Swansea City 1-0 Cardiff City

Swansea City 1-0 Cardiff City
Sky Bet Championship
Sunday 27th October 2019

Another year older and another year definitely not wiser or more sensible, though the South Wales 'derby' experience is now ticked off my 'To Do' list in football.

Even though I'd been eagerly-anticipating this game as far back as last season - hoping for weeks that Cardiff City would be relegated from the Premier League to ensure an opportunity to take the game in, it was by sheer fortune that the clash was arranged for my birthday weekend.

With tickets, surprisingly, making it to General Sale - thus making it a piece of p*ss to get hold of one, there was absolutely no way I was prepared to miss out on my first visit to Liberty Stadium since August 2006.

On my previous visit, Lee Trundle scored two goals in the dying stages to earn the Swans victory over Doncaster Rovers.

Had Trundle been playing in this clash, then bearing in mind his goalscoring record, he'd have probably bagged a hat-trick by half-time and had a statue of him paid for and erected outside the Liberty Stadium by the final whistle.

Although it wasn’t quite the rip-roaring or utterly thunderous occasion that I anticipated it would be, as things transpired it was Ben Wilmot’s clever finish, just shy of the half-hour mark, which deservedly earned the hosts bragging rights.

Despite what Neil Warnock said in his post-match interview about the Swansea fans being kept quiet, they certainly weren't. The home faithful dished out loads of insults, V-signs, swear words and passionate aggression was aplenty, along with signature chants such as 'Swim Away' and 'Daydream Believer'.

Nevertheless, there was something lacking about this particular 'derby' - and even more than 24 hours later, I'm unable to put my finger on exactly what it was.

Maybe it was the fact the visitors were absolutely awful and gave their followers nothing to shout about after Wilmot's opener. Maybe it was the fact the visitors lacked b*llocks and aggression which you'd usually associate with a fixture of this magnitude. Maybe it was the fact it was just too easy for the home side.

Who knows?

It was certainly strange though and Warnock's words are undoubtedly just an attempt to stir things up and ensure a response in the return game later in the season.

On the pitch, the sides had clear and contrasting styles; Swansea being cute, neat, tidy and good on the ball, whilst Cardiff were full of six-foot giants, physically strong, robust and difficult to break down (allegedly).

It was a pre-match belief voiced by many that the somewhat more experienced visitors might 'bully' their naive, fledgling hosts - yet it proved to be a myth and, if anything, the opposite way around as the Bluebirds never got going.

'Total Football' came out on top as the Swans handled the occasion miles better, dictated, dominated and should have won by a greater scoreline.

Cooper's team were far sharper, brighter, faster to every second ball and loads more incisive in their overall play. They were great value; in particular diminutive duo Bersant Celina and Nathan Dyer showed no signs of being unable to handle themselves against physically tougher opponents and the pair wreaked havoc at times.

It was a brilliant win and having endured some disappointing recent results, this might just be the tonic which the Swans need to galvanise their campaign, kick on and maintain a spot in and around the play-off positions.

Cardiff, dreary, lethargic and second-best, can have no complaints and their afternoon was best summed up when goalkeeper Neil Etheridge 'shanked' a clearance towards an opponent in the centre circle, then attempted a diving header to stop the resulting snap-shot attempt - even though the ball was way off-target anyway!

That bizarre passage of play (wrongly) resulted in a corner, by the way, which came to nothing. However, on most occasions when dealing with set-pieces, the Bluebirds' defence looked edgy, nervous, out of position and were an absolute 'bomb scare' in their attempts not to concede!

Aside from a five-minute spell in the second half where they got the ball in the opposition area and seriously tested the 'keeper, they never looked like scoring.

The visitors' attacking play consisted of numerous long 'punts' towards their big target men.

Whilst Nathaniel Mendez-Laing offered occasional glimpses of encouragement and hope, with summer signing Robert Glatzel barely breaking sweat alongside him for over an hour, it was fruitless! By the end, it ultimately became a case of 'too often, too predictable' as they struggled to make any inroads in search of an equaliser and every hopeful long ball was met with a firm clearance.

It was also shambolic, defensively, in the build up to the goal which they conceded.

Nobody locked on to the three-on-one overload (which allowed Wayne Routledge to get in a great position on the blind side of the player left out wide), nor did anyone inside the penalty area notice Wilmot's clear run to meet Routledge's eventual floated cross, which allowed him a free header - and to carve his name into 'derby day' folklore.

Two minutes later; another corner-kick was played directly into the box and resulted in another free-header, and there were quite a few other passages in which Cardiff's defending was terrible.

Etheridge, probably not helped by early events with the 'header' fiasco, looked nervous, fumbled plenty - including a couple right at the feet of opponents inside his own six-yard box. How he wasn't punished remains a mystery!

By the final whistle, Warnock was going ballistic on the touchline - throwing his arms about, stamping his feet like a petulan child, harassing the Fourth Official every few seconds, but it was such an inept display from his players that he would have been justified to do the same thing in disgust at their efforts during the entire 90 minutes.

Of the 1,500 matches (probably more) which he's overseen as a manager, I doubt he’s ever witnessed such a limp and gutless display from his own players in the tense, passion-filled environment of a local derby.

Whilst Warnock will now come in for criticism from fans unhappy with what they witnessed, the team's current league position and their overall start to the season, the players should look at themselves and ask ‘Was that performance acceptable?'

They're experienced enough, know the drill and what's expected of them - yet the desire, application, willingness, cohesiveness - everything which Swansea demonstrated, just wasn't evident in their own display. They might say it was a one-off and they can't possibly perform as badly again, but a quick glance at the league table suggests more deep-rooted problems.

I suspect, when everything is taken into consideration, this might prove to be the start of the end for Warnock because although he's worked wonders with the Bluebirds, the reality is he's not getting any younger, the product on offer - direct, tough and abrasive football, isn't ever going to suit everyone and critics will gradually become more vocal as promotion/play-off hopes fade away.

It's inevitable at some point for every manager that they'll endure a testing period and, a few more gutless performances like this, will only lead to one thing.

Matters on the pitch put to one side, as a veteran of watching football matches (including many big derbies) at various stadiums up and down the country, there's no doubt that South Wales Police have absolutely diluted the passion and atmosphere of this match.

Yes, I understand there's a need to have a big police presence at these type of games.

However, long gone are the days of the Vetch Field from where fans would pour out the ground and straight into a housing estate littered with side streets and alleyways - thus making it very difficult for the local plod to contain folk in a specific area without others hiding around the corner waiting to strike (or chase them into the sea).

The Liberty Stadium is modern, purpose-built and it's designed in such a way that it makes it easy to safely contain people within a certain area and CCTV is everywhere.

Also, TV companies and modern day policing techniques will also always ensure these type of games are played at a 'sterile' time - often midday on a Sunday when pubs are closed and it's guaranteed to be daylight outdoors. Unless it's a cup clash, there will also always be several months of planning and police intelligence that can be gained, prior to the actual game taking place.

Therefore, it doesn't need 'bubble' procedures to be implemented additionally as well - whereby away supporters must either go to a designated point to collect their tickets and/or travel straight to the opposing team's stadium on official club transport.

Yes, there'll always be people intent on causing trouble, but these methods are intrusive to a matchday experience, a restriction on 'freedom of movement' (something which should be challenged over and over again in courts) and it affects the vast majority who just want to see their team play. It's almost as if people are being criminalised for being an away fan before they've even bothered to buy a ticket.

All of this is without even mentioning the 'Facial Recognition' cameras which were present at this game; again, something which is intrusive, and probably hardly makes any difference given those fans who have banning orders have to report to a police station several miles away, whilst the game is taking place anyway.

The 'methods' seem even more illogical considering that tickets for this game made it to unrestricted General Sale - thus meaning it was possible for any Tom, Dick or Harry to buy however many tickets they wanted in the home end and avoid the kerfuffle that comes with being an away supporter at this type of fixture.

I doubt anything will change soon but it's absolutely ridiculous.