Are Jake Bidwell and Connor Roberts the best wing-back partnership outside the Premier League?

Swansea City’s wing-back pairing of Jake Bidwell and Connor Roberts have given the team a new lease of life this season with the two being defensive heroes and attacking royalty.

Since manager Steve Cooper changed his formation completely towards the end of last season, Bidwell and Roberts have been given a licence to get forward with an extra man in defence for security.

Given the freedom of attacking more, the formation plays to their strengths as the pair possess incredible athleticism, dynamic running and incredible crossing.

During the 2019/20 season, the Swans boss used a back four for almost the whole season until the remaining four fixtures when he bizarrely opted for a back five. Without any warning of this happening, Swans fans were confused with the option of changing formation so late in the season, but the questions stopped as Cooper’s men snuck into the play-offs.

After failing in the second leg against Brentford, the Swansea boss had a second chance to use the 3-5-2 formation in the current 2020/21 Championship campaign.

The pair showed how threatening they can be right at the start of the season. Swansea traveled to Preston North End for their first league game and returned to South Wales with all three points and a clean sheet. It was almost the beginning that Bidwell would’ve dreamt of, but the 27-year-old had a goal disallowed in the second half. However, moments later, he sent in a dangerous cross from the left and it was on a plate for Morgan Gibbs-White to tap home the winner.

Just two games later, Bidwell showcased another attacking and defensive display by setting up the opener and also keeping a third clean sheet in three league games.

The former QPR player has now racked up seven league assists this season, while only Ivan Toney, Michael Olise, Harvey Elliott and Emiliano Buendia have achieved more.

However, all of these great performances don’t come without any negativity. Last season, Bidwell was subject to a high volume of unnecessary judgment from fans due to some sub-par performances. Even though the Swans were on the receiving end of some poor results, especially a 5-0 loss against QPR in the FA Cup, it was the left-wing-back who was receiving the most criticism.

This season, it seems that Bidwell has put all the negativity behind him and has put in some great performances in a Swansea team that never look like conceding. With last night’s victory being their 16th clean sheet of the season, the Welsh side now look to break their own record of 23 clean sheets which they accomplished in the 2009/10 campaign.

While Bidwell has been enjoying success on the left, on the opposite flank, Roberts has had just as much joy with the Welsh international having eight goal contributions this season.

Roberts, a season ticket holder and a Swansea academy product, is getting better with every game he plays which is why the fans can’t get enough of him.

With Roberts getting a taste of first-team action under Carlos Carvalhal in the Premier League back in 2018, the 25-year-old has excelled this season and will definitely be on the radar of many elite teams whether Swansea get promoted or not.

After unsuccessful loan spells at Middlesbrough and Bristol Rovers, Roberts must’ve thought that a breakthrough at his boyhood club would be impossible but he kept on believing and was rewarded with his hard work and determination.

Last time out, the right-wing-back scored a very late winner against an impressive Nottingham Forest side. His bullet header of a goal was a carbon copy of that he scored against the visitors in the reverse fixture, by out-jumping his marker and placing it to the right of a helpless Brice Samba.

Both wing-backs produced incredible performances last night, with Bidwell assisting Roberts for the winner and both producing heroic blocking which gave them all three points and a huge leap towards securing another promotion to the Premier League.

Both players were rewarded by being included in the EFL Championship Team of The Week and it’s not the first time that they’ve been there this season.

In last night’s post-match press conference, Cooper was full of praise for the pair and their stamina in particular.

“It was a great cross and great header but, beyond that, look at the energy and the desire from the pair of them to get into those areas.

“The attitude to be there, and that is one thing I cannot fault tonight, because when you don’t play well it is easy to get frustrated, to lose a bit of concentration and confidence.”

One cannot fault the commitment and passion shown by the two and that questions if they are in fact the best wing-back pairing in the EFL. Some might argue that Brentford duo Rico Henry and Henrik Dalsgaard may be superior or maybe Max Aarons and new Norwich teammate Dimitris Giannoulis.

Whatever the decision, both Bidwell and Roberts have been a pleasure to watch this season and it’s their solid performances and consistency that give Swansea a chance at promotion.

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