Cup o' coffee and the Swans (Sunday Catch-up - 11th Jan 2015)

Here we go - Happy New Year!

Recently my commitments to other projects (along with a peppering of laziness) has seen output on Forza Swansea fall pretty low. So, in an attempt to ensure at least one new post a week, I have created a new Sunday catch-up post which I aim to keep up with!

So grab your Sunday morning coffee / tea / hair-of-the-dog, and let's catch-up with the goings on in the wonderful world of Swansea City over the past week!


Swansea 1 - 1 West Ham: Frustrating / Inspiring / Greasy


Sloppy defending in an overall frustrating first half saw Swansea concede to a decently struck goal from Andy Carroll. His celebration was infuriating, but Swans fans had the last laugh as his team lost two points when Bafetimbi Gomis equalised in the second half.

Carroll goading the Swans fans (Great photo - not sure who took it sorry)

As I mention, the first half was - in a word - pathetic from Swansea. Most of the passes were in the middle of the park and as soon as they had a chance to break quickly... the ball was passed back to the centre backs, rendering a surprise counter attack impossible.

The fans were screaming for subs and thankfully Garry Monk heard our cries, bringing on the inspired Modou Barrow and Marvin Emnes; injecting some much needed pace and desire to replace Nathan Dyer and Wayne Routledge. Some attractive passing in front of goal later and we had our deserved equaliser. Men of the match (for me): Fernandez, Britton, Fabianski.

What did we learn from yesterday? Gomis - with a little work and confidence - will be enough to carry the team through the second half of the season. Nelson Oliveira looked smooth and very handy with the ball. Angel Rangel had a terrible game - no matter how much of a club legend he is, he needs to sort it out before next time. Andy Carroll is still a greasy b*****d, capable of scoring against Swansea when he wants.


Bye bye Wilfried Bony, no more goals for Swansea

The biggest news this week has been the imminent (although not yet confirmed) departure of beloved Swans striker Wilfried Bony, who is likely to head off to big spending Manchester City for £30million (although Chelsea are also in the running to sign the striker, should the Man City move break down, or so the Daily Express report).

Goodbye, and thanks for all the goals!

The power striker is currently in Equatorial Guinea for the African Cup of Nations, but it's unlikely he'll ever put on the white shirt of Swansea again. It was always likely to happen and it will be a great shame to see him go. Not only for his goals, but his creativity and his huge presence on the pitch.

As Forza Swansea blogger Alec Johnson tweeted last week: 'Gomis was signed as a Wilf replacement last summer as offers were expected for £19m... But we've had an extra 4 months and £11m so just smile'. 

That's a sentiment I agree with, and I'm sure sensible Swans fans everywhere else do to.


Hello Troy Deeney?

With the upcoming departure of Bony, several media outlets have linked Swansea with Watford striker Troy Deeney, who has been one of the Championship's top scorers in recent seasons.

Deeney has scored 69 goals in 183 appearances for Watford since 2010, and could fit into the side pretty nicely.

However as Planet Swans pointed out earlier in the week, with Gomis and Oliveira already in place, it's unlikely that a move will be made for the 26-year-old front man. But who knows...?


Rory goes to Tranmere

Finally, young Rory Donnelly has joined League Two bottom-dwellers Tranmere Rovers until the end of the season. The 22-year-old striker has suffered his share of frustrating injuries since joining the Swans in January 2012 and as a result has made little impact.

So it's a good move for both clubs and the player in this respect - he'll definitely get some much needed game time with Tranmere, as yesterday afternoon proved. Donnelly came on for Rovers as a 67th minute sub in yesterday's flaccid 0-0 draw against Morecambe. Good luck Rory.

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That ends the first of these regular Sunday morning catch-ups. In the meantime make sure to cheer yourself up this January and get your copy of Swansea City's Greatest Games now!

Not a bad start, Swansea... not bad at all.

Swansea City 5 – 0 QPR
Swansea City 3 – 0 West Ham

That's a good start isn't it?

We've seen two impressive displays from the Swans in the opening week. Eight goals, two clean sheets and now second in the Premier League!

However, it's still early. Plenty of time for Vorm to get injured, the team to lose ten in a row and us to watch as Dyer signs for Liverpool. Yet, so far it's all reassuring stuff from a team tipped for a disastrous season and rock-bottom relegation.

Briefly top of the league, until Chelsea spoilt it.

We knew from the pre-season that Laudrup is a manager with plans to attack. While many - including myself - knew there would be more goals for Swansea this season, many - again, including myself - also assumed there would be more goals against Swansea. So far, in the second aspect, we've been wrong.

Defence, therefore, is doing it's job. Chico Flores has come in and is providing the team with the same stability Steven Caulker offered, though with a little more fire (this may lead to a few cards along the way, but who cares about the Fair Play league if Swansea qualify for Europe the proper way!). Angel Rangel and Neil Taylor look as dangerous as ever going forward, and Williams is as assured as always. Though mistakes have been made at the back, Michel Vorm has been solid enough to clean-up what the defenders leave behind. All looking great.

Going forward, Swansea are already more entertaining to watch. It took the Swans nine games to score eight goals last season under Brendan Rodgers, where it's taken just two this time around. While I thoroughly appreciate everything Rodgers did for the club (apart from pissing off to Liverpool), I found the football last season a little... pointless at times.

While I don't think passing football is boring, the game played under Rodgers was at times frustrating - all pass, pass, pass and incredible possession stats, but not as much end product to get excited about. With Laudrup we are still seeing decent possession (50% in the QPR game and 62% against West Ham), but are also seeing chances made and goals scored, with some exciting counter-attacks thrown in.

Michu is clearly a key figure. For £2million, he's been the signing of the season - no contest. Again, just two games in, but the Premier League's top scorer. He has replaced Allen and Sigurdsson in one hit for literally pennies in this league.

Elsewhere, Wayne Routledge has come alive in the first two games. The ongoing Scott Sinclair moody, pointless move to Man City (until he's loaned out to QPR) has allowed Routledge two starting places and he's done a lot with them; running, cutting inside and offering plenty for Danny Graham and Michu to work with. Though Pablo Hernandez may eventually sign, Routledge is showing he has enough for a permanent first team place.

Little Nathan Dyer - man of the match against West Ham - is looking dangerous as usual. I'm surprised there weren't many rumours/offers from other teams for Dyer this summer. The transfer window is still open, so I won't speak to soon - Rodgers' the thief still has money in the bank. For now, it's nice to see Dyer shooting more.

We are yet to see Ki Sung-Yueng in action. With Britton, Michu and de Guzman all offering plenty in midfield, who will make way for the record signing? I'm guessing it will be de Guzman.

Ultimately it is too early to say Swansea will repeat these exciting scorelines for the rest of the season. There will be tougher games against opponents who actually want to win (both QPR and West Ham haven't looked that up for it). But for now, Swansea still have a nice run of teams where similar comfortable wins are possible - Aston Villa, Stoke, Reading and Wigan are all coming up soon enough.

If Laudrup can keep up a decent run, Swansea can go into the bigger games in November - those against Man City, Chelsea, Liverpool - with no real pressure, already comfortably mid-table. We said before the season started that the Swans must take as many points from the opening games as they could, and things are going exactly to plan it seems!