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.

http://epl.squawka.com/swansea-city-vs-newcastle-united/

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.

http://epl.squawka.com/fulham-vs-swansea-city/

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’.

http://www.squawka.com/players/wilfried-bony

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 11^th 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

Swansea City vs West Ham United

Sunday 26th October

16:00

Liberty Stadium

Swansea City vs West Ham United

Analysis

After an odd few weeks, it feels like we're back to the grind this weekend.

A surprise victory over Spurs meant a large number of West Ham fans (myself included) felt a strange sense of confidence and optimism in advance of our game against Manchester City last week. But following that defeat, we really are back to normal now.

We've had a bit of a mixed start to the season, and now is the time we really need to start pushing on with our form. That said, Swansea away isn't the easiest of fixtures.

We learnt last season of the difficulties you can experience at the Liberty Stadium - although it must be noted that we didn't exactly help ourselves in that fixture last August!

Football may be a game where predictions matter very little, and we can always be surprised be games, but if there was ever a certainty in the game, it's that Swansea will dominate possession on Sunday afternoon.

In our last visit to the Liberty, we managed just 42% of possession. We attempted 375 passes (completion rate of 78%) compared to Swansea's 617 attempted (completion rate of 88%). The image below shows those passes they completed. What you can see, is that the Swans kept hold of possession in the middle third of the field, biding their time. They made less than 10 passes into the area during the game, showing that they are happy to play keep ball and wait for their chance to hurt the opposition.

http://epl.squawka.com/swansea-city-vs-west-ham-united/

When Swansea do make those ventures forward, they have men who can hurt defences. Miguel Michu has been the main man in South Wales for some time now, with a massive 20 goals in 42 Premier League appearances.

This season though, his role has been more about creating than it has been scoring. Already this season he has created 16 chances for his team mates this season - though he has bagged just the one assist.

Michu is a bit of a unique striker. Despite often playing as the lone striker in the Swans side, he is comfortable all over the pitch, regularly dropping deep and linking up with the midfield. He gained his best Squawka Performance Rating of the season against Crystal Palace last month, and the image below shows his heat map from that game.

The wide range of areas in which the Spaniard popped up demonstrate how difficult it is to mark the forward out of a game.

http://epl.squawka.com/crystal-palace-vs-swansea-city/

An area of intrigue for West Ham fans will be the opportunity to take a close up look at what might have been, in striker Wilfried Bony. The Ivorian was heavily linked with the Hammers over the summer, before moving to Swansea from Vitesse Arnhem.

Bony has struggled for form so far in the Premier League, managing just one goal, from the penalty spot, since a debut consolation goal against Manchester United. He has managed 90 minutes just once in the league so far, and his pass completion rate of 76% is the worst of all Swansea players in the Premier League this season.

The image below shows Bony's attempts on goal so far this season. The stats show that he is attempting plenty of efforts on goal, but is struggling to take his chances.

http://www.squawka.com/

But Swansea have more than just a couple of dangerous strikers.

The man in form for the Welsh side is young left back Ben Davies. When Neil Taylor suffered a broken ankle at the start of last season, few expected the young Welshman to step up and, ultimately, make the position his own.

This season, Davies has managed to create 5 chances, score two goals, complete 84% of his passes, and complete an impressive six defensive actions per game.

But what has really impressed is his success in the tackle. Of his attempted 18 tackles so far, the youngster has completed a massive 17 (94%) of them. This is a massive step up from last season, where Davies was successful with 73% of his attempted 92 tackles.

The image below shows Davies duel successes this season - he's won 63% of all duels this season so far.

http://www.squawka.com/

There are reasons to be optimistic though.

Swansea's players have made five errors leading to shots on goal this season (Davies, Ashley Williams & Chico Flores with one each, Jonjo Shelvey with two), three of which have led to goals. Only Norwich have conceded more goals directly from individual player errors than the Swans this season.

There is also the possibility that a number of Swansea's players will be those that played in the Europa League on Thursday too. Swansea have mixed form in league games following on from the European exploits, with two wins and three defeats from those games.

This game is a tough one to call. Swansea's home form has been shaky (against admittedly difficult opposition) this season, and West Ham concede very few away from home (or anywhere, for that matter).

If the Hammers can keep the Swans at bay, there is no reason to see why we couldn't get a result away from home this Sunday.

 Head to Head 

31% Head to Head Win % 47%

17 Won 26

12 Drawn 12

26 Lost 17

73 Goals Scored 107

107 Goals Conceded 73

 Recent Form 

L L W L W D Last 6 D L W L W L

10 Goals Scored 9

6 Goals Conceded 9

  

W D L W W D Home/Away Form L L D D L W

14 Goals Scored 4

6 Goals Conceded 5

  

 Form Player (Last 6 League) 

Ben Davies - Winston Reid

6 Appearances 6

501 Minutes Played 540

  

242 Sum Squawka Performance Score 164

40 Average Squawka Performance Rating 27

  

343 Passes Attempted 221

278 Completed 167

81% Success Rate 76%

  

3 Chances Created 0

0 Assists 0

  

3 Attempts on Goal 5

3 On Target 1

2 Goals 1

  

13 Tackles Made 16

12 Successful Tackles 12

92% Success Rate 75%

  

12 Interceptions 17

24 Clearances 46

2 Blocks 5

6 Defensive Actions Per Game 11

  

28 Aerial Duels 30

17 Won 19

61% Success Rate 63%

1 Defensive Errors 0

0 Leading to a Goal 0

  

 Last Meeting 

02 February 2013

1-0 Andy Carroll 77'

4-2-3-1 Starting Formation 4-2-3-1

Gerhard Tremmel - Jussi Jääskeläinen

Angel Rangel - Joey O'Brien

Ashley Williams - James Tomkins

Chico Flores - Winston Reid

Ben Davies - Matthew Taylor

Leon Britton (57') - Mark Noble

Ki Sung-Yong - (86') Mohamed Diamé

Pablo Hernandez - Ricardo Vâz Te

Jonathan de Guzman - (91') Kevin Nolan

Wayne Routledge (75') - (62') Matt Jarvis

Miguel Michu - Andy Carroll

 Subs 

David Cornell - Raphael Spiegel

Gary Monk - (91') Emanuel Pogatetz

Dwight Tiendalli - Jack Collison

Nathan Dyer (75') - (62') Joe Cole

Roland Lamah - (86') Gary O'Neil

Itay Shechter - Carlton Cole

Luke Moore (57') - Marouane Chamakh

 Absentees 

 Injured/Doubtful 

Swansea City: Ashley Williams, Ben Davies, Pablo Hernandez

West Ham United: James Collins, Guy Demel, Alou Diarra, Andy Carroll

 Suspensions 

Swansea City: n/a

West Ham United: n/a

  Opposition Last Time Out

vs Kuban Krasnodar

 Goals Scored: 1

 Goals Conceded: 1

 Starting Formation: 4-2-3-1

  Gerhard Tremmel

  

  Dwight Tiendalli (59') Chico Flores Jordi Amat Neil Taylor

Jose Canas Jonjo Shelvey

Nathan Dyer (77') Miguel Michu (59') Alejandro Pozeulo

Wilfried Bony

  

 subs: 

  Michel Vorm

Leon Britton

Roland Lamah (77')

  Garry Monk

Jonathan De Guzman

Angel Rangel (59')

Alvaro Vazquez (59')

 Best Player: 

 Squawka Rating: 

 Worst Player: 

 Squawka Rating: 

  

 Top 5's (Min 3 Apps) 

 Goals Scored 

Wilfried Bony 2 - 2 Ravel Morrison

Ben Davies 2 - 2 Ricardo Vâz Te

Miguel Michu 2 - 1 Joe Cole

Jonathan de Guzman 1 - 1 Kevin Nolan

Nathan Dyer 1 - 1 Winston Reid

 Assists 

Pablo Hernandez 2 - 2 Matt Jarvis

Wayne Routledge 2 - 1 Mohamed Diamé

Wilfried Bony 1 - 1 Ravel Morrison

Miguel Michu 1 - 1 Mark Noble

Jonjo Shelvey 1 - 1 Kevin Nolan

 Passing Accuracy 

Leon Britton 94% - 88% Stewart Downing

Jose Canas 90% - 83% Ravel Morrison

Ashley Williams 90% - 81% Mark Noble

Chico Flores 90% - 80% Kevin Nolan

Alex Pozuelo 89% - 79% Joey O'Brien

 Chances Created per game 

Pablo Hernandez 2 - 2.3 Stewart Downing

Miguel Michu 2 - 2.3 Mark Noble

Nathan Dyer 1.5 - 1.3 Matt Jarvis

Wayne Routledge 1.4 - 1 Rǎzvan Raţ

Wilfried Bony 1.1 - 0.8 Modibo Maïga

 Successful Dribbles per game 

Pablo Hernandez 1.7 - 2.4 Mohamed Diamé

Nathan Dyer 1.5 - 1.9 Mark Noble

Alex Pozuelo 0.9 - 1.4 Ravel Morrison

Miguel Michu 0.9 - 1 Joe Cole

Jonathan de Guzman 0.8 - 0.8 Guy Demel

 Tackles Won per game 

Ben Davies 2.3 - 3.1 Mohamed Diamé

Pablo Hernadez 2 - 2.6 Mark Noble

Chico Flores 1.9 - 2.3 James Collins

Angel Rangel 1.8 - 2.3 Winston Reid

Nathan Dyer 1.5 - 2.3 James Tomkins

 Aerial Duels Won per game 

Chico Flores 3.1 - 6.2 Modibo Maïga

Ben Davies 2.5 - 4 James Tomkins

Wilfried Bony 1.9 - 3.3 James Collins

Ashley Williams 1.8 - 3.1 Winston Reid

Miguel Michu 1.6 - 1.4 Joey O'Brien

 Manager 

Michael Laudrup - Sam Allardyce

38.7% Current Club Win % 42.1%

24 Won 43

17 Drawn 27

21 Lost 32

  

45.9% Managerial Career Win % 40.0%

142 Won 337

76 Drawn 226

91 Lost 279

1 League Titles 2

4 Cup Wins 0