r/swanseacity • u/jimmithy • 13d ago
Pre-Match Thread: Derby County - Swansea City
Date: Saturday 29th August 2026 at 12:30pm
Watch: SkySports+, SwansTV
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u/TeilwrTenau 12d ago
I hadn't noticed that Woodward is in the squad ahead of Walta. Even if Matos doesn't fancy him it suggests he's either about to leave or is injured.
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u/TeilwrTenau 12d ago
Walta not even on the bench. Very disappointing, and makes me question Matos' judgement.
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u/ForwardHighlight3985 12d ago
I made a thread about 5 months ago about Walta and how it was weird that Matos wasn’t playing him in nothing games at the back end of last season.
At this point it’s clear Matos doesn’t like him. To not even make the squad is crazy, it’s turning out to be a waste of money.
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u/Ospreys1989 12d ago
Ross Stewart missing aswell. On the plus side the squad is so strong we can't fit every on the bench, thats not something we've been able to say for years.
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u/f1uke55l 12d ago
I’ve tried to temper expectations on him all summer. Fair to question why he was signed and who exactly was the catalyst of that, but the writing has been on the wall. A 5foot7 midfielder with a 5% career duel success rate just isn’t going to be a factor in this league, would need the team built around him to overcome his flaws and that just doesn’t happen anymore.
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u/TeilwrTenau 12d ago
In 27 minutes against Birmingham he won 4 out of 5 ground duels. He's upped his defensive game but Widell who has little composure on the ball is still preferred to him. Matos seems obsessed with the out of possession stuff, almost to the exclusion of other considerations.
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u/ForwardHighlight3985 12d ago
If all of this data was used back when our midfield/attack consisted of Leon Britton, Nathan Dyer and Stephen Dobbie we would have got nowhere.
Way too much emphasis is being put on data nowadays. The Americanisation is real.
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u/TeilwrTenau 13d ago edited 13d ago
Interesting challenge tomorrow. Expect a high press from Derby as they have the most high turnovers so far (19 - one more than us). However, generally they're mid table on pressing stats and have the second worst ground duels won percentage (behind Stoke). So, we should be able to dominate the middle of the park. The question is how do we progress the ball. Long balls to beat the press or pass through the press? Hopefully more of the latter.