5 things we learnt: Swindon Town v Chelsea U21

Swindon Town lost 4-0 to a Chelsea U21 side at the County Ground last night as the London club go top of Group C in the Checkatrade trophy. TotalSport Swindon’s Ryan Walker gives his ‘5 things we learnt’ following the match.

Fans still don’t support the competition

After a debut campaign last season, the Checkatrade Trophy still fails to attract fans to its matches. Last night’s attendance was 1569. Whilst in the weekends season opener against Macclesfield the crowd was over seven thousand. 

Fans don’t want to pay to see weakened sides playing Premier League development squads in a set-up that closely resembles a pre-season training tournament more than anything else. A trip to Wembley is on offer but it appears this competition is still failing to interest spectators. 

An opportunity to rest and experiment

Making seven changes from Saturday’s starting XI, it was clear that Swindon manager Phil Brown identified last night’s match as an opportunity to rest key players and experiment with his squad. 

Brown kept with his favoured formation of 4-3-3 whilst attempting to fit big name signing Toumani Diagouraga into a system that works around him. The experiment didn’t work and it looks certain that the squad will revert back to it’s original that beat Macclesfield for the weekends league match.

Town struggle with pace

A new defence always takes time to adjust, however early signs highlight that Swindon Town is struggling to deal with a quick-paced attack from their opposition. Last night was a perfect example of this as the visitor's attackers regularly burst past Swindon’s full-backs to fire crosses into the box. Phil Brown knows how to organise his defence to stop these attacks but is another defensive addition still needed at the County Ground?

Scott Twine could be Swindon’s surprise player this season

Despite a miserable defeat last night, one of the positives was that fans once again got to see Scott Twine put in another solid attacking performance in a Swindon shirt. He impressed in pre-season games, in particular scoring a brilliant brace against Supermarine, and it appears that the manager is starting to trust the winger the more that he plays. 

He won’t be a regular starter anytime soon, but Twine’s determination to relentlessly attack and have shots at goal makes him a great player to have on the bench. 

Diagouraga doesn’t look match fit

His arrival at SN1 has brought with it excitement and big expectations as Diagouraga looks to take Swindon Town back to League One. However, last night the midfielder appeared to struggle with the pace of the game at times and it might be a case that he isn’t fully match-fit yet. 

There is no doubt the 31-year-old is a great player and he will be a success for Swindon this season, however, more minutes are needed for him to find that match fitness before he makes an impact for Town.