Gameweek 5: The Post Mortem. SWA v EVE, FUL v WIG

Swansea 0 Everton 3, Wigan 1 Fulham 2

Summary:

Now as I write this piece, there are numerous articles out there already about Everton's physical game dominating over Swansea's physically weak and injured first team, so I'm not going to touch much more on that. What I will highlight first in this analysis is where Everton stopped Swansea, and then Swansea's response.

Kevin Mirallas' movement towards the center of the pitch caused Swansea problems by linking up very well with the front two of Anichebe and Fellaini. His movement was rewarded when he scored a goal himself occupying the second striker position when Fellaini dropped to play the ball from midfield. Dyer's red card settles the contest as Everton used their individual battles efficiently to finish the Swans off.


The stark contrast between efficiency and wastefulness was displayed in the Fulham-Wigan match, where Wigan created many chances, but were let down by their finishing and crosses. Fulham, however, made the most of theirs and the lesson is that you have to take your chances to win a game.

Lineups:

Swansea stick to their 4-2-3-1, but with Ki Sung Yeung replacing Britton and Pablo coming in for Dyer. Ki's credentials will come under severe scrutiny this match against the physical presence of Fellaini and co, who will no doubt put him and de Guzman under a lot of pressure. How Swansea, especially Ki and de Guzman adapt to this gameplan will be key to whether they can even score against Everton

Everton stick to their tried and true 4-4-1-1 with Anichebe and the forgotten Seamus Coleman coming in for the injured Jelavic and Hibbert respectively. Everton will stick to their tried and true gameplan of using Fellaini's physical presence, but what will we monitor this game will be Mirallas' movement towards the center of the pitch, as this does not just create chances for himself, whether as an extra player in the box or a shooter from distance, but it also allows Seamus Coleman to make runs towards Swansea's byline (Coleman was known as a rightback that could score goals a couple seasons back).

Tactical Notes: 

• The difference is in the forwards: Mirallas is the extra man in offence, Osman is the extra man in defense

What has been ignore by most is the movement of Mirallas, which I highlighted last week. Despite being fielded as a right winger, Mirallas's runs into the box are becoming more and more central, resulting in his two early chances, as well as his goal.

You could even argue that when Fellaini drops to pick up the ball from his defense, Mirallas occupies a second striker position alongside Anichebe, who tends to drop into the space between defence and midfield to receive the ball.

Note that Pienaar also ran down the RIGHT FLANK for Mirallas' goal, would suggest that Pienaar doesn't just operate on the left flank when Mirallas starts on the right wing. This will obviously boost Pienaar's Fantasy value if you don't have him already.

The weakness of Swansea's 4-2-3-1 system is its relatively slow buildup play; because of Swansea's possession philosophy, the ball usually doesn't bypass any of the "layers" of the 4-2-3-1, resulting in opportunities for the Everton forward/midfield to dispossess them. Some of Everton's chances were made through "forced errors" by the Swansea defence or midfield (Osman robbing Tate), such as Anichebe's double chance and Williams' yellow card (Routledge pressured into a suicidal backpass).

• Swansea's look to the flanks to expose Everton's offensive wingers, and we see the difference between Britton and Ki

Swansea reacted by pushing Michu and Pablo forward, with unexpected dividends. Laudrup recognised the presence of Phil Neville in defensive midfield, and therefore started Pablo over Dyer. This caused Graham's off the ball runs to be much more effective, as Michu and Pablo finally found each other behind Everton's defensive lines, and Pablo nearly linked with Michu to score past Tim Howard.

Swansea have also added a dimension to their game by fielding Ki over Britton. While Britton plays a very consistently accurate short passing game, he lacks the tendency to attempt incisive passes, as well as a quality shot from distance. Swansea's chances midway through the first half came from Routledge, Ki and de Guzman attempting shots, and either making decent efforts our of the corners subsequently, or the shots nearly troubling Howard.

Angel Rangel and Ben Davies' influence also started to trouble Everton at the stroke of half time. While Everton's right flank actually lacked a winger, Ben Davies cannot be faulted to fail to capitalise, but Angel Rangel did use Pienaar's offensive positioning to create some havoc behind the Everton backline. It seems that Everton's fullbacks tend to leave some space behind them for fullbacks to run into, and I might highlight this when the likes of Liverpool, Fulham and Sunderland square up against Everton in the coming weeks.

• Dyer's red card made Everton's individual battles much easier to win

With Laudrup's instructions to his players the same after half time, Swansea played encouragingly until Dyer was sent off. The key individual battle here is Anichebe vs Tate, and Fellaini vs the rest of the Swansea defence. While Swansea's substitutions were like for like, Steve Naismith's introduction was to balance Everton's shape and it was a matter of time before Everton got third through a set piece. 

Fantasy Implications:

Through Everton's gameplay, I will certainly confirm now that Everton are executing their gameplan, and very well indeed. In the heart of it is Fellaini, as well as Mirallas now. With Southampton and Wigan coming up next, you can certainly arrange for the transfers of Pienaar and Anichebe as differentials, as Everton have their shit worked out for them right now. As for Swansea, Chico's return next game will be a cause for optimism, but I've received mixed responses for their opportunities to bounce back, as Stoke and a hard pressing Reading are up next, and this is where your invest in Swansea is dependent on your outlook in terms of their results.

Wigan 1 Fulham 2

Lineups:

James McArthur is relegated to the bench as Ben Watson takes his spot. The injured Franco di Santo (calf) is replaced by Jordi Gomez. With Maloney and Gomez flanking Kone up front, Wigan's 3-4-3 will probably have a wider shape than the last game, where Maloney played behind two central strikers.

Wigan will look to their wingbacks, Beausejour and Boyce to link up with the two attacking midfielders in Jordi Gomez and Shaun Maloney to put pressure on Fulham's defense.

Fulham line up with the same eleven as last week with a relatively orthodox 4-4-2, with Berbatov and Rodallega up front. As mentioned in the Pregame, Fulham will seek to get behind Wigan's wingbacks, especially Beausejour who is not particularly defensive minded.

Duff and perhaps Rodallega will be key to stretching the Wigan defense as Man United did last week, and the game will come down to how much Wigan can keep out Fulham's crosses and shots, as how Wigan will breach Fulham's defense.

Tactical Notes:

• Both Fulham forwards got in on the action, Wigan's wingbacks and finishers letting themselves down

Wigan and Fulham both started well, with Wigan playing their possession game, and Fulham's forwards leading the line in their counterattacks. While Wigan's aim is to keep Fulham's attacking threat down through possession, Fulham used their possession clinically. Berbatov and Rodallega's off-the-ball movement made it difficult for Wigan's three centerbacks to track them, and as a result, they constantly had no one to mark.

Rodallega's goal was a result of no one picking up Berbatov, and although Berbatov and Rodallega deserve credit for their play, Wigan could've done better at either having a midfielder/centerback snuff out the cross or just dealing with Rodallega better. Wigan did play well enough to warrant themselves a goal, but bad finishing from Gomez and Boyce, combined with missed opportunities to cross from Beausejour and Boyce (Gomez was unlucky to hit the bar though) meant that Wigan didn't score going into half time.

• Fulham go for directness and are rewarded; Wigan's adventurousness not yielding results

With Wigan on the ascendency, only Mark Schwarzer turned up for the first part of the second half, catching crosses and coming out top against Kone 1v1. With the introduction of Bryan Ruiz, Fulham had someone who operated more centrally alongside Berbatov or Rodallega when either forward stretch the Wigan back three. 

Fulham's second goal came from the fact that when Rodallega ran wide and crossed, he found Ruiz who picked out Duff, who snuck up behind his marker (Beausejour) for an easy finish. 

The introduction of McManaman and Miyaichi was a peculiar one; With Wigan going for broke, they overcrowded the Fulham box and only got their goal when a corner wasn't dealt with and Callum Mcmanaman created a chance for Kone to finish. I'm not quite sure Boyce would've been at that position, but it puts Wigan's "plan B" under considerable question. 

Fantasy Implications:

For Fulham, Berbatov and/or Rodallega cannot be ignored anymore as we move into Fulham's period of easy games, although I would still favor the Bulgarian over Rodallega at this point. Their next winnable games, against Southampton and Villa, should yield results for their attacking midfielders, and you can certainly bank on the likes of Sidwell to deliver a goal or two. As for Wigan, as Martinez pointed out in his post match interview that he's opening his starting XI spots, I'd treat Wigan as a red flag until they start winning.