Swansea City dominated yet another Championship match but they failed to convert all of that possession and passing into a third consecutive win as a limited Rotherham United side shocked Potter’s side late on with 2 penalties in 8 minutes to seal the victory.

It wasn’t the first time that we’ve been punished for failing to kill a game off and/or take our chances. The Wigan away game was a good example where we should easily have won but could only manage a goalless draw. We lost at Stoke City too and should have got at least a point but again we didn’t make our first half dominance and chances count.

The passing maps demonstrate yet another excellent passing performance and that isn’t something that you can deny but you’ve got to expect more than we’re attempting more than 600 passes in a game and dominating with 74% possession.

Average Pass Map

The average pass map below shows the overall averages for passing positions and where each player passed to.

Mike van der Hoorn was busiest with 100 passes and the Dutch defender has been more comfortable making shorter passes this season under Potter compared to previous campaigns where he’s always looked for the longer, direct ball.

Joe Rodon always averages a deeper position as he’s more often the defender of choice to retrieve short passes from the goalkeeper.

Leroy Fer and Jay Fulton averaged more central positions although they do move out wide in the attacking phase pass map. Bersant Celina made passes all over the pitch and his overall average position is right in the middle. McBurnie is alongside, his passing activity moved wider to the right the further up the pitch he played in.

Attacking Phase Pass Map

Despite the quality of Dan James down the left flank, the Swans were actually far more active down the right flank and one of the main reasons for this is that Rotherham closely marked the flying winger in the second half so the Swans looked to get Roberts and Naughton linking up more down the right.

It was surprising that Potter didn’t make a switch here and add more pace on that side as we lacked that same pace that James showed in the first 45 minutes. Surprisingly, given Potter’s pro-active approach, he didn’t make a sub until the 90th minute so these pass maps are based on passes made in the first 89 minutes of the match. Usually, the pass maps are based on the first 60 minutes or so, therefore we get to see a more accurate pass map based on the full match.

Both McBurnie and Celina’s passes moved to the right the future up the pitch they played as they linked up with the likes of Roberts and Naughton. van der Hoorn was often the player looking to switch the play over to Dan James on the opposite side.

Low / Defensive Phase

The defensive phase pass map below shows the passing activity in the players’ deep positions. The main differences here see Celina more active on the left and you can see the forward passes he made for Dan James to chase down the left channel.

Fer and Fulton also split wide with the latter also looking to try and release Dan James.