Steve Cooper has admitted he got it wrong as Swansea City failed to put away Championship strugglers for the second successive game.
A 1-1 draw at Barnsley – following their previous 2-1 home defeat against Stoke City – means the Swans have dropped five points to the two clubs sharing the bottom two places in the table.
Cooper was honest enough to concede his tactical approach had been wide of the mark as Barnsley played a very different style to the one the Swansea manager was expecting.
The Tykes had sacked Daniel Stendel after a 10-match sequence without a win and Cooper felt that would result in an uncomplicated approach under caretaker boss Adam Murray.
“We felt it was going to be an untidy game with the circumstances here with the change of manager,” said Cooper after Andre Ayew’s goal had been cancelled out by Alex Mowatt.
“So, we planned for them to be different to what they were. We thought they would be much more direct during the game with their long throws and we prepared for that.”
In fact, Barnsley played the Swans at their own possession-based game and might have won the match if they had taken some of their clear-cut chances.
It means anyone looking for evidence that Cooper’s side have stalled after their superb start to the season, does not have to search far.
The draw means that they have now won just once in their last six League games, although they remain third in the Championship table, just a point behind second-placed Leeds United and three points adrift of leaders West Brom.
“We spoke about getting on the ball and playing the way we want to play but staying in the game as well and then we felt the last 30 minutes would be for us to go win the game,” added Cooper.
“To go 1-0 up was as planned, but we missed two sitters before it, so we should have been two or three up. We’ve conceded at a really poor time and it leaves you with dissatisfaction because we should have gone on and won the game.”
Murray said: “Before the game, with the team we were facing, if you’d have said we would get a point after the game we would have been satisfied with that.
“But the way the boys performed, we’re probably a bit gutted.
“We had enough chances, especially early on, to go ahead in the game. But the reaction that we showed when we went a goal behind was a real positive.
“We’ve found already this season that this is a league in which we must take the opportunities that come to us because it is ruthless. One or two chances and we get punished so that is an area we need to improve in.”
It seemed as though the Tykes were heading for a fifth loss in six games when Ayew put Swansea ahead in the 67th minute.
But Mowatt levelled just three minutes later although the point was not enough to prevent Barnsley from slipping to the bottom following Stoke’s win over Fulham.
