Since Roberto Martinez took charge 17 years ago, Swansea City have developed a reputation as a club that play possession, passing football, and it’s a style of play that has brought them great success.
Martinez took over at Swansea when the club were in League One, and he implemented a style of play that had never really been seen in the lower echelons of English football, leading them to the title at a canter, and managers who followed the Spaniard continued playing in that way.
The term “The Swansea Way” was developed, such was their unique style of playing, and while they’ve had the odd manager who hasn’t played that way, they’ve never lasted long in the job.
Luke Williams was appointed in January 2024 to bring back Swansea’s possession-based style of play, and while he’s certainly succeeded in doing so, there is one team who are currently outdoing them in that facet of play in this season’s Championship.
Leeds United edge Swansea City in terms of possession this season
As you’d expect, Swansea City are one of the sides in the league with the highest possession stats in the division, and they currently sit in second place for possession, with an average of 59.33%.
However, Leeds United beat that with an average possession of 59.56%, meaning it’s Daniel Farke’s side who actually have the best possession stats in the division.
Considering Leeds have plenty of Premier League-standard players in their squad and were unlucky to miss out on promotion, it perhaps shouldn’t be a surprise to see them dominating possession, but it might frustrate certain sections of Swansea’s support that they don’t have the best possession stats in the league.
| Championship possession stats – FC Tables | ||
|---|---|---|
| Ranking | Club | Possession |
| 1. | Leeds United | 59.56% |
| 2. | Swansea City | 59.33% |
| 3. | West Brom | 57.22% |
| 4. | Middlesbrough | 55.89% |
| 5. | Burnley | 55.67% |
We’re only nine games in and Swansea have had some tough games during that, including away fixtures against the likes of Middlesbrough, West Brom and Sheffield United, so it wouldn’t be a surprise to see them overtake Leeds in the near future.
Swansea and Leeds face each other next month on the 24th November, and it’ll be interesting to see which team gets the upper hand in terms of possession, with it clear that both sides like to dominate the ball.
Last season, Leeds traveled to south Wales and strolled to a 4-0 win over Swansea early in Williams’ tenure, and they also won in the possession stakes, having 58.2% of the ball compared to the Swans’ 41.8%.
It was a chastening night for Swansea, and they’ll be looking for payback when they welcome the Whites to the Swansea.com Stadium next month.
Swansea need to score more goals with their possession
It’s all well and good having possession but Swansea need to do more with it, and they’ve scored just eight goals this season, making them one of the division’s lowest scores.
Only Preston (7) and Cardiff City (4) have scored less, and it’s clear that they’ve got work to do going forward.
In fairness, this isn’t necessarily Williams’ fault, and his side have created plenty of chances but have been unlucky in front of goal in certain games.
For example, Myles Peart-Harris missed a huge chance to score away at Sheffield United in their recent trip to Bramall Lane, and Swansea had 19 shots from their 63.5% possession in their recent game against Stoke but were unable to score.
Meanwhile, Leeds, who are the only side in the division to have more of the ball than Swansea, are the division’s third-highest scorers with 15 goals, showing the difference between how clinical each side is, despite having the same amount of the ball.
Swansea are incredibly solid at the back, and they can dominate the ball too. If they improve in front of goal, there’s no reason why they can’t enjoy a successful season, and the final piece of the puzzle for Williams and his players is to turn possession into goals.
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