The first league goal we have scored in the first half at Villa Park this season did somehow give us our first point in five games despite the Swans having enjoyed the lion’s share of the possession.

On the positive side we put an end to a 4 game run of defeats yesterday, scored a goal and held onto a point rather than gave one away as we had done just 48 short hours earlier.

But, it has been a long time since Villa Park was considered a fortress by our visitors. It has become a ground that teams just love to come to and a ground at which teams who are on a bad run have a real opportunity to get a positive result.

We have sadly grown accustomed to defeats at Villa Park having now won just 11 of our last 48 home league games. But to be outplayed by a team that are just a point above us despite having gone an early goal in front to the extent that they claimed 73% of the possession away from home represents a new and an unacceptable low.

Following a bright enough start we scored a rare goal at Villa Park and this lifted our spirits no end. This might have been expected to lift confidence on the pitch as well as off it. But instead of going again with a view to ensuring a win we took our foot of the pedal, surrendered the initiative along with the midfield and it was no shock when they equalised on 36 minutes. Our goal and the lead up to it was as good as it got. Following that it was one way traffic and we were outplayed, out passed and gave a passable imitation of an away team with their backs to the wall.

After going ahead we too readily dropped back and defended far too deep giving Swansea the space to play in front of us and our wayward passes and balls out of defence led to us surrendering possession far too often. We moved our defensive line further forward and did press our visitors when they had the ball in the second half but they did have an awful lot of the ball yesterday.

Generally our players seemed to put in a bigger shift than they had done 48 hours earlier. But hard work alone will not win enough games in this league and we struggled to put a couple of passes together yesterday let alone to create scoring opportunities during the 87 minutes we played after going a goal up.

We were fortunate to get a point yesterday from a game that Swansea controlled without turning their possession into more than one goal due to their own lack of a cutting edge. But the gulf in class between the two teams was shown to be nearer a chasm than the one point difference that the league table still shows between us today.

This point has left us on 20 points. The same number of points from the second half of the season or perhaps another six wins should be enough to secure our top flight status for another season. But on current form it is difficult to see where those wins or another 18 points will come from or what the end goal of the mystery project that we are apparently 18 months into is.

My player ratings from a game that has left us 4 points clear of the relegation places and half way to safety are:

Brad Guzan – 6 – Brad gathered a Hernandez shot at the second attempt on 17 minutes and was relieved to see a headed corner from the unmarked Davies bounce over the bar 3 minutes later. He was beaten at his far post for their equalizer having rushed from front to far post in chase of a floating cross from Hernandez that found Lamah’s head and entered the net off his arm. He also comfortably helped a De Guzman free kick over the bar on 52 minutes.

Matt Lowton – 5 – A slight improvement on his previous performance for me but he needs to build on this to get somewhere near to the player he had looked at this stage of last season.

Ciaran Clark – 6 – A good solid display yesterday. His absence to add to that of our captain will make our next game a tougher game than it was already going to be for our short of numbers defence.

Nathan Baker – 5 – He tends to look uncomfortable and hurried when put under pressure. This is likely to be very much the situation we will face at Sunderland.

Antonio Lunar - 4 – Looked better when getting forward than he did more often than not when defending. Hit a very poor attempted clearance to De Guzman on the edge of the box whose shot flew just wide on 35 minutes and was brushed off by Lamah in the build up to his goal a minute later which left him in space at the far post to meet the inviting cross.

Leandro Bacuna – 5 – Leo came off with 20 minutes to play having just been booked for El Ahmadi which suggested we were content to keep the point we had rather than to push for all three.

Fabian Delph - 6 – Kept busy and tried to disrupt the visitors passing game as best he was able. Hit a shot with some power on 90 minutes but although on target it was straight at the keeper so did not trouble him.

Ashley Westwood – 5 – His return was a positive but he has had much more effective displays than this for us and he needs to try to make a bigger impression on our midfield although given like others his confidence level is so low I can understand why it may prove difficult to put a head above the parapet.

Aleksandar Tonev – 4 – A surprising starter but his substitution was much less unexpected after 61 minutes. A bright first few minutes and a good early cross but he was oh so quiet after that.

Andreas Weimann – 4 – Faded after a pretty bright start which had included his crucial part in our goal. Like Villa he seems to be missing Benteke but he does need to step up more than he has done to date during his striking partner’s absence.

Gabriel Agbonlahor – 6 – MOTM – Opened the scoring on 7 minutes when Weimann played a lovely ball past 2 defenders to leave him with just the keeper to beat after timing his run splendidly and he beat Tremmel nicely with a shot that nestled into the corner of the net. He also won a couple of balls in the air which was a little surprising and hit a late shot into the side netting which was not given the angle had been so tight.

Substitutes:

Libor Kozak – 5 - Replaced Tonev on 61 minutes and offered us someone to hoof the ball up to. Given we are so short of a goal threat the decision to leave him among the forwards who were sitting on the bench at the start of the game looked questionable but he did little to show Lambo that he had been wrong to leave him out although Messi himself would struggle to score regularly from the service we are giving our forwards at the moment.

Karim El Ahmadi – 4 - Replaced Bacuna on 70 minutes but made no positive impression on the game following his introduction.

Marc Albrighton – 6 - Replaced Weimann on 79 minutes. I struggle to see why he did not start given his recent performance level and can only assume it was because it was not felt he was up to playing twice in 48 hours. When he did come on he produced a good work rate and looked keen to try to make a difference.

Up the Villa and a Happier New Year to all readers!

John Lewis

Source: Player Match Ratings: Swans tame a docile Lion!