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!

Swansea City vs QPR: Against all odds!

Football returns!

Well, football never really left us this summer, but the competition that really matters to Swansea City fans is back! (... that's the Premier League if you were wondering)

Maybe it's not wise to get too excited - it's well noted that Swansea often lose the opening game of the season. It's also well noted that Swansea lose away to QPR. Meanwhile the Swans have failed to score in five of their last six visits to Loftus Road and OPR are unbeaten in their last six Premier League games there. So Saturday's game doesn't really have 'Swans win' written all over it...

Still, this is a new Swansea side with a lot to prove and, kicking off their centenary season, is it possible that the team can come back with all three points? It will be the first time we'll see the Swans play competitively under Michael Laudrup – without Joe Allen, Gylfi Sigurdsson and, possibly, Scott Sinclair, but with Michu, de Guzman and Flores.

Trying to break the pattern of an opening day loss will be eleven Swans players - but which starting eleven will feature isn't as easy to predict as last season, when the team wrote itself.

It's safe to say we'll see Michel Vorm in goals and a back four of Rangel, Williams, Flores and Taylor is pretty likely, even though Kyle Bartley has joined and raring to go.

In midfield Leon Britton will be the first picked, and I assume we'll see Jonathan de Guzman and Michu join him for their first competitive Swans matches. Nathan Dyer will feature on the wing from the start and it's likely we'll see Wayne Routledge on the opposite side, if Scott Sinclair has gone by then. Finally, scoring the goals up front on his own (hopefully) should be Danny Graham.

QPR are a team nobody seems to like - I can understand why, with a host of obnoxious players, including Jay Boooooothroyd and Joey Barton (who naturally won't feature on Saturday), along with Adel Taarabt who is confident of a QPR win. Annoyingly QPR are not a bad team, despite a relegation battle last season, and have certainly strengthened over the summer.

While QPR players aren't the nicest around, the fans aren't too bad and Rory Mosedale from QPR Report has kindly shared with us his thoughts on the clash:

On Swansea - It's been a summer of change at Swansea - losing a manager is always tough, especially when it's someone as good as Rodgers. Laudrup was an interesting appointment to me, unproven in the Premier League and hasn't experienced much success in La Liga but he does try and get his teams to play the right style of football. I've been quite impressed with your summer signings so far; Michu is a very good player and should fit in well with your style of play. Sinclair is a bit hit and miss for me so if you get a decent fee for him then it's good business. I think Swansea are a good club who are going about things the right way. It seems a lot of Swansea fans don't particularly like QPR and want us to go down but I think we'll both finish comfortably in mid table.

On QPR – It's been a very exciting summer for the R's. Having finally cleared out the deadwood in the squad we signed Ryan Nelsen, Robert Green, Andy Johnson, Samba Diakite, Fabio, Ji Sung Park and Junior Hoilett, with one or two more coming in over the next few weeks. Everyone is buzzing at QPR right now, something you'll hopefully see on Saturday. No bad injury problems going into the game, midfielder Ali Faurlin won't be fit enough to start but he may come on from the bench. Jamie Mackie and Diakite could miss out but will hopefully be ready for Saturday. Taarabt always enjoys playing against Swansea and he's been on fire in pre-season so you can expect a good game from our Moroccan Magician. Cisse has also been firing in the goals so be weary of him.

QPR's likely starting XI: Green, Onouha, Ferdinand, Hill, Fabio, Park, Diakite, Hoilett, Taarabt, Mackie, Cisse (4,2,3,1)

Rory's score prediction: Swansea have a very poor record at Loftus Road and our team is looking very good. Will have to go for 3-0 to QPR 

It seems Rory is pretty confident and I guess nobody can blame him with the Swans' record at Loftus Road. Is this the season that Swansea stick the middle finger up to both the Loftus Road record and the first game record? I say... maybe. I cautiously predict a break of all trends with a 1-1 draw. That wouldn't be a bad result, all things considered.

If you're after a bet and want to follow Rory's 3-0 to QPR prediction, you'll find odds of around 18/1. My prediction of 1-1 is a less generous 5/1, while Danny Graham to find the net first is 7/1.

Pointless bet of the week: Fede Bessone to score a hat-trick @ 500/1.

Now only another few hours to wait until football starts again!

Swansea City 2012/13 - back to the Championship?

Please rest assured that the title of this blog post in no way reflects my personal prediction of Swansea City's destiny this season. But it does reflect what I'm reading elsewhere.

Recently flicking through the new FourFourTwo Season Preview magazine, I noticed they predict Swansea will finish in 20th. That's right, propping up the table. A 'Wolves' if you will. On the first read I was a little surprised, considering how well Swansea did last season.

However, the relegation predictions don't end with FourFourTwo. The American sports site, Bleacher Report feature Swansea in their 'Five favourites to be relegated this season' article, while The Independent suggest the Swans may 'struggle to keep up' in their preview.

FourFourWrong?

They key reasons behind the relegation predictions become obvious when you read on. Issues like the fact that the Premier League is all new to Michael Laudrup, a manager who hadn't been successful with all his previous teams. Also if Laudrup plans to stick to the same attractive, passing football (which he does), he won't have the element of surprise that Brendan Rodgers had last season - the rest of the league may have the Swans all figured out. This is worrying with no definite 'plan B'.

The other issues addressed in these articles focus on the players. If Sinclair leaves the club (which seems 50/50 at the moment), the Swans will have lost three of their five top scorers last season in this transfer window: Sinclair (8), Sigurdsson (7), Allen (4). This means Swansea may well be lacking the fire-power FourFourTwo warn about.

Personally I don't feel the Swans have that much to worry about. Not as much as the media make out anyway. However, points will be needed from the very start; there won't be as much room for trial and error this season.

Away form must be sorted out too, and points have to be ripped away from the new arrivals in the league as well as potential relegation rivals. This season, it should be these vital games that draw the crowds, not the Man Uniteds, Chelseas and Liverpools of the league (okay, maybe not the Liverpool one - that is a must win game!).

Swansea supporters, myself included, are more optimistic than the media, but with understandable caution. Last season we predicted a realistic finish of 16th or so in the untested waters of the Premier League, but thankfully our caution wasn't needed with the superb 11th finish. This season, we all seem to be predicting around the same (15th seems to be the magic number), with as much caution I guess.

Though praise from national media last season was nice, I'm sure we'll all admit that being the underdog is an equally enjoyable way to approach some games, so this assumption that Swansea will do poorly shouldn't get us down. We all enjoyed saying 'told you so' last season, and it'll be nice to do it again the second time around (especially to Brendan Rodgers).

"The land of the freeee... and the home of the Swans!"

Firstly, before the actual blog starts, to celebrate Swansea City's trip to the USA, press 'play' below and stare at the picture!

Star Spangled Banner by mahjepahje

 

What a multimedia treat that was! (Okay, you can press stop now and carry on reading...)


Following the intense emotional slap we all took after Brendan Rodgers left the club in the immediate post-season, we've had quite a calm ride. Michael Laudrup came in, shocking a few and exciting many, but since then it has been quite comfortable to watch, listen and read about Swansea City.

With just under four weeks until the Swans begin their second Premier League season, and before I take my two week holiday (…in Italy, thanks for asking), lets have a brief recap and then look ahead to what still needs to be done.

The first game under Laudrup was a success. An expected relief for all. 5-0 against Port Talbot showed that even a Swansea B team can score goals and, though it was against a much weaker side than any they'll face next season, it showed there is potential in the reserves and kicked off the Laudrup reign wonderfully.

The squad, minus a few of the Team GB hopefuls, have already made the journey to the USA for their 12-day, three-game period of friendlies against Colorado Rapids, Ventura County Fusion and San Jose Earthquakes. These games should pose a significant test to the Swans A team and allow them to (I hate this word) 'gel' before they return for more warm-up matches against Blackpool and Stuttgart in the familiar setting of the Liberty Stadium.

As I mentioned, we're seeing a pretty calm pre-season transfer-wise. No major names have come to the club, but the three that have put pen to paper (unless it's done digitally these days?) are all worth taking notice of.

However, some areas still need attention before that visit to QPR.

Starting with one of the most important areas on the pitch, I'd say another semi-decent goalkeeper is needed at some point. This signing isn't the highest of priority at the moment, but it may well be if Vorm and Tremmel simultaneously fall ill this winter. But for now we can leave this area and hope they take their vitamins.

Defence has certainly been boosted by Jose Chico Flores coming in as centre-back, while Curtis Obeng impressed many with his speed in the Port Talbot game - something he was unable to show off last season. This is a relief as, if he can do it at Premier League level, it would mean defence is pretty much sorted with a starting four of Rangel, Williams, Flores and Taylor, with Tate, Monk, Obeng and Richards available to cover.

An area which is now saturated with quality is midfield. The arrival of Jonathan de Guzman and Michu has beefed up an already meaty area of the squad. Michu, with 15 La Liga goals last season certainly looks to fill the void left after the departure of Gylfi Sigurdsson. Add the two new boys to the likes of Britton, Agustien, and possibly Orlandi and Dobbie, and there will be plenty of options next season.

Upfront is now the main area of concern. Ignoring the wingers and just focusing on the strikers, will Danny Graham, Leroy Lita and Luke Moore be enough? I'd say no. It's close, but I'd like to lose Moore or Lita and bring in one more striker - one with enough quality and goals to relegate Graham to the bench. Then we would have ourselves a team!

Elsewhere in the world of football, it's worth pointing out that Brendan Rodgers is looking to recreate the play-off winning Swansea squad at Liverpool. Fabio Borini has already signed, while Rodgers is looking to prise Joe Allen away. There are also rumours that he is interested in Dorus De Vries as a second/third keeper. My bet is he is also after Darren Pratley and Lee Trundle. Gorka Pintado has also been spotted at Anfield, though he was just there to have a stadium tour.

The only major point in that last paragraph is that Allen's place with the Swans is under question. One thing I will say is: I'd happily take £15million for Joe Allen. He's been fantastic in the last few seasons and is one of the few 'local boy made good' stories around, but, in my eyes, he's not worth £15million. Therefore, if Swansea were able to bank that much for him it would be good business for the sad farewell.

Nothing is set in stone yet and there are plenty of reasons why it may not be the right move. I feel he has another few years with the Swans yet, but there is obviously truth in the rumours and Rodgers always seems to get his way...

That's it from me for about two weeks. When I return I expect a new goalkeeper, a winger and a striker. I expect Swansea will have won their warm-up games. I expect Sinclair and Allen will have signed new contracts. I expect no injuries to the three Team GB players. I also expect the unexpected and know that there will be at least one more surprise that none of us will expect!

Premier League and we're having a laugh... £45? Actually, we're not.

That's right - Swans fans are justifiably unhappy after the club announced two things yesterday: an updated Jack Army (JA) Membership Scheme and the new price of a home ticket. £45.

Surprisingly, after reading through the new membership scheme details, I'm less irritated than I am at the price hike. But there is still confusion as expected. Let's look at the Jack Army scheme first.


Jack Army membership – home games

The full details are on the club's website, but I will attempt to sum it up:

Tickets go on sale three weeks in advance. The first week and 70% of the allocation is for 'non season-ticket holding JA members' (to give the full title). The second week sees the remaining 30% and leftovers allocated to 'season-ticket holding JA members'. The third week is general sale. You'll be very lucky to get a general sale ticket!

Firstly, I'm glad they've listened to our complaints (unless it was just a good guess) and have changed the glaringly obvious mistake of last season where season-ticket holders had priority to buy an extra ticket.

Season ticket holders - many of whom are regular readers of this blog - have agreed that there is no need for them to have priority to purchase a home ticket as they already have access to home games.

Giving the first 70% of tickets to non season-ticket holders is a good move, and one that I welcome.

As I mentioned, I can't imagine the club selling many general sale tickets this season as surely the 2,000-odd seats will sell out in the first two weeks - mainly because I assume the club will sell thousands of JA memberships to compete for those 2,000 seats.

Elsewhere, I still don't fully understand the points system. The whole scheme seems to be a three-way divide between ST holders, non-ST holders and general sale - where do the points come in? Why are you getting three points for QPR away and one for Man United home if they are not for anything? These are not hypothetical questions, I actually don't know.


Jack Army membership – away games

This is essentially the same system, just reversed - ST holding JA members are given the 70% priority, then 30% to the non-ST holder and finally general sale. Makes complete sense (for a change) as this time ST holders have a valid reason for needing priority.

Note that the cost of joining the new membership scheme will remain the same as last season: £10 for season-ticket holders and £25 for non season-ticket holders.

Got anything left?

Ticket Prices!

Moving on to the price... what can I say. £45 for a home ticket. It's ridiculous. To clarify, the £45 is for Category A games (including Man City, Man Utd, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool and Spurs), while Category B games (I'm assuming these are somehow unimportant games?!) are £35.

Just shy of £50 for a fan to watch their team against one of these 'big' clubs is everything that is wrong with football these days. Naturally it's not just Swansea, but the club are now revealing their nastier side and distancing themselves from the fans with this move.

The simple way to look at it is: the average guy in Swansea is finding it hard - unemployment, higher cost of living, recession... it's all a bit gloomy. Football is one of the things that can help ease that stress - it allows a fan to have a pint with their mates, cheer on their team and forget about life for a few hours. However, jacking the price up £10 for these already expensive prime games is greedy. It's at least a day's wages for some people.

I am well aware that Swansea are not owned by Johnny Oil-tycoon and need to raise money somehow, but as one fan pointed out, even if all six of the Category A games sell out, including away fans, the club will net an extra £270k over the season. This is nothing in Premier League terms (thanks to @NeathJack1 for working it out).

Is that extra money worth upsetting - even excluding - the loyal fans? It's barely enough to pay wages for a few weeks. The fans are the only ones who are suffering. It's now the case of “if you are lucky enough to find a ticket to a Swans home match, can you even afford it?”

Think of the silly money that players are paid. I could write thousands of words on the problems of money and football, but it's pointless - it will depress us all and won't change anything. I know a blog like this isn't going to get anyone saying “you know what, players are paid too much - let's cut the wages and give something back to the fans”. Still, it's worth mentioning.

One day Premier League clubs will price their fans out of the stadium. Empty seats galore reminiscent of the Six Nations or the Euros. Then again, fans will go to any lengths - pay any price - to get tickets to see their club. We're stupid I guess.

It's not just me annoyed with this increase. Here are a selection of tweets I received from fellow fans following the announcement of the £45 ticket:

@philbettany
At least relegation has a silver lining now: we get to actually see a game! I saw QPR & Fulham away in the oppositions stands...

@Onslow74
Chris, chances are I'll get to see 3 or 4 games max this season. £45 for a Swansea ticket is shocking no matter the opposition. The club has lost touch with their fan base. Especially the ones they'll call on if the PL dream turns sour.

@beaker1964
Think they have forgotten we are in a recession.

@Grayo85
The new system is clearly designed to make having a season ticket v attractive (ground expansion in mind). £45 is a lot tho!

@CliveMitchell54
I think at £45 we are turning into a boutique club a la QPR. It was 1/6d or 7.5p when I first paid to see Swans!

Soon it will be the case that the only people who can afford to watch football are... well, footballers.

Thank god for illegal Armenian cable hook-ups eh?


Your thoughts are more than welcome as always. Sign in using Blogger, Wordpress, Open ID and leave your comment! Or tweet me @ForzaSwansea.

Swansea City: Evil Plans, Team GB and Friendlies

Who's a lazy boy then? Me. It's been over a week since I've written a blog post, so let's catch up on what's been happening with Swansea City!


Rule Britannia (...or not)
Not sure about you, but my interest in Team GB is very low - be it running, swimming or, indeed, football. However, I now have to pay more attention after three Swansea City players were named in Stuart Pearce's squad: Joe Allen, Neil Taylor and Scott Sinclair.

It's probably a big honour for the players so I guess congratulations are deserved. But is it good news for Swansea?

There will be positives in the sense that the three will play competitively through the summer so will not have too much rust to WD40 off when it comes to the opening game against QPR. They will also come up against high quality opponents which is, of course, great exposure to new playing styles and tricky players. Meanwhile they may learn a thing or two from experienced teammates Ryan Giggs and Craig Bellamy.

Yet you can't help feel these positives will immediately be shadowed if one of the Swans trio picks up a knock or, worse, a long term injury. There's also the likelihood that, should Team GB go all the way, the three will pick up some fatigue going into the first few games. They'll also miss much of pre-season with Michael Laudrup - I can't see this affecting his decision making (i.e. he won't automatically opt for Tate over Taylor), but it would be better for them to be with the club than running around in London.

A mixed bag then. Good luck to them - just watch those injuries.


Welcome Flores and De Guzman! 
While most of the focus is on players leaving the club, Michael Laudrup has reinforced the squad with two solid signings: defender Jose 'Chico' Flores comes in from Genoa on a three-year contract (initial fee of £2million) and midfielder Jonathan De Guzman arrives on a year-long loan deal from Villarreal.

From what I've seen of these guys, they look to be good acquisitions, especially Flores - it was no secret that Swansea were desperate for a centre-back after Steven Caulker returned to Spurs, and Flores looks very capable of filling the hole. Meanwhile, Jonathan De Guzman looks quite impressive in his attacking midfield role with plenty of vision and passing ability. Hopefully a good replacement for Sigurdsson.

As always, time will tell. For now they both seem to be players that are comfortable with the Swansea style of play, have big game experience and could fit in very well. Welcome.


Brendan Rodgers' Evil Plans
Mr Rodgers has, unsurprisingly, made Fabio Borini one his prime targets at Liverpool. Why should we care what happens at Liverpool? Well, it's our ex-manager and one of our ex-strikers, so it is interesting to see if these two do reunite for a third time. Nothing is confirmed yet, but I'd urge Borini to stay in Italy.

More critical to Swansea is whether Rodgers will want to link up with Joe Allen again. We know that Rodgers can't instigate a move for Swans players due to the terms in his contract termination, but, if I understand correctly, if Allen wanted to go to Liverpool, he could. There's no denying Liverpool can offer him bigger wages and that Rodgers is keen to have him, so the rumours are more believable than some of the others we've heard (although Swansea have announced there are no plans to sell the midfielder things can change).

Nobody wants to see Allen leave the club - he is vital to the central three, he works hard, he's from Swansea (rare now to see a local boy with his local team, especially in the top flight). Yes, he'd fit into Liverpool's plans, but I feel he'll make a big mistake. Maybe I'm being cynical towards Liverpool (I am), but I genuinely think anyone going there these days is making a mistake!


We're all friends here!
Swansea will play a number of friendlies prior to the first game against QPR - some in Swansea, some in America. One in Port Talbot.

Here are the details (all subject to change, etc, etc):

vs. Port Talbot - Sat 21st July (3pm, GenQuip Stadium)
vs. Colorado Rapids - Tues July 24th (7pm local time, Dick's Sporting Goods Park)
vs. Ventura County Fusion - Sat July 28th (5pm local time, Oxnard College Stadium)
vs. San Jose Earthquakes - Tues July 31st (7.30pm local time, Buck Shaw Stadium)
vs. Blackpool - Tues 7th August (7pm, Liberty Stadium)


Follow me on Twitter for immediate blog updates and general Swans news - @ForzaSwansea.

See you next time!

Swansea City: “Just a trim please darling”

If you thought it was going to be a summer of ten new signings... you clearly haven't been following Swansea City for very long.

But in addition to not many signings being made, recent reports have suggested, somewhat surprisingly for me, that Michael Laudrup wants to trim the current 34 man squad down to a streamlined 22.

It's a bold move by the new manager, and something I can imagine may not have happened under Rodgers, but whether it does happen or not, it gives us a chance to take a look at the squad; what we can afford to lose, and what we definitely can't.

Erik Larsen, Laudrup's assistant, said in the week: "It's not the case that there's only room for 22. These things develop so if someone gets injured you can add more." At least this means Laudrup hasn't gone crazy and is aware that some depth is needed.

It would be hard to speculate exactly who would go if Laudrup does have his way, mainly because I don't know what he has planned for the summer transfer window. He may well have two new strikers lined up, so keeping the likes of Luke Moore, Leroy Lita and Rory Donnelly would be pointless. However, as I say, nobody knows.

So, hypothetically, let's assume Ludrup will bring five new players to the club. Ideally these would be: a centre-back, a right/left back, a striker, an attacking midfielder or a winger, and a spare keeper. With those in mind, this is how I would trim the squad down to 22:

Swansea City (in association with ForzaSwansea.com) 22-man squad:

Goalkeepers

Michel Vorm

Gerhard Tremmel

New Goalkeeper #1

Defence

Ashley Williams

Angel Rangel

Alan Tate

Garry Monk

Neil Taylor

New CB #2

New LB #3

Midfield

Leon Britton

Kemy Agustien

Joe Allen

Nathan Dyer

Wayne Routledge

Andrea Orlandi

New CAM/Winger #4

Striker

Danny Graham

Leroy Lita or Luke Moore

New Striker #5

You may notice that I've only listed 20 at the moment - I haven't mentioned Scott Sinclair and Stephen Dobbie. We'll move onto those two in a moment, but first, let's look at my choices.

While most are pretty straightforward and will not need justifying to the reasonable fan, you'll notice I've included Alan Tate and Garry Monk. Both are getting on in terms of stamina and quality, but Monk has proved he can cope in the Premier League, while Tate has also shown he can help out at times, and is useful cover for any position across the back four. For their lengthy service to the club they must be kept, at least for one more season.

Gerhard Tremmel is required as a back up keeper, while Kemy Agustien has shown his worth and will surely feature more now that he is fit and Sigurdsson has buggered off. As for the Lita/Moore choice, we only need one of these underachievers and I'd edge towards Leroy Lita personally - three decent strikers (including a new first choice ahead of Graham) would be enough under Swansea's system.

Andrea Orlandi is one who stunned quite a few Swans fans by scoring the fastest Premier League goal for five seasons, in a rare appearance against Wolves last season. In that game he showed some flair and skill - enough to intrigue me to keep him around. He would need to prove something in the first half of the season though, or he should be gone by Christmas.

Before we get onto the list of who must leave the club, what about Sinclair and Dobbie?

Scott Sinclair was given an ultimatum by Swansea: sign or be sold. A choice I support because Sinclair would end up leaving for free otherwise. If we're being honest, he hasn't looked happy at the club in recent months. The winger has been linked with Fulham in the past few days, a move I'd support for £5million. It would be a shame to see him go, but if he does, Laudrup could use the space (and the cash) to buy a replacement winger.

Elsewhere, we all know the Stephen Dobbie story. Amazing Championship player, not so hot when it comes to the Premier League. Will Laudrup gamble on his past abilities, or will he see him as a wage burden and not one for his streamlined squad?

So, if those are the ones we keep, who are the players that must go?

The Unfortunates:

Mark Gower

Curtis Obeng

Darnel Situ

Ashley Richards

Federico Bessone

Rory Donnelly

Scott Donnelly

David Cornell

Lee Lucas

Ben Davies

Joe Walsh

Daniel Alfei

Casey Thomas

Jordan Smith

Gwion Edwards

Kurtis March

You'll agree that none on this list have really set the footballing world alight, and – if Laudrup has his way – these would most likely be the casualties.

It was a shame to put Ashley Richards and Mark Gower on the list, as Gower was relatively solid in the final Championship season and Richards is a Welsh talent that has shown some potential. But neither would worm their way into my 22 man squad.

Elsewhere, Curtis Obeng and Darnel Situ were brought to the club in an odd panic buying spree by Rodgers last season, and ended up tied up in contract chaos, so didn't feature apart from in the reserves. Rory Donnelly seemed an interesting prospect, but if it's down to 22 he is going to have to go as he hasn't proved what he can do yet. Meanwhile, Fede Bessone is just using up wages for doing nothing.

The youngsters are all obvious casualties – they may have potential, but don't have the experience. It would take a major disaster to see many of them featuring in the Premier League next season.

Hey, I could be wrong. Laudrup may hate the way Dyer moves and chose Bessone to be the new winger. He may think Vorm is overrated and give Tate another chance in goals. Who knows!?

I'm interested in hearing your thoughts on my selection. Is it silly to keep Tate and Monk? Would you do all you can to keep Sinclair? Are both Lita and Moore worth holding onto? Is Obeng the answer we're actually looking for in defence?