How we can beat Manchester United

Plan, as to beat one of the biggest football clubs in the world – we, somewhat against what my head has been telling me all week, play both Gomis and Wilfried Bony up front, against their still very dodgy looking central defensive partnership. True we probably wont have our preferred dominance of possession, but their defence will not be able to cope with Bony and Gomis – lets remember two of the better strikers in the Premiership at the moment.

We keep things tight in central midfield – playing Ki right back on the central defenders shoulders, with Sigurdsson in front of him and Routledge tight to his left and Jonjo to his right. All three play disciplined, helping Ki out, but ready to spray long balls through to Gomis and Bony up front. Then if its 0-0 with twenty minutes to go we launch project speed – aka Montero.

Ice-Gem

Can I please assure everyone that saw the recent pre-season performances of their beloved Swans that summer signing Gylfi Sigurdsson will prove to be an absolute pearl, to put it simply he could be out “iced-gem”.

Icelandic international Gylfi Sigurdsson is an exceptional talent, he has an outstanding touch, a great shot and a real creative flair about him….unfortunately he is NOT a winger.

Garry Monk fair play for trying but if you want to get the best out of probably our most creative player – Gylfi – you need to switch him inside. Ideally an attacking midfielder, in the old Michu-role (albeit a very different, imo, better player). Trying to force Gylfi out wide is a waste of his talents. Routledge, Montero, even Dyer and possibly Jonjo are more suited to wide positions. You know what Garry, if you want to play Bony and Gomis (something that I think we might struggle to accommodate), it could work, but then you have to play Gylfi in central midfield…..I know I was a little worried about this defensive work, but you know what Gylfi has discipline and can tackle.

Problem: too many good attacking players

Solution: don’t play Gylfi out wide, possible switch Gylfi and Jonjo, or don’t play Bony and Gomis

Conclusion: its a good problem to have, however, baffling it might be at present (remember the old adage “you can’t have too many good players”)

Bafetimbi Gomis

Strong, dangerous, a 12-cap French international, who has netted 56 goals in 120 league appearances in France, Bafetimbi Gomis is just the sort of signing we should be making if we realistically want to climb the Premiership table next season.

It sounds like Gomis is signing a huge 4-year deal, which will take him to 32 years of age, but this kids worth it. He has a great touch (“yes, for a big man”) and looks skilled enough to potentially be able to play up-front alongside/behind Wilfried Bony. With Bony and Gomis marauding up front for us, opposition defences are massively going to be on the back foot, creating space for our widemena and central midfielders to better express themselves. Of course the fear mioght be that a Gomis arrival might make a Bony exit more likely. Let’s hope not, but why not secure an eventual replacement before any sale is made.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEiCkrpWUDU

This Time It’s Not going to Penalties

Its Saturday, June 14^th, and the big-guns are on the clock – its Greece versus Colombia, kicking off at 6pm, ……sorry, I meant England are playing Italy, kicking off at midnight.

So that’s the inventors of the beautiful game, England, playing the European team with the most World Cup titles, Italy. This game should be an absolute corker, expect fireworks, expect emotions, expect skill … expect a draw. Yes sorry we expect a draw, this game is too important for either team, hence don’t be at all surprised if it’s a fairly cautious encounter. This doesn’t mean, however, that it won’t be exciting. Think of two boxers, at the peak of physical perfection slugging it out, neither giving an inch, or two aging Russian grandmasters playing chess as if their nation depended upon it. 

From an Italian perspective the keys will be how the explosive, somewhat crazy, striker Mario Balotelli performs (you’ve got to love this kid, talented but with a proper old-school personality, e.g. having to ring the fire service when at Manchester City because he’d let off fireworks in his house) and if Andrea Pirlo can still dictate the pace of the game at the tender age of 35.

For England the keys will be keeping Pirlo busy, a job I think Wayne Rooney’s hair-piece alone will be instructed to do, and the selection out wide, whether it be the brave selection of Raheem Sterling or the more conservative James Milner. If England want to win they should go for Sterling and Welbeck out wide, with Rooney behind Sturridge, or Sterling and Rooney out wide with Barkley behind Sturridge, but I fear the somewhat cautious England manager will plump for James Milner and Wellbeck out wide, with Rooney behind Sturridge up front. 

Anyway, seriously looking forward to this game, hope the kids let me have at least a bit of a lie in Sunday morning.

Saturday’s other game is Uruguay against Costa Rica, starting at 9 pm Paris time. This shouldn’t be written off too lightly, as Uruguay are likely to put on a veritable footballing feast for us all to enjoy, that I don’t imagine Costa Rica will be able to live with for long. Expect a comfortable win, and a big scoreline.

Then on Sunday, lunch kicks off with the Ivory Coast against the land-of-the-rising-sun, Japan. Sit yourself down on the sofa and digest your Sunday lunch to this corker of a game. If you love football, or simply want to enjoy a couple of hours of top-drawer entertainment, decide you are going to support Cote d’Ivoire and let them entertain you.

In Didier Drogba and Wilfried Bony, the Ivory Coast have one of the best strike forces in the competition, supported ably by the very talented Yaya Toure, Gervinho (“please sort your hair out”) and Tiote. We can’t see this being any other than a convincing win for Cote d’Ivoire, or at least a very entertaining can’t-miss match.

Next up is Switzerland versus Ecuador, at 5pm,….if ever there was an incentive to not watch football its this snooze-fest, sorry.

France kick-off at 8pm with a relatively easy, at least on paper, fixture against Honduras; before the day’s likely second best game (another midnighter) between many people’s potential champion’s Argentina and Bosnia-Hercegovina. Argentina are, of course the home to arguably the world’s best player in Lionel Mesi, and many other very very talent players, whilst Bosnia are a collection of lesser names, such as Manchester City’s Edin Dzeko, Senad Lulic and Vedad Ibisevic. Expect an impressive display by Argentina.

Players We Should sign – Part V

Continuing the series of “Players We Should Sign” we once again look at the relatively cheap, but this time take a particular focus on relatively young players. Those that, if they turn out correctly, could have inflating sell-on-fees in the future and turn out to be better platers a few years down the line.

Swansea used to be very good at this, picking up the likes of Scott Sinclair, Ashley Williams, Vorm and Leon Britton from other teams and seeing them bloom, but the relative gravy train needs topping up, and here are a few possibilities that could help:-

* Federico Macheda – I don’t like to think that a player I thought would bloom on the world scale, just a few years a go, could be on his way to our domestic rivals for nothing (Manchester United having released him). Macheda is still only 22 and scored a goal-a-game for Brum last year (on loan). He has a fantastic touch, is strong and a very good shot, he would certainly make a decent number two striker to back up Wilfried Bony, who will be away at African nations alot next season.

* Conor Coady – Liverpool’s defensive midfielder finds his path to the first team completely blocked, at a very crowded Anfield, but this 21 year old kid has exceptional talents and could be the heir-apparent to Leon’s throne. Coady has never reportedly let himself down in Liverpool first-team training, but chances have been limited by the sheer size of Brendan’s squad. Coady has a sensible head on his shoulders, having captained England-U17’s to the European Championship title in May 2010. Conor Coady is a strong lad, that has the potential to be a very good central midfielder or even a central defender eventually. He’s good in the air, a strong tackler and his distribution is excellent, in keeping with our tradition. Wolves have reportedly put a £500,000-750,000 bid in, having been impressed with his perfromances on loan, at Sheffield United, last season.     

* Benik Afobe – another young British talent rotting away in a big-Premiership squad is Arsenal’s 21 year old Benik Afobe. A few years ago I’d have been able to write “young striker-sensation”, but as the years add onto the clock he’s no longer a kid and needs to be playing first-team football, something we can offer but Arsenal never will. He had his fifth loan spell this year, at Sheffield Wednesday (having previously had spells at Huddersfield, Reading, Bolton and Millwall), and was reportedly targeted by Barcelona in 2010. A six footer, he is rapid and strong and can play out wide or through the middle. If Arsenal potentially grab Michy Batshuayi from under our noses, maybe we should do the really financially-prudent thing and sign the potentially better Benik Afobe from their squad for much much less (his contract reportedly ends this year). Afobe has the potential to be better than Batshuayi, but hasn’t had the chance to prove it. Thing Scott Sinclar, but bigger and stronger and less bothered by the celebrity spotlight. 

Safety, its a Beautiful Feeling

Prince William, Nigel Kennedy, David Cameron, Mervyn King, Benjamin Zepphaniah, Ian Bell, Floella Benjamin, Black sabbath, Tom Hanks, Amy Winehouse, “your boy’s took one hell of a beating!”

Swansea City 4 – Aston Villa 1 …. it reads easier than it was, but thanks to Jonjo Shelvey’s brilliance, Wilfried Bony’s graceful calmness and Garry Monk’s discipline we are safe. The theosaurus suggests the following alternatives to the word ‘safety’: secureness, security, safeness, invulnerability, unassailability, harmlessness, innocuousness, clear sailing, snug harbour, anchorage, but oddly makes no effort to capture the beauty and relief in the word. We are safe. Yes that’s right Swansea City will be in the Premiership in the 2014-2015 season, its a beautiful thing and a gorgeous feeling. Every Swansea City fan in the land can celebrate as we further cement our Premiership future.

What we do next: potential signings; players we should rest/blood against Southampton/Sunderland; whether or not Garry Monk should become our permanent managers; plans to expand capacity at the Liberty….all of these topics will be dealt with in detail, shortly, but for now let’s just crack open the proverbial champagne and enjoy life. Swansea are still in the Premiership.

… (famous Aston Villa fans, I kid you not http://www.astonvilla.vitalfootball.co.uk/article.asp?a=7504448 )

Swansea Battle For Vital 3 Points

Wilfried Bony’s brace, on Saturday against Newcastle, secured an absolutely vital 3 points, that although not yet enough to guarantee safety cerainly took some serious pressure off my poor ticker.

I know Newcastle have struggled recently, but lets be honest so have we, thus Bony’s last minute winner lifted me to the rafters. We really needed a win, and an away win all the better. Now we can go into this weekend’s game against Aston Villa, at home, reasonably optimistic that we can get a result against one of our fellow strugglers.

…and finally, its worth noting that Canas and Pozuelo we not even on the substitutes bench against Newcastle, raising if anything the possibility that rummours that they were chief culprits in the recent dressing room descent had soem truth in them. Fingers crossed Monk’s dealt/dealing with that one!

 

Park The Bus

In Jose’s very own words we need to “park the bus” on Sunday. I wouldn’t usually say it, but if we are going to get any points against Chelsea on Sunday then I really think we need to pack our midfield with defensive players.

Having got through to the semi-finals of the Champion’s League on Tuesday night, with a 2-0 win against Paris St Germain, Chelsea are either going to be surfing on the back of cloud-9 or a bit disinterested. With the League title still to be played for my guess is Chelsea will be flying Sunday, hence my desire for a big bus parked right in front of our goal.

I’d play Leon AND Canas in central midfield, jeppers I’d even consider packing Jordi Amat in there with them if it nullifies Chelsea’s attacking threat. So Leon and Canas, with Michu just in front, Routledge and Dyer out wide and Bony up front. I’m going with Dyer ahead of JDG due to his additional pace, as if we’re going to defend deep we’re going to need to fast legs out wide. Then I keep the talented attacking players on the bench, ready to chase any goals that (I hope we don’t) concede.

Norwich Win Eases the Pain

Our 3-0 victory over Norwich on Saturday not only eases the stresses and pain that I know we were all suffering prior to the win, but it also curbed the dreaded r-word.

Not only did Garry Monk have his lads pinging the ball around with accuracy in the Norwich game, as he has done since his appointment, but also we finally nailed a victory. The worst period for me really had to be the spell just after the half time interval where it looked like we might ship a goal.

Reasons to be cheerful – Bony looked excellent, as did de Guzman & Ashley Williams, and the return to something more closely approximating full fitness for Michu. Lets keep the progress and optimisim up for Hull and secure another precious three points. (Garry Monk has my vote for permanent manager).

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