A Monk’s Tale (Man Utd 1-Swansea City 2)

Last Saturday (August 16th) Swansea City created history by defeating Man Utd at Old Trafford in the league for the first time ever. Ever! Ever! As manager Garry Monk succinctly said in his post match conference nobody outside of Swansea gave them” a cat in hell’s chance” of beating the Mighty Red Devils on the opening day of the new season.

All the focus surrounded the Dutch Master, Louis van Gaal, late of Ajax, Barcelona, Bayern Munich and fresh from his exploits in steering Holland to third place in the World Cup. United had enjoyed a very successful pre-season and van Gaal was confident his Holland blueprint had been taken on board by his players at his new club.

NBC‘s coverage of the game in USA focused entirely on the new manager and placed so much emphasis on the Neanderthal man Wayne Rooney being made club captain. Whoopee! Could somebody please tell him that his hair transplant needs reseeding?

We in the US of A were treated to the Dutch Master entering the arena and shaking hands with supporters and waving to the rest of crowd in anticipation of a thumping victory of the Swans who were not even cast as bridesmaids, but were viewed as lambs to the slaughter. By jove, it’s difficult attempting to separate the stereotype  Welshman from sheep even in print.

Moving on, nobody had given the Swans the script because they grabbed the lead around twenty minutes into the game with a goal scored by Michael Laudrup reject, Sung-Yeung Ki, who was shipped unceremoniously to Sunderland by the former manager where he spent last season on loan. Laudrup probably had a bad Chinese meal in Swansea’s High Street and exacted his revenge on the South Korean.

The Swans protected their lead until half time, but shortly after the resumption Rooney equalized with an exuberant scissors kick which brought the Old Trafford faithful to life. I must admit I was expecting the flood gates to open and I was resigned to losing 1-3, or possibly 1-4.

Swansea Captain, Ashley Williams, had a magnificent game and steadied the ship. So much so, I thought maybe we could escape with a draw. Surprisingly the Swans held their shape while a very mediocre United team huffed and puffed but offered very little in attack. Twenty minutes left, and I was still clinging onto the possibility of a point when Bony took a quick free kick and found new signing Montero who bombed down the left wing and crossed the ball into the middle which was met by an advancing Routledge.  He fluffed his shot which fortuitously rebounded to Sigurdsson who gratefully turned it into the net for the winner.

Game ball is awarded to Garry Monk who came with a game plan and outcoached the much vaunted van Gaal on this occasion. The Dutch Master entered the Old Trafford arena resembling a Roman Emperor, but exited like a punch drunk Primo Carnera who had taken two many shots to the head.

It was a great result for the Swans, but the performance left a lot to be desired on times. Williams, Sigurdsson and Bony were magnificent, but several of their team mates were prone to give the ball away too cheaply and the passing was not as crisp as it should be. I’m not convinced that Ki and Shelvey are a winning combination in central midfield. Shelvey is a loose cannon who is capable of producing a magical moment yet not a hair’s breadth away from a red card.

Saturday’s game at home to Burnley will be crucial. Burnley are newly promoted, so it’s a fixture that Swansea would expect to win. The momentum gained in the win against United would be seriously undermined if they were to lose to the Clarets from Lancashire. However, let’s savor the moment since its not very often we defeat one of the top six.

 

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