From personal experience, we can all at times be too positive and not critical enough when we’re talking about our favorite Premier League team. We immediately go on the defensive when a supporter of another club criticizes our team in the comments sections, on the radio, TV or podcasts. It’s a natural instinct. After all, it’s “our team,” right? Who are they to criticize “our team” when we know them better than other supporters because we watch them week-in week-out?

But for a change, I thought it’d be interesting for us to be more reflective than usual and to be honest about our own team’s weaknesses. Which players are the weak spots in your team? When and where is your team susceptible to leaking goals? What tactics don’t seem to work for your team? Etcetera.

Go ahead and post your team’s weaknesses in the comments section below.

I’ll go first and will pinpoint the areas of weakness that my team Swansea City has.

Despite having a wonderful season so far, which has been far more productive than even last year’s incredible season, here are the weaknesses in my Swansea City side:

Nathan Dyer: The Southampton product is a pacey winger who can cut defenses open. But this season, his weaknesses have become more apparent based on his inconsistent performances. His weaknesses are that he’s not very good at defending. When he has to run back down the wing to tackle or stop an opponent running toward goal, he often either fails to get the ball or ends up making a foul in a dangerous area of the pitch. The same can be said about Pablo Hernandez, Swansea’s record signing from last summer. Going forward, he’s brilliant. But defensively, he’s a weakness. He almost always loses the ball or fails to rush back to help.

Defending set-pieces: Although they’ve improved in the past few games, Swansea’s biggest weaknesses is defending corners or free kicks. They have a very difficult time defending balls floated into the box, which was the same issue they had last season.

Corner kicks: You know that part of a match where your pulse quickens after your team gets a corner because you think it’s a good opportunity to score a goal? With Swansea, it doesn’t exist. Both last season and this season, I’ve lost count of the number of corner kicks Swansea get but they hardly ever score from them. Out of the 23 matches this season, I can only remember one goal being scored as a result of a corner kick. If you’re playing us and we get a corner, don’t worry. Sit back and relax because we won’t score.

The type of opponents we don’t like: In the past couple of months, Swansea haven’t been able to pass the ball around the pitch as we normally would like to. Part of it is probably due to tiredness, but part of it is that it’s not as slick (i.e. we’ve been making too many mistakes). But if I could identify one weakness in Swansea, it’s when we come up against teams who pressure us as soon as we get the ball. We do it to other teams, but when they do it to Swansea, we’re susceptible to making a mistake and losing the ball. I’m surprised more teams don’t do it against us.

So what about your team? If you’re being honest about them, what are the weaknesses that you can point out?