April Cool
Was it really seven weeks without a league win? Was it really seven weeks ago that we forcibly ejected the Geordies from their house, manhandled them all the way to their local branch of Northern Rock and demanded that they withdrew money, before roughly marching them to the cleaners and stuffing their newly-washed shirts into a washing basket? Which we then hurled at them? Doesn’t time go slowly when you’re not having fun? Now, those same Geordies are bringing up the rear. And they want their change.
After a much-improved display against Bolton, Harry again went for the 4-3-3 with Ade leading the line and Bale and Rafa buzzing around. It said a lot about Swansea’s ball retention that we employed a pressing game to close them down high up the pitch. Closing down’s a tricky thing. Done well, it’s about closing down men and space at the same time, forcing each man in possession to get rid of the ball and cutting down the options until you win it back. It’s not about playing piggy-in-the-middle, mindlessly chasing the ball from one man to another. It’s about hunting in packs. While there’s always the danger that the opposition will play their way around you and suddenly close in on your back four, the tactic got us a lot of chances and for the most part, stopped Swansea playing football where they could hurt us. We looked in control when Rafa beautifully curled in the first from the mesmerising Bale’s partially intercepted cut-back, following Luka’s trademark outside-of-the-boot pass inside the full-back.
At least for a while, the second half was different. Swansea came out and forced themselves on the game while we sat back and attempted to absorb the growing pressure. Friedel just about managed to turn Sigurdsson’s bolt from the blue onto the post, but he didn’t have much chance with the next one. And suddenly, something changed. We found our urgency again. And boy did we need to.
If anyone had told me that Ade would then win us the game with two headers, I’d have said they were having an April Fool. Ade doesn’t score headers. Not for Spurs. The only two headers he’s scored in a Spurs game recently were for Real Madrid. He doesn’t even go up for goal kicks, never mind get on the end of crosses. His height is purely incidental, a biological fact that doesn’t affect his footballing ability any more than his haircut does. If they’d then said that the first of those two headers would come from a corner – one of those things that usually signals the end of our attack, almost in the way an opposition block or clearance does – I’d have laughed until I cried. But it happened. Rafa whipped in a beauty with curl and pace and Ade nodded it in. Simple as pie and just as tasty.
Lightning does strike twice. At least, it does when it’s Ade. He loves a brace more than a dentist does. This time, the provider was Lennon – whose absence for a couple of weeks felt more like a couple of months – beating the full-back and floating over a perfect cross from his one attempt at either. We’ve missed that like nobody’s business. We might have other players who can cover for certain areas, but no one else in our squad can do what Lennon does. All they have to do is remember to pass him the ball. Having said that, Bale tore his countrymen – and the poetically-named Angel Rangel – to shreds. All that was missing was a goal. It’s great to have the terrifying twosome back in tandem. There were times when we needed to move quickly at the other end too, both Willie G and Younes making crucial last-ditch blocks when Swansea got in behind us and prepared to pull the trigger.
At last, there was the win we’ve been waiting for even longer than Lennon’s return. Just as importantly, we’ve looked a lot closer to the team we were watching earlier in the season. They say football is a confidence game. That’s especially the case for the way we play it. Our style is fuelled by confidence. It underpins our movement, galvanises our attacking instincts. We’re at our best when we knock the ball around, when we move, when we attack, when we’re free-flowing and fearless. Some of the speed and the zip has returned to our play. We’re going to need all the speed and zip we can get between now and the end of the season, which is alarmingly close now. It’s no longer a laughing matter once 1st April passes. Things get serious. If the last two games have been anything to go by, maybe we have too.