Shrewsbury 3 Swansea 0
Wednesday, 6th Mar 2002 00:00

What a shambles!!!

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A good ten minute spell right at the start of the game was all the Swansea supporters could cheer about as 96 minutes of football failed to see a shot on target and then two late goals summed up the misery of the night. Quite simply there was no passion, no direction and clearly no idea when it came to tactics and the required where with all to pass the ball to someone in the same team. A prerequisite to any changed team is form and Addison may point to the past 6 games undefeated, however if this is the shape of things for next season maybe there is a line of thought in the Nurse camp that says " Step forward the brave board member to sort this mess out " After a lazy Shrewsbury start and a forward line that only boasted a busy Steve Watkin, the Swans faded and conceded to a Tony Lormor goal with five minutes to go before the break. The fact the referee, who was a disgrace, missed a blatant foul on Watkin before the goal was conceded mattered not as Lormor took advantage of sloppy defending to put the home side 1-0 up at half time. A notable omission up front was the fact that Mamady Sidibe was again lazy, uninterested and took to the first forty five minutes like he was already on his holidays. The Swans may not be going down but this was simply not good enough. Sidibe failed time and time again to grasp the fact he was the fastest player on the pitch. He lazily jumped for high balls and slouched around the pitch in a fashion which quickly turned the travelling support against him. Imagine Andy Macfarlane on a very bad day and you get the idea. The second half was equally as frustrating, no direction being the tactic, and after 60 minutes the introduction of a centre half wing back ! in Chris Todd. Freestone pulled off another excellent point blank save and Swansea simply played the ball back to Shrewsbury to have another go. It was clear that a point was all we could hope for. But of course with the lack of passion on display that was quickly eliminated when substitute Ryan Lowe hammered in two late goals which made The Swans defence look like schoolboys ( Well some still may be ) But their failure to get back and fight was summed up in two one on ones with Freestone which left him alone to pick the ball out of the net. But it has been an awkward season, some may want Addison at the helm for next season but after that display, and three hours on the road to get to the game it's hard to feel anything at all after such a lack lustre display. Maybe the cold light of day will draw something different, however I doubt it. All we ask as supporters is 100 % commitment, we got none of that at Shrewsbury and if Addison is serious about doing a good job as Swansea City manager maybe he should start by kicking the likes of Sidibe up and down the seafront for the rest of the week. That is after making him travel to Carlisle and sitting him on the subs bench. If there is a youngster in reserve with half the bottle and passion required to succeed he should be given a start as the season works it's way to it's end. There was no John Cornforth in the stand at Shrewsbury, but if he was he would be extremely concerned at the lack of passion on display. It doesn't fit well with any of us to watch performances like that and for the board there is a message. If you don't want 4,000 crowds next season and the financial worries that come with that, then maybe now is the time to be brave, and have a word with that man JC. There is little more to say ............

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