Swansea City enter this weekend second in the Championship but they’ve reached these early-season heights with very “un-Swansea like” methods.
Three wins and a draw have placed Steve Cooper’s men in the automatic promotion spots with only goal difference separating them from table-toppers Leeds United.
The Swans are also the league’s joint top scorers having netted eight goals in their opening four games.
Cooper had not even been born the last time Swansea enjoyed such a good start to a league season back in 1978.
One of the peculiar things about Swansea’s fantastic start has been the way these results were achieved.
So often last season Swansea would dominate possession, create a glut of chances while playing stunningly entertaining football, before somehow finding a way to inexplicably drop points.
This season they have become experts at getting results even if they’re not at their best and they certainly don’t need to dominate possession to get the win.
In each of Swansea’s four Championship matches they’ve faced setbacks or had to overcome long difficult periods.
They fell behind after just three minutes on the opening day against Hull and toiled without much joy for the entire first half before two goals in quick succession won it for them in the second period.
Away to Derby in their next game they conceded a first-half penalty but Freddie Woodman’s exceptional save denied the Rams and they survived the storm to pick up a very respectable point.
During their last home game against Preston the Swans were totally outmanoeuvred in a tough first half but somehow restricted the visitors to just one goal before Borja Baston scored shortly before half-time. A game they could have easily trailed by two or three was miraculously level at the break and in the second half they picked up the pace and turned the game on its head, winning 3-2.
Then in midweek Swansea travelled to a ground where they’d won just once in their entire history and where they were hammered 4-0 back in April. They started slowly again but got a goal on the break and despite enormous pressure from the home side in the second half, they ran out 3-1 winners.
Even in their Carabao Cup match against League Two Northampton they fell behind and looked to be heading out of the competition but scored three goals late on to secure their passage to the next round.
In most of these games Swansea were under the cosh for long periods, holding on for dear life and often riding their luck but their last-ditch defending and incredibly clinical approach at the other end of the pitch have seen them rack up the points. In their last two matches they have scored six goals from just nine shots on target.
The most stark contrast between what we’ve seen over recent games and what would usually be seen as a traditional Swans style has probably been the way Swansea kept the ball.
The Swans have managed less than 50 per cent of the possession in three of their four league games so far, which is incredible considering last year they had the second highest average possession in the division. They also had by far the best pass completion of any team in the Championship last season with 84 per cent, compared to just 78.5 per cent so far this season.
A lot of teams would kill for the types of possession and passing stats enjoyed by Swansea in their opening games but compared with historic trends these numbers are pretty low for the Swans and yet their results have been great.
The Swans are in the automatic promotion spots despite not always playing brilliantly. How you view this situation depends on whether you’re a glass-half-full or glass-half-empty type of person.
Our more positive fans will think if we’re second while still far from our best, imagine how good we’ll be when we hit top form. Those who are more apprehensive in their nature may fear that current conversion rates are unsustainably high and the results will deteriorate when the luck runs out if performances don’t improve.
Either way, it will be fascinating to see how they fare against Birmingham City on Sunday, a club which has perfected the art of defying the stats.
The Blues had the worst possession stats of any club in the Championship last season with just 43 per cent and their pass success rate of 62 per cent was the second worst in the Championship however had it not been for a nine-point deduction they would have finished just four points behind Swansea.
They changed managers over the summer but under former Swans assistant Pep Clotet Birmingham look to be following a similar trend. They enter the weekend on seven points having won two, drawn one and lost one so far this season.
They have had less than 50 per cent of the ball in all but one of their four games. That match was their only defeat, a 3-0 loss to Nottingham Forest. Remarkably in their opening game they had just 24 per cent of the possession but scored the winner with their only attempt of the game.
Birmingham are excellent at making the opposition think they’re in control. They’re happy to sit back and soak up pressure, ready to throw the sucker punch to snatch the points.
On their last visit to the Liberty, Birmingham were down to 10 men for most of the match, had just 26 per cent of the ball but very nearly took all three points, denied in the final minute by a last-gasp Oli McBurnie equaliser.
This is a team which can be perfectly content even when it seems to be on the ropes and the stats so far suggest the Swans under Cooper may share this trait.
Swansea have been unfazed if the odd pass goes astray, resistant to panic if they’re parked in their own box, always confident they can get the result and why wouldn’t they be? With talented attackers and a potent finisher like Borja in blistering form, it only takes one chance to score a goal.
Swansea’s opening performances have not always been pretty and they’ve not always been straight-forward but they have certainly been effective and exciting.
