There is no doubt Vitor Matos has been a big success at Swansea City, Goodman told Swansea Bay News, speaking in association with Grosvenor Casinos.
Having had chances, the Swans would have been bitterly disappointed to have been on the receiving end of such a heavy defeat, with Matos admitting after the match that his side needs to find a way of being more clinical in front of goal against the top sides.
One area Goodman feels that Swansea will need to work on if they are to challenge is their ability to collect points off teams in the higher placings of the league.
After the Coventry reverse, the Swans have just three wins and have been on the wrong end of 12 defeats in 20 games against the current top half of the Championship. That figure drops further when looking at the leading top six promotion contenders, with just three draws and seven losses picked up from ten matches.
“Vitor Matos has been a roaring success. There is no doubt about it. He has done a fantastic job,” said the former Wolves striker who played more than 600 EFL games over a 20-year career.
“35 points from 22 games has taken Swansea City well clear of the relegation zone.
“But there are a few areas they need to improve if they want to progress next season. Their record against the top teams is an issue.
“It shows they are not yet competing like a team that can challenge for a play-off spot. The difference between their form against the bottom teams and the top teams needs to narrow.”
However, despite the Swans falling back into the bottom half of the Championship table after back-to-back defeats for the first time since the first two games of the head coach’s tenure in November, the Welsh side under the Portuguese have been formidable at home.
Defeat against the Sky Blues saw a ten-match unbeaten run in SA1 end, where prior to the visit of the league leaders, 26 points were collected from a possible 30 available – a record only bettered only by play-off chasing Southampton since the turn of the year.
In contrast, on the road, things haven’t come together for Matos’ side, with just nine points collected from 11 games played, something Goodman addresses as something that needs to improve.
“Their away form is also one of them. Only West Brom and Sheffield Wednesday have taken fewer away points, he said.”
“Under Vitor Matos, Swansea have won just three of eleven away games, so that needs to get better.”
Goodman also puts the Swans’ struggles to break into the play-off picture down to an over-reliance on goals from Slovenian forward Zan Vipotnik.
“Goalscoring is also a concern. Swansea have scored 44 goals in 38 Championship games, which is not enough to get into the play-offs. Zan Vipotnik has scored 17 goals, accounting for 39 percent of the team’s goals, while Liam Cullen is the next top scorer with five.
“So the three main areas for improvement are away form, performance against the top half of the table, and increasing goal output.
If they address these issues, Swansea could really kick on. They are already pleasing to watch, and I like Vitor Matos’s style, but they will need to make these improvements to challenge next season.”
