Swansea v Bournemouth Preview

Heading into the New Year’s Eve game against Bournemouth without a manager is a strange thing for Huw Jenkins to permit as far as I’m concerned. Who exactly is going to lead the side to victory and three points we desperately need? Can you ask Britts to take on the responsibility? Not while he’s sat on the bench you can’t!

Bradders’ sacking came early enough in the week that we now know the club’s first choices are both ignoring the chance to take over at the Liberty. Ryan Giggs and Chris Coleman are obviously looking elsewhere for their employment future – perhaps Giggs believes Mourinho will cock up enough that United will give him the job and Coleman would’ve been foolish to leave the Welsh national side!

So that leaves us with Paul Clement, currently assistant manager at Bayern Munich under Carlo Ancelotti and Gary Rowett who was recently dismissed from Birmingham City thanks to their new owners disliking him for no reason whatsoever – brilliant.

Even more from the media, APPARENTLY Antonio Conte’s Chelsea are interested in signing Fernando Llorente in January as back up to Diego Costa. Given Llorente’s seemingly permanent position on the bench for us; he could do worse than making the switch for a bit more pocket money but it remains to be seen how much truth there is to the rumours – Chelsea are also linked to former Man Utd striker Javier Hernandez so you can’t believe everything you read.

In brief, Ki and Taylor might be available for the game but there’s no information coming from the club at present to confirm their availability and Montero is definitely unavailable thanks to a hamstring injury that’ll keep him out until the end of January at least – better than usual on the injury front!

Are we in the midst of turning a corner? Can we see off Bournemouth to start 2017 on the right foot? Or are we destined to slump to defeat yet again at the hands of a side we are more than capable of defeating?

I can’t give any answers right now because I just don’t know – all I do know is we need a manager ASAP to save a sinking ship.

Who's Next?

It’s unlikely we’ll see a replacement appointed before Saturday’s game with Bournemouth but the bookies already have some ideas as to who will be replacing Bob Bradley – here’s an assessment of who’s in the running and my opinion on whether or not they’re right for the job.

Ryan Giggs

We’re all very aware of Giggsy’s talents as a footballer; on his day he was unstoppable right up to his slightly premature retirement thanks to David Moyes’ failings as Man United manager but does that make him a good choice?

Sadly not. Even though he’s Huw Jenkin’s preferred choice to fill the vacancy, he hasn’t actually got any experience of managing in the Premier League nor any other league. A few games at the end of a season that yielded little success is not enough. 6/4 to take over according to SkyBet but the wrong choice as far as I can see.

Chris Coleman

The only way Coleman will take over Swansea City is if he can maintain his role with the Welsh national team – spinning plates whilst juggling balls if you ask me; basically it’s too much for him to do.

8/1 say SkyBet but I don’t think there’s any chance of this Swansea lad dividing his time between Premier League strugglers and International successes.

Alan Pardew

The only real candidate as far as I can tell. Plenty of experience and the charismatic character we’ve been lacking since Rodgers/Laudrup – I see no reason why we shouldn’t offer him a contract this second to save our season.

11/4 makes for a tempting bet too. Pardew all the way for me.

Gary Rowett

It was sad to see Birmingham City sack Rowett but it was more infuriating that it wasn’t even his 

fault. The new owners wanted Gianfranco Zola and made it so.

The Premier League relegation battle might be too much for Rowett to handle but 5/1 with SkyBet is rather intriguing – he stands a chance.

The No Hopers

Klinsmann and Hodgson – two managers who’ve left international roles this year. Would either of 

them have the ability to drag us out of the nosedive?

No.

My Opinion?

Giggsy is the frontrunner but he isn’t good enough to keep us up so I’d back Pardew – even on a short term deal.

Bob Gone, Next Please!

We knew it was coming. An entry was posted earlier today detailing how little we would trust Bradders with funds and how Alan Pardew is waiting in the wings to assume the role. This isn’t confirmed, of course, but it seems the most likely outcome.

It can hardly be a surprise to us all that, yet again, we are without a manager.

Are we so incapable of finding a suitable character that we are destined to invite a former player again? Someone no-one has ever heard of? Or a person who only understands football on an international level aside of domestic football in a country that believes a watered down version of rugby should be given such a name?

We are better than this. Brendan Rodgers is not the greatest manager of all time but we desperately miss his influence. He is currently showing Scotland that Celtic aren’t just the biggest fish in a disappointingly small pond – they can also contend with bloody Barcelona!

Laudrup? Raking money into his account somewhere in Qatar.

Garry Monk? Currently managing Leeds and leading them quite capably towards AT LEAST the playoff places.

Guidolin? Who cares! We’d have been relegated already!

In brief. Bob Bradley is no longer managing our club and we are glad for it. However, if Pardew or someone else suitable isn’t appointed within the next 48 hours we will go into January without a manager nor any money to reinforce an ailing squad.

Essentially, we would take Pardew, accept Ryan Giggs and permit Gary Rowett an interview. Just appoint before January 1^st.

Bradley Out, Pardew In?

A hefty 4-1 defeat against a side who have been struggling for most of the season really isn’t good enough. There were flashes of brilliance when Bradders finally allowed Fernando Llorente some game time but it just wasn’t enough – when you consider how utterly useless Andy Carroll is as a footballer; you start to see just how bad we actually were.

It’s small wonder Bob Bradley has shot to the top of the odds for ‘Next Manager Sacked’ given Crystal Palace have freed up the services of Alan Pardew. Pards has been heavily linked with the Swans job this morning and the story will break across the newspapers later today or early tomorrow morning – it looks like the Star Spangled Banner is heading back home.

Since Guidolin departed; we’ve looked a sorry state and there are a few excuses that keep doing the rounds. Yes, we miss Ashley Williams and we probably should never have let Michael Laudrup go but we did and we have invested poorly since then as a generalisation.

Bradley can’t be trusted with what funds we have to spend in January but then again neither can Pardew really. He’s a typical English manager who has his favourites that always seem to follow him from club to club – get ready for Yohan Cabaye to arrive in Swansea folks!

Our American manager looked stunned when the chants rang out around the Liberty. ‘We Want Bradley Out’ couldn’t have been a clearer message and there is now an alternative that will meet with the board’s expectations for experience and most of the fans will accept.

I say bring it on. Pardew needs a job, we need a manager who understands English football and perhaps we’ll finally see some cohesive football that produces the results we need to maintain our Premier League status.

The last thing we need is a return to the Championship – look at Villa and tell me that we’d romp that league. I don’t think we would somehow – Newcastle had to invest heavily to top that league and Brighton are breathing down their necks! We need to survive relegation this season and Bradders is not the man for the job.

Swansea v West Ham Preview

This was supposed to be a turning point for the Swans. Games against teams in and around the lower end of the table have so far resulted in back to back away defeats and a dire 19^th place thanks only to superior goal difference over Hull City – COME ON! What’s going so wrong?

West Ham haven’t come to Swansea and won since 1983 – I’ll be honest, I wasn’t even born the last time West Ham took us down in our back yard – but they are looking for a third successive Premier League win as they make the trip on Boxing Day.

This isn’t great news overall as we’re on a run of consecutive losses and they’re on a run of consecutive wins – the form guide clearly suggests we’re up against it here no matter how history paints the fixture out to be.

We have won our last two Boxing Day games against Villa in 2014 and West Brom 2015 but they were both narrow 1-0 wins. A repeat performance would be good but it would be nice to see a bit more than a single goal – it’s meant to be the season of goodwill not crap shooting.

Good news! Fernandez and Ki are both back having recovered from broken toes – how they both managed to suffer the same fate is beyond me but never mind. Naughton and Cork are probably going to get the nod to start as Bradders finally admitted that change was needed if we’re to develop any semblance of form over the winter period.

There’s a fair few West Ham players set to miss out including Zaza, Sakho, Tore, Obiang and Oxford all out of the running for a spot in the squad. Sadly, Payet remains available and in form so it’ll probably be up to Fernandez to keep him under wraps – he’s going to need to work hard!

The last time we faced West Ham we thumped them 4-1 in one of our most confident performances of the previous campaign but we’ve only won that one game in the last seven against the Hammers. Three draws and three losses make up the rest of the numbers – not good.

January needs to bring three things to Swansea. Confidence, Victories and signings – I’m not sure Bradders is the man to entrust with a transfer budget but it’s better than nothing. Fingers crossed we focus on defence and pace – you can’t buy confidence but a faster, more solid side will go a long way to developing belief!

Christmas in Swansea

Christmas for Swansea City could be a real turning point. Let’s face it, the two fixtures between the big day and the New Year are against West Ham and Bournemouth – a couple of sides who have been very hit and miss in the league but some how sit higher in the table than ourselves; time for change Bradders.

West Ham might’ve claimed two wins in their last two league games but that doesn’t mean they’re out of the woods just yet. According to pretty much every newspaper you buy; the club are terrified of losing their star players and Slaven Bilic will have to make do with his existing contract as the club have no plans to offer him a new deal – makes for a bad atmosphere around the Olympic Park.

Bournemouth are in the top half of the Premier League and no-one saw this coming. Three wins and three losses in their last six may leave them nine places above us but Christmas isn’t a great time for clubs struggling to maintain lofty positions. The constant fear of failure will bite hard on Eddie Howe’s team – good news for the Swans no doubt.

Seven points from six games isn’t good enough no matter how you try and convince yourself otherwise but there are glimmers of talent coming from the squad. Bradley isn’t going to be given much money to spend in January but he has to consider some defenders – even loan players will do!

If you take Man Utd as an example; they’re clearly going to buy defenders in January and that’ll leave some of their players available either on the cheap or for loan and it’s here that Bradders should be looking to reinforce. If Lindelof does join United; you have to imagine their graduating academy players will want competitive minutes on the pitch.

It’s not just England that Bradders can look at. Low cost options are available in the French Ligue 2 if you know where to look. You can scoff all you want that these players won’t be good enough but, then again, Riyad Mahrez joined Leicester from Ligue 2 and he was nominated for the Balon D’Or.

The club need to release some funds to Bradders and if they don’t trust him with their money then he shouldn’t be in charge at all. 

Boro v Swans Preview

Things will go from bad to worse if we fail to beat Middlesbrough on Saturday afternoon. Three points separate us from them and this is without the most important game of the season so far. We can make up ground on both Boro and Palace even if we can’t escape the relegation zone just yet. Defeat is not an option.

13 minutes was all it took for all our good work in the first half to be utterly ruined on Wednesday night – I can’t imagine what Bradders might’ve said to the boys at half time but it can’t have been all that much; they looked totally lost and confused.

We could’ve picked up so much momentum from last weekend; we were imperious! And yet we’re still scrabbling around for points like blind beggars.

It’s safe to say that Middlesbrough are not a better side than us so all that’s in their favour is home field advantage. If you’re travelling to the game, make sure you get there early because parking near to the Riverside is in short supply and really quite expensive for the afternoon!

We have the better of the head to head having won three to their two (two draws) and the last time we played each other we nicked the game 1-0 in the League Cup, 13^th December 2012. On paper they look a decent side but an experienced ‘keeper and a big name striker aren’t enough to do well in the Premier League as Karanka is finding out.

Assuming the spine of our team remains solid (Gylfi, Britts and Rangel), we should be able to control the game for the most part. Boro can’t outpace our widemen and there’s no chance their getting past the depth of our midfield – it’s tough to see where goals might come from for them to be honest.

SkyBet don’t fancy us all that much here: Boro 1/1, Draw 12/5, Swans 14/5. Harsh odds but it makes it all the easier to break with convention and back our own team – it’s okay to do it every now and then!

Swans to win and under 2.5 goals in the game is 6/1 and I think that’ll be my bet for the day – it’s got 1-0 written all over it.

West Brom - Swansea Match Report

It’s not fair to say that we underperformed against West Brom; they are one of the Premier League’s most in form sides having only lost to Chelsea in their last six. What is safe to say is that we should’ve contained Salomon Rondon with more care across the course of his 13 minute hat trick.

I, like many, was very happy with the first half performance. It was quite a defensive display and we probably could’ve attacked West Brom with a bit more voracity but there was a clear intention to protect the 0-0 scoreline going into half time – something Bob Bradley will probably regret instructing the side to do.

We aren’t exactly solid at the back right now, in fact January can’t come soon enough to afford the chance to bring in at least one more experienced centre back, but neither were West Brom on the night. Dawson and Evans were both missing for the hosts; surely we could’ve exposed the inexperience of their back four?

Jefferson Montero should’ve done more against Allan Nyom – there was a bit too much showboating and not enough product for me. We should’ve been building from the left hand side as Nyom was pushed into the wide right area; somewhere he’s not usually comfortable.

It was good to see Wayne Routledge getting himself on the scoresheet, even if it was obviously consolation. The heads were down and there was no drive to try and level the game at least – there ought to have been more concentration on moving the ball fluidly in the middle of the park as we did against Sunderland and Crystal Palace.

The capability is there but another disappointing result has dropped us back into the relegation places ahead of the trip to Middlesbrough tomorrow. A win is vital on Saturday afternoon – it may not take us above Boro but at least it will level the points up going into Christmas week; the staff party might be put on hold for now however.

Vital Points Revive Super Swans

If you'd told me at the start of the day that we'd be out of the relegation zone by Monday afternoon on Saturday morning; you can be fairly certain my response would relate to going forth and multiplying and yet... Bradders actually pulled off a victory worthy of some serious praise.

As I mentioned in my Match Preview; Bob Bradley needed to inject some life into the attack and focus on the most talented members of the squad - who went on to secure the win? Messrs Sigurdsson and Llorente. Please, keep your applause until the end folks!

Don't get me wrong; the first half was like watching paint dry in the rain but when the lads trotted out for the second half they looked a totally different prospect. The attacking moves were brilliantly well thought out and it looked as though everyone had a particular part to play - playing to players strengths at last!

Even the referee, Craig Pawson, had a great game. Every decision he made was fair and correct, the penalty was correctly awarded and Angel Rangel can have no complaints about his booking - great to see the officials getting it right for a change.

We couldn't have asked for a better penalty taker than Sigurdsson in all honesty. I feel that Llorente wasn't quite set into the game until we took the lead then the big man settled right in and dispatched Gylfi's genius corner with aplomb.

I'm also glad to see 'Nando quite literally using his head - that second goal was very well taken and should give him the confidence boost he's needed. Between Llorente, Gylfi and Britt's we actually looked composed and threatening - we need more of this Bob and lots more of it.

Bring on West Brom on Wednesday night - if anyone's going to the game and has spare seats in the car etc; please let us know in the comments and we'll see if we can't get as many as we can to The Hawthorns.

Bob's Bad Banter

Well thanks a lot Bob. A day after Bradley vowed we would ‘fight on’, he’s come out to the press and said he can’t defend our defending! That’s exactly what we wanted to hear the day before a crucial tie with Sunderland isn’t it!?

I’m not sure what was going through Bradder’s head if I’m honest. Yes, the club haven’t replaced Ashley Williams with any great success – Amat and van der Hoorn aren’t bad options at the back, they just lack a bit of solidarity and this is their first season in the Premier League – everyone takes time to adapt to a totally different league!

It was such a bad time to speak out on the defending given the visit of Sunderland this weekend and then West Brom, Boro, West Ham, Bournemouth and Palace – all games we should be winning with a positive attitude except maybe West Brom but Tony Pulis is on a hot streak; we could bring it to an end!

I can’t help but feel Bradley’s a bit out of his depth at the minute. When you look at who else was interested in the job (not you Giggsy), I’m still coming to terms with the fact we’ve got the Premier League’s first American manager – WHY!? He keeps saying the wrong things to the press and still hasn’t got a clue who his best team are.

He’s actually making the dodgy one, Jose Mourinho, look like he’s doing a good job at Man Utd. Small wonder he’s bookie’s favourite to lose his job – 6/5 for Bradley to be sacked next on SkyBet. We all know moving a manager on isn’t always the answer but unless he beats Sunderland he’ll have a worse record than Alan Curtis had when he looked after us after Monk messed it up.

There aren’t that many managers out of work but who’d turn down a crack at the Premier League? I mean Steve Clarke’s been available for ages and it bugs me that he wasn’t even given a look in for the Swans job – he doesn’t have the best record but at least he’s managed in England before and has some kind of scouting network!

Last week was embarrassing and shipping four goals against Palace was just as bad. I don’t think Bradders will see the new year in with us if I’m honest – he hasn’t got what we need right now.

Swansea v Sunderland Preview

The game against Sunderland couldn’t be much more important to the Swans right now. Victory will take us above David Moyes’ side in the table – possibly West Ham too if results go the right way. Not quite safety but it’s better than where we are ahead of kick off!

Looking up at the rest of the table isn’t quite what Bob Bradley had in mind when he came in to replace Francesco Guidolin and – in all fairness – he has only taken five points from seven league games; more than Francesco managed though which is positive.

It’s tough to say what’s going wrong right now; look at the squad and say it’s not capable of making it to mid-table. I mean between Gylfi Sigurdsson and Fernando Llorente alone we have two class players leading the attack but we can’t seem to balance decent attack with any kind of solid defence.

Are the team still missing Ashley Williams? Well yes and he probably shouldn’t have left frankly but we need to be pro-active and accept suitable replacement wasn’t brought in – thanks Guidolin! We’re totally exposed at the back as proven in the Spurs game last weekend and, even though we beat Palace, it was proven in the game before as it took five goals before Pardew’s side stopped responding!

Bad news ahead of the Sunderland game; Ki Sung-Yeung and Federico Fernandez are both out with broken toes. It has to be said, we’re missing Ki’s influence in the middle of the park – he’s got that brilliant skill of disappearing and always being available; we’re limited on passing options without him.

Happily; Britton, Routledge and Llorente are all available for the visit of Sunderland. A bit of experience, pace and flair will no doubt boost the lads – I just hope Llorente doesn’t get marked out of the game like he has in a few this year.

Sunderland won’t be bringing Duncan Watmore, Lee Cattermole, Jack Rodwell or Paddy McNair with them to the Liberty thanks to injury but it looks like Fabio Borini will be playing some part along with either Seb Larsson or Adnan Januzaj. Mixed news on the opponent front but the stats look good.

We’ve only lost one of the last eight Premier League games against Sunderland but Moyes has never lost a Premier League game against the Swans – he likes breaking records so now might just be the time David!

Happy to see SkyBet have put some decent odds on for once: Swans are 21/20 to win, a draw is 5/2 and Sunderland to win is 5/2. I’m really liking the look of the home odds; finally the bookies have some faith in us! It doesn’t matter that Sunderland will probably be heavily backed at those odds – let them lose their money.

I’m backing: Swans to win, BTTS, 11+ match corners and 60+ match booking points at 22/1. I can’t see it being a tame affair; let’s be honest Leon Britton has his moments and will be looking forward to letting Borini know who’s in charge – should be a good ‘un this!