The Swans did their best impression of a street punk – could easily have been nicked for “possession” as they played keep ball, but never likely to be pulled in for murder as a lack of any urgency or aggression played into Hull’s hands.
There were home debuts for Rhys Williams and Olivier Ntcham whilst Benda got the boot, meaning Ben Hamer started between the sticks.
New boy Ntcham showed up well and offered a bit of purpose to go with the possession and he’ll get better with game time. Williams too looks a positive addition – all 80 feet of him.
Hull sat back; the Swans passed forward. And backward. And sideways. And back again. But there was little to trouble Matt Ingram in the Hull goal.
The gloved Tiger was called into action when he tipped Matt Grimes’ one decent free kick onto a post but he was never in any danger of being overworked.
The second period followed the same pattern and aside from surviving a more than decent penalty shout the Hull defence stood off and stood firm.
It was all “nice” stuff but once again the home side had the cutting edge of a coconut wheel, and there could have been a nasty ending to the tale as Ben Hamer was forced to make short work of Longman’s long distance shot in the last minute of injury time.
The performance promised more to come, especially from the new boys, but it was tepid stuff against pretty weak and unambitious opponents who showed exactly why they haven’t scored since the opening day.
If the Swans want time to develop AND stay in the Championship then they really have to take all three points in fixtures such as this one but sadly nobody looked to grab the game by the balls and force the issue – everybody was happy to play nice and win the possession stats.
Must do better.
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