Swansea City tactics
Ki Sung-Yueng missed out after picking up a hamstring injury last time out but Garry Monk retained the rest of the players who impressed at Stamford Bridge last weekend.
The Swans adopted their usual possession-based game-plan with the intent of creating chances through a mixture of intricate play through the middle and crosses from the left flank.
Jack Cork started as Jonjo Shelvey’s partner in central midfield. The pair had to collect the ball from defenders to initiate patient attacks with Cork remaining as the holding midfielder.
Shelvey was allowed to support play through the middle, where he could use his passing range to clip balls over the top for the forwards.
Gylfi Sigurdsson started as the central attacking midfielder supporting Bafetimbi Gomis in the box while also dropping deeper to link up play centrally. In the wide areas, Andre Ayew drifted inside from the right flank looking to make diagonal runs into the box.
Ayew’s inward movements from the right meant that Kyle Naughton was the main supplier of service from the right flank.
Jefferson Montero kept the width down the left flank as a natural winger. He aimed to use his pace to get to the by-line and supply crosses with his left foot or link up with an overlapping Neil Taylor.
When out of possession, the full-backs dropped to the defensive line while Shelvey joined Cork in central midfield. Montero and Ayew engaged on the Magpies’ full-backs while Sigurdsson worked just behind Gomis.
Newcastle United tactics
Steve McClaren retained the same starting XI that he used in the season opener. The United boss resisted the temptation to go for a high pressing game as many opponents do against Swansea.
Instead he detailed his side to defend in a solid 4-4-1-1 formation, probably looking to minimise the threat in behind from Swansea’s quick forwards.
That meant Newcastle allowed Swansea time on the ball when the hosts initiated attacks in their defensive-third. Papiss Cisse led the defending from the halfway line while Georginio Wijnaldum defended just behind the centre forward.
Gabriel Obertan and Moussa Sissoko tracked back with Swansea’s full-backs from the sides of midfield. Those wide midfielders also doubled up with Newcastle’s full-backs, Daryl Janmaat and Massadio Haidara, to deal with Swansea’s threat from the sides.
In central midfield, Vurnon Anita and Jack Colback shielded the back-four to deal with the intricate football from Swansea.
When the Magpies had the ball they had the option to exploit the space Swansea left behind with quick counter-attacks. The pacy Obertan, Wijnaldum and Sissoko supported Cisse in those breaks.
When United had sustained possession, Anita dropped between a splitting pair of central defenders to initiate attacks from the back. The central defenders, Chancel Mbemba and Fabricio Coloccini, pulled wide to assume full-back positions while the full-backs moved forward to take starting positions on the halfway line.
Colback supported play in central midfield while Wijnaldum pushed forward to roam just behind Cisse. Obertan and Sissoko pushed up from midfield to support Cisse virtually as wide forwards.
Key tactical changes
Similar to the opening day of the season, Montero was the difference in this encounter. Janmaat tried to impose himself with some aggressive defensive work but it backfired as the Dutch defender got booked and ended up sent-off just before the end of the first-half.
Swansea led 1-0 when Janmaat was red carded so McClaren attempted to go for an equaliser by retaining Cisse up top with Wijnaldum dropping into midfield in a 4-4-1 formation. Swansea dominated the game and hit the post a few times before Ayew doubled the advantage.
There was still more than 30 minutes to go but Swansea were clearly on top and with a two-goal advantage. That forced McClaren into damage limitation mode as he sacrificed Cisse to stiffen the midfield. The United boss had his side pack the defensive-third to deny Swansea.
Aarons came on to join Obertan as the wide midfielders while Wijnaldum, Colback and Anita worked in central midfield. The back-four formed a compact defensive line on the edge of the penalty box with Mbemba and Haidara on the edge of the 18-yard box as full-backs.
Swansea, on the other hand, were happy to see the game out by simply retaining the ball without forcing the issue. That led to a slow, attack-versus-defence kind of game with little goalmouth action.
McClaren probably felt he could get a consolation in the last 10 minutes as he introduced Aleksandar Mitrovic up top as a target man, Newcastle switched to a more offensive 4-4-1 formation. Wijnaldum and Aarons completed the game as wide midfielders making diagonal runs into the box to support Mitrovic.
That last change stretched the game a bit with Newcastle enjoying more territory but there was no genuine threat to Swansea’s clean sheet.
