We So Should Have Beaten Birmingham

After that first half display I have no idea how we ended up losing to Birmingham 3-1. If normal luck had prevailed we would have gone into the second half 2-0 up, and likely have gone on to a comfortable victory. However all is fair in love and football, and lets be honest being out of the Worthless-Cup is a good thing given our real commitments this season. I know we got European football by winning this competition last season, but we can’t focus on all the competitions this season. Europe is our fun, the Premiership the foundations, while the two domestic trophies are superflous. Its Europe and the Premiership for me this year.

On the actual game, it was one best forgotten. I know we rested a few of the lads, but I was still surprised by the talent we had out there. A general malaise seemed to sweep across the entire team, with only Leon and Tremmel really doing enough to earn their wages. Personally I’d have liked to have seen a hungrier player (maybe I’m dreaming) like Leroy Lita get a game, at least he could have used the game to adverise his talents and get a transfer (although personally I’d keep him).

Wonder how Di Canio’s Sacking Will Impact Ki

So I hear that Sunderland have sacked Paolo Di Canio – silly idea in my opinion – what does this mean for Ki Sung-Yeung?

Di Canio obviously rated Ki Sung-Yeung, giving him 90 minutes in most games since his loan move from the Liberty, so this is a shame for Ki’s development. Losing a manager who believes in you is never a bad thing, even if he is a few hanging fruit short of a bobbing-apple party.

Hopefully Ki gets another innovative manager to support his development, as personally I was happy someone with the creativity of Di Canio was honing Ki’s skills for us….we will have to wait and see.

Swansea Stack Up Some Valuable Away Points

The Swans continue to stack up valuable away points with a fairly comfortable 2-0 victory over Crystal Palace. The game could so easily have been more.

All the lads impressed, particularly to me Ben Davies, who is growing and growing (I mean in confidence and talent, not in size). He looks strong defensively and excellent going forward. I can barely believe how much he has impressed over the past couple of years.

I was also very impressed, against Palace, with Dyer. He looked to have more spark in him than usual, full of direct running.

Couple of concerns, however, two relating to the fitness of Ashley Williams and Michu. At various points both looked to be breathing hard, and personally I would have liked to have taken them off, but we were defending a previous 3 points so it was impossible. I wouldn’t take either of them to the Birmingham game, they need breathers.

Then I was also a little concerned with Vasquez, he looked quite useful but not scoring (and he had a decent chance) may have trimmed his confidence a little. Hopefully he gets the full game to impress/score against Birmingham.

Valencia 0 – 3 Swansea

A sintilating European perfromance saw Swansea City beat the Spanish giants of Valencia by three goals to nil, on their patch as well. Yes Valencia are not the giants of former years, but they still have a load of internationally recognised footballers in their ranks and lets not forget that they are former winners of the major European trophys. In short, beating Valencia is a huge scalp, and something we should all take a couple of seconds to digets…..we just beat Valencia by three goals to nil, on their pitch. We, yes Swansea City, beat Valencia…..legendary stuff.

Who performed well? Almost everybody.

Were the goals good? They were excellent, three beautifully taken goals. Jonathan de Guzman has found his proverbial shooting boots once again, and his form since coming on (and excelling) against Liverpool should see him force his way back into the starting line up. We now have a lot of very good central midfielders, so Michael Laudrup has some very interesting selection dilemas to come.

Michu was class, as always. I love the way he seems to stroke the ball into the net, a born goal scorer.

Wilfried Bony, meanwhile, continues to show he’s the man to lead the line on his own. Strong, direct and powerful, plus he contineus to score, and a very nice goal from him too last night.

“Pope Alexander VI, David Ferrer, Pope Callixtus III, King James II of Aragon, Guillen de Castro, nina Bravo, your boys took one hell of a beating”

…. note: tenous reference to classic post-match Norweigan commentary when Norway sprung a surprise victory over England many moons ago

Worried about Wales

Its hard to be anything but disappointed and worried about Wales languising in last place in their qualification group, and as much as I like Chris Coleman (and I do) I’m concerned as to whether he is the right man to lead us in the next qualification campaign.

As an ex-Swan I was always going to like Chris Coleman. His rampaging runs down the left flank, alongside the legend that is Tommy Hutchison, we’re one of the highlights of the 90’s for us. Then in his first managerial role he seemingly did an excellent job keeping Fulham in the Premiership. Indeed, it came as a shock to many/most that Fulham sacked him. Two concerns spring to minds here: (a) why did they sack him? (b) did his results at Fulham really just reflect the excellent work Jean Tigana had done setting up the team for him.

Then he went on to various roles in Europe – which I commend him for, as its great to gain European/worldwide experience – but another couple of concerns arose from these trips. Firstly the resilts weren’t great, and secondly stories of missing commitments and flase excuses suggest minor personality issues.

Then he returned to the UK and largely failed at Coventry – althought to be fair to him here who hasn’t.

So I like Chris Coleman – he’sa Jack and he always comes across well on the media, plus his no-nonsense style gives his voice some credibility, but the concerns are not insignificant, and most importantly the results have been poor.

Maybe the Welsh FA should reconsider their contract offer? A multitude of talented managerial options are available at the moment, i.e. out of work – so would come relatively cheaply, which is a must for Wales. Unfortunately I think the manager of Wales has to be Welsh, sorry but its international football this in my opinion is just how it has to be.

I know he doesn’t play Swansea-style football but for me it has to be Tony Pulis. Before we can get anywhere we need to become hard to beat, and Tony Pulis’s Stoke were certainly that, plus he’d have the inside track on attracking a few players who could opt for Wales, such as Ryan Shawcross.

Team for Valencia – my ideal

I’m not so much going to predict the team for Valencia, as suggest what in my opinion would be ideal. Obviously playing one of Spain’s biggest and best teams will be a challenge, but in my opinion a lesser one than Liverpool, and we came through that with flying colours. Also we need to consider resting a few people, as we don’t want to strain the squad too much – to quote the classic sports maxim “its a marathon not a sprint”.

In goal, although I’d prefer Vorm, I like Laudrup’s strategy of spreading the games out, keeping the excellent Tremmel happy. So its got to be Tremmel.

Then in the centre of defence I’d go Chico and Ash, no surprises there, if anythin I might rest Ashley Williams for our next game (Crystal Palace).

At right-back I’d pick the excellent Tiendalli, giving Rangel a breather, but I think Tiendalli is a very very good player so no worries at all about picking him.

Then at left back, for me its got to be Ben Davies, who looked really strong against Liverpool so lets keep him on a run. If we are doing well early on though, i.e. we have a reasonable lead, I’d be looking to give him a breather at some point, only problem is we don’t really have cover what with Taylor out. Maybe someone like ex-Arsenal trainee Jernade Meade, could be put on the bench for cover/experience.

Then in the centre of midfield I’d have Canas (Britton is suspended if I’m not wrong), Shelvey and de Guzman, with Pozuelo and Lamah out wide and Wilfried Bony in the middle. Where’s Michu I hear you scream, well he’s having a well deserved rest, but I’d have him on the bench. This squad is getting so good, its impossible to fit everyone in, and particularly out wide I was keen to give a few other players a crack. Lamah impressed me in our last European game, and I think he should get another chance tonight, particularly as his size and goal-scoring threat offer something different to Dyer and Routledge.

Pozuelo, meanwhile, deserves a full run as he has looked awesome coming off the bench, but against his fellow Spaniards he might be particularly motivated, something we should try to cash in on.

Really looking forward to the game, which I think we will win, but we will have to see as Valencia are no mugs (despite losing 3-1 to Pozuelo/Canas’s old team Betis on the weekend).

Hernandez Misses Valencia Trip

Amongst the good news, related to the 2-2 comback against Liverpool, is some bad news, as Pablo Hernandez is unable to make the first leg of the Valencia game – thus subtracting the former player bonus from our team.

I really like Hernandez’s wizardry and think the team will really miss his skills against his former club. Luckily we are fairly well stocked in the attacking midfidelder department at the moment, so we should be ok. Personally I’d like to see Pozuelo get an extended crack in the team against familiar opposition.

Good news – Wilfried bony is fit

We Outplayed Liverpool

I have to say after watching the 2-2 draw between ourselves and the Premiership’s early pace-setters Liverpool, we look really useful and the lads should all (including Jonjo shelvey) be proud with themselves.

After taking an initial lead, via a Jonjo Shelvey strike, we let two slip (again via Shelvey, but this time mistakes) and looked the worse side. However, the second half was a different kettle of fish. We somehow seemed to believe in ourselves a little more, after a first half largely in awe of the names in the Liverpool team, we massively upped the ante in the second half. I don’t know what it was, but maybe “we needed a Winston Churchill in the dressing room and got a….” Winston Churchill (delete Ian Duncan Smith).

Michael Laudrup’s troops took control in the second half, dominating possession and really getting us all believing.

Lessons to be learnt from this game:-

(1) We are as good as the so-called bigger teams, and all the players need to go into the game believing in themselves

(2) Some juggling might be needed in the midfield. I don’t feel Laudrup really wants traditional wide-men, ala the Rodgers side, so mayeb rather than Leon Britton behind Shelvey and Michu, with routledge and Dyer out wide, it should be a narrower midefield. Possibly including Canas, who has looked excellent recently, as I feel a midfield with Canas and Britton would cancel out the mistakes the likes of Shelvey are prone to make at this relatively early stage in their career. Do we really want Shelvey near ouyr own defence?

(3) Pozuelo seems to have glue on his boots

Ki Sung-Yeung gets some minutes on the clock

Some related, Swansea news, our talented yet (so far) unfulfilling Korean midfielder Ki Sung-Yeung got a full 90 minutes on the clock, against Arsenal.

As I’ve already mentioned on here I was a little shocked when we let Ki Sung-Yeung go out on loan to Sunderland, particularly as he was one of Laudrup’s most expensive signings, but I maintain a hope its just a temporary move to let the wee lad get some Premiership experience.

Ki played the full 90 minutes against Arsenal, and by all accounts played quite well, notably driving forward, working hard and generally occupying Arsenal’s gifted engine room.

I’ll keep a close look out for Ki Sung-Yeung this season and report back – but for now he’s doing reasonably well, so we should be relatively pleased – not only has he improved his potential re-sale value but also potentially improved his value to us.

Massive test against Liverpool

Here we are, its going to be tricky but lets face it this is why most of us wanted to be in the Premiership in the first place.

Liverpool have made some great signings in recent months – up front they look particularly usefuel, with lots of pace (the kind of directness Buck wanted to merge here with his passing style if only he would have had the requested monies and not left for Liverpool).

It promises to be a massive test against the much improved Liverpool midfield (and this is without Joe Allen, as they start listening to Brendan). We need to get at least 50% of the possession and keep our discipline (Jonjo I’m looking at you!).

If we are going to have any kind of chance, we need to keep it tidy – maybe even a little boring – try to dominate possession, then let our own band of magicians cause some trouble. Me thinking wilfried Bony will catch a late winner, and really shake up the Premiership early front-runners…..or at least I dream.