Swansea ‘livewire’ delights Sheehan and the tactical tweak we could see more of

The Swans boss was hugely impressed by the striker’s contribution in the win over Norwich on SaturdaySwansea City boss Alan Sheehan says ‘livewire’ Zan Vipotnik is a player enjoying his football, following the Slovenian’s sensational brace against Norwich City on Saturday.Vipotnik fired in two stunning goals to seal victory for the Swans, who were briefly pegged back when Jovon Makama levelled just before half-time.It was an important win for Sheehan, who perhaps for the first time in his career as a head coach had found himself under a little bit of pressure following a run of just one win in their last seven.And he was understandably full of praise for his number nine, whose red hot form in front of goal has clearly been a big positive of this campaign.”They were really, really good finishes, top-class,” Sheehan said. “He was a livewire today and I think he led the line.”There are things that we want more of from him and for him to be relentless within that.”But in terms of scoring goals, then he gave two moments of real quality and that clinical edge we have been missing in certain games.”He was exceptional, they’re high level goals, and you’ve seen a player that’s really enjoying his football.”The striker now has eight goals in all competitions this season, which means he’s already surpassed his tally for last term, where he was frequently criticised for an inconsistent run of form.However, he now looks to have settled into life in the Championship.”When players come from different leagues, it takes different players, different times for it to gel,” the Swans boss added.”Jisung, for example, Zeidane. Sometimes it will be hot and cold until it’s permanently hot.”It’s about integrating them into that. With Vipi, he was up and down last year and then he came back fitter.”He missed a preseason with Bordeaux obviously last year when he came in and we probably didn’t see the best of him consistently.”This year obviously he missed little bits of preseason but I think he was in a better place and he understood what he had to do and he looks really well right now.”Meanwhile, Sheehan has played down concerns over Liam Cullen, who looked to be in some discomfort shortly before being substituted deep into the second half.”Culls is Culls,” Sheehan added. “He’s a relentless team player”He was tired. He ran himself into the ground, and that’s what we want.”There’s no point saving stuff in the tank just to do that. Just run yourself into the ground and let the next player come on.”The addition of Cullen playing in the number 10 role was a noticeable tweak for the visit of the Canaries, and Sheehan admits it’s something we could see more of in the coming weeks.”Yeah, I think it is,” he agreed. “I think it was two tens at times. I think it was. We will play different ways, like we changed formation probably two or three times today within this.”But today, I think we, in terms of getting up to the final third and being fluent up to that area and getting there consistently, I believe, data-wise, we are really good.”But we need a bit more in there to no doubt about it and obviously getting our most creative players in them areas and having that, which at times we looked really dangerous today. But yeah, it’s something that we’re always looking at, looking for solutions, looking to get the right match-ups and attack the right spaces in the right games.”I think obviously we did that in moments in the second half, but I think we did that really well in 30 minutes adding that intensity and quality and cleanness to it to get to the area and then it’s the decision-making.”*Follow all of our social channels to ensure you stay up to date with the latest Swans news. Sign up to our daily newsletter here and our WhatsApp channel here.You can also follow us on social media on our X account and Facebook.Our Swansea City correspondent Tom Coleman is also on social media. He can be found on his X account here, on Instagram, on TikTok and on Facebook.