Miguel Michu
Kevin Nolan 2 - 2 Ben Davies

Assists
Kevin Nolan 4 - 4 Jonathan de Guzman
Matt Jarvis 3 - 3 Pablo Hernandez
Modibo Maïga 2 - 3 Jonjo Shelvey
Ravel Morrison 2 - 2 Roland Lamah
Andy Carroll 1 - 2 Wayne Routledge

Passing Accuracy
Ravel Morrison 86% - 92% Dwight Tiendalli
Mark Noble 84% - 91% Jose Canas
Stewart Downing 82% - 91% Leon Britton
Jack Collison 81% - 90% Chico Flores
Joe Cole 80% - 90% Jonathan de Guzman

Chances Created per game
Stewart Downing 1.8 - 1.8 Jonathan de Guzman
Mark Noble 1.6 - 1.7 Miguel Michu
Matt Jarvis 1.2 - 1.5 Pablo Hernandez
Kevin Nolan 0.9 - 1.3 Jonjo Shelvey
Modibo Maïga 0.9 - 1.3 Roland Lamah

Successful Dribbles per game
Ravel Morrison 2.1 - 1.6 Nathan Dyer
Mohamed Diamé 2 - 1.5 Pablo Hernandez
Mark Noble 1.3 - 1.4 Roland Lamah
Stewart Downing 0.9 - 0.9 Jonjo Shelvey
Guy Demel 0.8 - 0.8 Alex Pozuelo

Tackles per game
Mark Noble 2.5 - 2.5 Jordi Amat
Mohamed Diamé 2.5 - 2.4 Chico Flores
Winston Reid 2.4 - 2.4 Angel Rangel
James Collins 2 - 2 Jose Canas
Kevin Nolan 1.7 - 2 Ben Davies

Aerial Duels Won per game
Modibo Maïga 5.9 - 2.8 Ashley Williams
James Tomkins 4.4 - 2.7 Chico Flores
James Collins 3.6 - 2.5 Wilfried Bony
Winston Reid 3.2 - 2 Ben Davies
Carlton Cole 2.5 - 1.4 Miguel Michu

Manager
Sam Allardyce - Michael Laudrup
39.6% Current Club Win % 34.9%
48 Won 29
32 Drawn 24
41 Lost 30

39.7% Managerial Career Win % 44.5%
342 Won 147
231 Drawn 83
288 Lost 100

2 League Titles 1

0 Cup Wins 4

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