I actually think it was a difficult ball to get it to N'Jie.... He couldn't play a low ball as there were defenders in the way and had he floated one across then the defenders could've re-adjusted and pulled across to snuff it out. I thought the right ball was one to Alli, who pulled back towards the edge of the box. However even then it looked as though Alli only did that just as Townsend was taking the shot. Had he executed the shot reasonably well he probably would've scored as it was taken from a decent position.
You're right, we did enough to win the game when he was on, trouble is he kept spazzing the ball at the keeper or the corner flag like he always does.
Townsend has had lots of time, he was the same of the bench as he is when in a longer run. I suppose he deserves some credit for consistency, but being consistent at not making the right choice, ever is pretty bad.
As I said before. He did more than Chadli yesterday and as much as Lamela did. Looks to me like he is being made a bit of a spacegoat here. I was at the game yesterday and it wasn't a poor performance at all. One poor moment with the 3 on 2, but even then the two players supporting him didn't really do enough to give him a great option.
I haven't had the chance to see the game again (I will try to watch it tonight) but from my seat at The Liberty it looked as though N'Jie just kind of hung around in space at the back post without ever getting into a position where Townsend could really get him the bal. As Townsend was going forward with the ball during the 3 on 2 I wanted N'Jie to bust a gut to try to get up level with Townsend so that Townsend could put it in behind the defenders for him to run on to, that didn't happen. Ali also seemed to hold his position centrally, when I think the better run would possibly have been for him to look to try to get on the right of Townsend to open up the two defenders and create more space for Townsend coming inside. In the end Townsend's shot was very weak, but I think both Ali and N'Jie were also culpable in that break as neither of them really made the right runs.
The thing is though - we were the better team for probably 60 to 70 minutes of the game and yet it seems several of our players have been brick? It doesn't really add up. Personally I thought Chadli was quiet yesterday, but other than him the rest of the team all contributed to us taking the game to Swansea and dominating them for a large majority of the game. Swansea usually look to control possession, but yesterday they were reduced to playing on the break.
I thought Lamela had gone extremely quiet yesterday at the start of the second half and that was probably the period in the game where I felt that Swansea were on top. It seemed to me that Swansea had started to push their left back on to double up on Walker with Montero and create a numerical advantage on that side of the pitch. By bringing Townsend on with his more direct style I think that Poch was trying to ensure that Swansea couldn't risk playing so advanced out wide on that side. I think it worked as well, we then had Swansea's left sided players stretched apart further and it created space for us to play in.
