Why Jefferson Montero and Andre Ayew remain critical to Swansea City

Published on: 10 October 2015
Why Jefferson Montero and Andre Ayew remain critical to Swansea City
Ghana and Swansea City man Ayew mobbed Gomis and Shelvy

The Swans still unbeaten with both Ayew and Montero on the pitch together in the league this season.

Old-fashioned wingers with a desire to beat their full-back down the line are in relative short supply in the Premier League, as the common preference is to start wide players who are either more at home cutting infield and shooting or running on the diagonal to take advantage of any space vacated by a striker that has dropped short.

Jefferson Montero showed flashes of being a handful in his first season at Swansea, but it was in the early stages of the current campaign that he made his most scintillating impact since joining the Premier League from Mexican club Morelia.

The Ecuadorian gave Branislav Ivanovic a torrid time on the opening day of this term as the Swans secured a 2-2 draw against Chelsea at Stamford and then his directness was responsible for Daryl Janmaat receiving two yellow cards in a 2-0 victory over Newcastle.

Montero’s pure speed down the touchline posed the pair problems and it is no surprise to discover that he attempted more dribbles than any other player during the opening two weeks of the season.

Furthermore, only Arsenal and Manchester City had more attempts at goal in the same period.

Montero then started again in the draw at Sunderland before missing the victory over Manchester United with a thigh injury, which ended up keeping him sidelined for the best part of a month.

It is no great surprise that Swansea lost three of their four matches in all competitions during this timeframe.

What was also notable was that they registered just one goal in this period, while across their three top-flight matches only Stoke, West Brom and Sunderland created fewer chances.

Striker Bafetimbi Gomis has especially struggled, failing to find the net in any competition since August, when putting his name on the score sheet in each of the first four game weeks.

As things stand, Garry Monk’s men remain unbeaten this season with Montero in their line-up, while they have lost three of the five matches in which he hasn’t been available.

There has additionally been the temptation to switch formation for the matches without Montero.

With him, Monk has stuck to a 4-2-3-1 line-up, with Montero staying wide on the left and Andre Ayew playing narrower down the right to provide a back-post threat behind Gomis.

A midfield diamond has been the tactic without him and the Swans have lacked width, with Ayew pushing further forward to start as a second striker.

Montero was back producing his wizardry in the latest 2-2 draw with Tottenham, in a gameweek where no Premier League player could trump his 12 attempted dribbles.

Ayew may have been the August Premier League player of the month and Jonjo Shelvey may have started England’s recent Euro 2016 qualifiers on account of his start to the campaign, but there is little doubt that if Swansea are going to achieve anything this season, the performances of Montero will prove most critical to the cause.

 

This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website.
Learn more