Cup o' coffee and the Swans (Sunday Catch-up - 12th April 2015)

Another Sunday, another cup of coffee, another Swans catch-up.

Here we go!


Swansea City 1-1 Everton

Swansea were certainly the better team in the first half of their second home match in a row; probing Everton and almost coming away with a couple of things.

We saw a stunning shot from Bafetimbi Gomis which was tipped away by Tim Howard, although it caused an unfortunate hamstring pull, with the striker leaving the field soon after. Shelvey had his own excellent half-volley goal, which was disallowed due to an apparent foul in the build up by Wayne Routledge.

Shelvey's adept penalty (image: South Wales Evening Post)

Unfortunately it took just one smart move from Everton to conjure up their first real chance and - with it - their first goal, coming from Aaron Lennon in the 41st minute. Their confidence grew tenfold after that.

In the second half Swansea managed to equalise from the spot through Jonjo Shelvey with 20 minutes to go, after Seamus Coleman handled the ball while on the floor in the area. Gylfi Sigurdsson saw his well struck free kick punched away by Howard in the latter stages, but the game finished 1-1. Still no league win against Everton, but an entertaining match which probably ended fairly. (Find a full minute-by-minute round-up here).


Taylor misses two

After his 10th yellow card of the season in yesterday's match, Neil Taylor will miss the next two matches.

With Tiendalli out on loan (see below...), who will fill his boots for the away games against Leicester and Newcastle?


Europe bound?

I read an interesting article that essentially says if Arsenal are in with a shot at the title, surely Swansea are in with a shot at a Europa League place. And it's true - the Swans are currently in 8th place, seven points behind Spurs.

With six games left in the season and Spurs well off form, there's no reason Swansea couldn't catch up. Of course it'll take a great run from the Swans and, while a top six finish is almost certainly out of the question, this season - providing Liverpool finish 5th place and win the FA Cup - 7th place in the league would be enough to grab a Europa League spot.

Although this brings up the question: do we really want to be in Europe next season?


Tiendalli's unfortunate debut

It seems Middlesbrough fans now understand what Swansea fans feel when watching Dwight Tiendalli. He made his debut for Boro on Monday, when they lost 2-0 to Watford. Boro fans weren't pleased with their new acquisition, taking to Twitter to vent their frustration over his positioning mainly.

The defender was subbed after 63 minutes in that first game, and didn't feature in yesterday's 2-0 win against Rotherham (not even on the bench).

I'll leave you with some comments from a Tiendalli Twitter search...

Cup o' coffee and the Swans (Sunday Catch-up - 5th April 2015)

Happy Easter!

Swansea City were finally back in action after a long break and won their Premier League clash against Hull City pretty comfortably.

So grab your Easter egg and cup of coffee, and let's catch-up on all the action of the past week:


Swansea City 3 - 1 Hull City

Ki Sung Yueng opened the scoring in the 18th minute, adding to his growing tally after slamming in a rebound from Jonjo Shelvey's saved shot, before Bafetimbi Gomis scored a surprisingly good acrobatic shot from close range, five minutes from half-time.

Gomis on fire (never thought I'd say that!)

After the break it took just four minutes for Hull to nab a goal of their own, with Paul McShane scoring from a free-kick floated into the box. Hull piled the pressure on after that, with a few corners making Swans fans a little nervy.

However nerves were settled when David Meyler was sent off in the 52nd minute for a challenge on Kyle Naughton. With the extra man Swansea probed a little, then defended against a few potential Hull equalisers, before Gomis stole the show with a cheeky chip in the 91st minute. Undoubtedly his best game in a Swans shirt. Wilfried who?!*

(*Bony. Just in case you did forget)


Injuries

Tom Carroll scored the only goal in the England U21's win against the Czech Republic last week, however in doing so he managed to injure his ankle and now faces up to six weeks out of action.

Carroll - like Leon Britton - has found it difficult to get into Swansea's starting line-up recently, thanks to the form of Jack Cork and Ki, so this is a big blow to his chances.

Injured again...

Elsewhere, the international break saw another injury for the Swans, with Jefferson Montero straining a muscle in Ecuador's 1-0 loss to Mexico in a friendly last week. However it's not as bad as Carroll's and he's likely to be back in action very soon.


Rescheduled matches

Earlier this week it was announced that two upcoming Swans matches have been moved for TV.

The game vs Arsenal at the Emirates will now take place on Monday, 11 May (8pm), while Man City's trip to the Liberty will now happen on Sunday, 17 May (1.30pm).

Swans fans weren't too happy with the Arsenal change and I can't blame them. Many had bought train tickets and booked time off work to go up to the Emirates and now they'll have to reschedule (with no reimbursement) or not go to the game. They get my full sympathy.


Michu recovering

It's been reported that Michu is on his way to recovery over an ongoing ankle injury. He's still with Napoli and in an interview earlier this week he talked about his want to repay Rafa Benitez for his faith.

The midfielder, who will always be remembered for his first glorious season with Swansea, has said on his future with the club:

'Will I return to Swansea? I really don’t know, the truth is I’m not thinking of my future right now. I just want to heal.'

However, I seriously doubt he'll ever pull on the Swansea City shirt again. But then again, with Gomis on fire, who needs Michu?!

Cup o' coffee and the Swans (Sunday Catch-up - 29th March 2015)

Quick, you're late! The clocks went forward last night and you've missed all the fun stuff because you were sleeping!

Oh well, grab your latte with a shot of hazelnut syrup (if that's what floats your boat) and let's see what's been happening this week.


Three-match March

March hasn't been a good month for Swans fans, as the club have only played three matches over the four weeks. And there was no Swansea match again this weekend thanks to the international break.

However, on the bright side, Swansea are safe in the Premier League for another season and they will be playing next weekend - at home to Hull City on Saturday, 4 April at 3pm.


Swans players in action

One good thing about the international break was that we got to see at least some of the Swans stars in action in a different environment. And they were all winners!

Captain of Wales

Yesterday evening the Welsh team beat Israel 3-0 in their European Cup qualifier, with Swansea's Ashley Williams and Neil Taylor both in action.

Elsewhere in Europe, Gylfi Sigurdsson played the full 90 minutes for Iceland in their comfortable 3-0 win against Kazakhstan, although he failed to score. And not forgetting Lukasz Fabianski, who is likely to start for Poland in tonight's match against the Republic of Ireland (7.45pm kick off - the match is live on Sky Sports 5).


Tiendalli has gone

Don't worry - he'll be back (as if anyone was worrying...). Yes, earlier in the week it was announced that Dwight Tiendalli would be joining Championship high-flyers Middlesbrough on loan until the end of the season.

Tiendalli in action...

With Kyle Naughton in good shape and Rangel a fine back-up, the right-back position is pretty much sorted, so there's little for Tiendalli to do apart from rust up on the bench. So it's a good move for both the club and the player - who definitely needs game time.

In 2010 Swansea borrowed Marvin Emnes from Middlesbrough and he produced a very memorable goal against Cardiff. Let's hope Tiendalli can be of similar use to Boro in their quest for the Premier League.


Jack in Time

Earlier in the week I wrote a new Jack in Time post about Swansea City's Football League Trophy Final escapades at the Millennium Stadium in 2006, with a couple of videos - check it out here.

Jack in Time: a volley, a trophy and a big Welsh flag (with videos)

In the last few weeks we've seen two former modern-day Swansea City players retire - Andy Robinson and Owain Tudur Jones.

Bustling winger Andy Robinson - who scored the last ever goal at the Vetch - was with Swansea from 2003 until 2008, making nearly 200 appearances and scoring 44 goals. Meanwhile Owain Tudur Jones joined Swansea in 2005 and stayed until 2009, playing 41 games, scoring three goals in the process.

I was looking for the most iconic game that they both featured in and the greatest has to be the Football League Trophy Final (aka the LDV Vans Trophy) against League Two leaders Carlisle United at the Millennium Stadium on 2 April 2006.

Why was it so great? Well, Swansea won of course!

The match started with an exceptional volley from Lee Trundle, who chested down a perfect cross from Leon Britton before unleashing a thunderous strike across Kieran Westwood and into the far corner with just three minutes gone. It's probably worth reminding yourself of the beauty of that goal with the video below...

After Trundle's screamer, Carlisle looked to equalise in the 23rd minute when Karl Hawley headed home, but the linesman ruled it offside to the Jack Army's delight. However the Cumbrians would get their goal with just five minutes until the interval, when Adam Murray headed a long throw in past Willy Gueret at close-range.

After the break, with the scores level, both teams came out to win it. Carlisle had chances, although Gueret made some fine saves. Andy Robinson had a couple of strikes too, but it would be Swansea's larger-than-life (literally) striker Adebayo Akinfenwa who would seal the game, hitting a low shot past Westwood in the 81st minute. Swansea held on and soon after were lifting the trophy!

And that was that.

Oh yeah, there was also the flag...

And the shirt...

And that wrapped up an incredible day for Swansea City fans.

Of course, Swansea were back at the Millennium Stadium the following month for the League One play-off final, but missed out on promotion after losing to Barnsley 4-3 on penalties. You can't win them all...

You can read about the Carlisle game - with an exclusive interview Lee Trundle interview - along with 49 other superb Swans matches in my book Swansea City's Greatest Games, available now.

Cup o' coffee and the Swans (Sunday Catch-up - 15th March 2015)

I was away last week so we had to miss our regular Swansea City catch-up, but here's a bumper Mother's Day edition (it's not really that bumper...) to make up for it!

Swansea City vs Liverpool 

The Swans have had a nice 12 day break since their thrilling 3-2 loss against Spurs, so they should should be well rested and up for getting something out of Liverpool at the Liberty tomorrow night (8pm).

It's a really hard one to call, not helped by the fact that Swansea are so inconsistent. As we've seen this season, sometimes they'll grind out a brave win and shock everyone, and sometimes... well, sometimes they just don't look bothered. Thankfully in the last few games the effort levels from everyone seems to have increased so we can hopefully look forward to a good performance and maybe even a point.

Let's hope Swansea can make him this wound up on Monday...

Of course recent history doesn't bode well for the Swans, who have lost four of their last five meetings with Brendan Rodgers' side, losing 4-1 at Anfield in December. But, like Swansea, Liverpool are an unpredictable team when it comes to consistency, so it really could go either way.

Bafetimbi Gomis, following his collapse against Spurs, was back in training during the week and should be fit to start. With a pretty much full strength squad it'll be interesting to see if Monk goes for the relatively successful diamond formation he's tried out in the past few matches. Either way expect Jonjo Shelvey to start and score a goal for both sides.

I'm going for a 1-1 draw, a result most Swans fans would happily take it think.


Rangel forever

...well, for the next two years at least. The longstanding right back has signed a contract extension that will keep him at the Liberty until 2017. An important part of the team in the rise to the Premier League, Rangel has felt his importance slip slightly in the last year and his recent form has been shaky at best.

An extended Rangel

Still, he's a stalwart, and an important dressing room figure, so it's good news he's sticking around. Hopefully he'll be around to end his career with the Swans, going on to become a coach or even a club ambassador (although it may be tough to wrestle the job from the hands of Lee Trundle, who's embraced the roll to the highest order!).

As an added bonus, Jordi Amat has signed a one-year contract extension to keep him with Swansea until 2018. He's not the starting choice for Garry Monk at the moment, but Amat has shown time and again that he's more than capable of playing in the Premier League and he'll provide good competition and cover for Fede Fernandez.


Barrow gone (but not for good) 

Young winger Modou Barrow has temporarily left Swansea to sign for Nottingham Forest on loan until the end of the season.

The speedy Gambian has been brilliant when making appearances for Swansea and it's actually a shame because - although he's a little raw - he has proved he has the skill and speed to keep up with the rest of the side.

Of course I understand the decision - Swansea are safe and he'll get much more game time with Forest, but in a way he could have had a few more starts with the Swans between now and the end of the season? What have we got to lose?

Anyway he'll be back in the summer and hopefully he'll stick around for the 2015/16 season.

The Audio Jacks: Episode Five - Burnley win, intense quiz, Swans bad boys and a fantasy Dream Team game.

**LATE NOTE: There will be no Sunday morning catch-up or podcast this weekend (8th March) as I am away. I'll be back next week for more irreverent Swansea City action!**

Here we have the fifth episode of the Audio Jacks, Swansea City podcast.

In this episode Chris and Matt discuss the win against Burnley and what it means for Swansea; Matt rants about Scottish football; both discuss the bad boys of Swansea City in the past week; Chris is challenged to an intense quiz; and Matt begins a new Dream Team game.

You can download the podcast to enjoy on your own personal listening device, or just stream from the link below.

All feedback, shares and comments appreciated. Catch us on Twitter - I'm @ForzaSwansea and Matt is at @LMScreamer.

(NOTE: There will be no podcast or Sunday catch-up next weekend as I'm away, but check back again soon for more Swansea City nonsense.)

Cup o' coffee and the Swans (Sunday Catch-up - 1st March 2015)

It's the first of March, it's a Sunday and that can only mean one thing - it's time for a cup of coffee and a look at the week gone by for Swansea City:

(P.S. Happy Saint David's Day)


Burnley 0 - 1 Swansea City

Despite it not being the most enthralling game (last on Match of the Day of course), yesterday's 1-0 victory against Burnley away from home secured Premier League safety for Swansea City... in February!

That's 40 points from 27 games, which is Swansea's best ever return in a Premier League season. And it's a great achievement considering we lost our best striker last month, we've been unable to score consistently and that there was even talk of a relegation scrap earlier in the year.

Good keeper.

So a good result, with a very scrappy own-goal being scored in the 64th minute by Kieran Trippier. Monk stuck with his diamond formation, which seems to be working quite well. Gomis missed a few good chances, Routledge had a penalty shout (but so too did Burnley), while Fabianski once again put in a solid performance and kept out a string of good attempts from the home side.

It's a shame we are out of the FA Cup as that would have been a great competition to focus on now safety is achieved, but it'll be good to see how far Swansea can go this season. Europa League position perhaps?


Bad Swans #1

Unfortunately the usually very-well behaved club have made the news for all the wrong reasons this week.

Firstly Swansea City's Dutch director John van Zweden came under fire earlier in the week for reportedly calling his fellow countryman Louis van Gaal 'an arrogant b******' (...that's 'bastard' if you can't decipher my code) following the Swans' win against Manchester United. However he has since defended himself, saying he didn't actually use the word 'bastard'.

But yesterday morning it emerged that van Zweden had posted a photo of a winning betting slip which had Swansea to beat United 2-1. The Sun reported that the director is being investigated by the Football Association, as any bet made by someone so close to the club would be a direct breach of FA rules. However van Zweden is insisting it was not his betting slip in the first place.

I can't see either of these things going much further, but it's probably wise for the charismatic director to keep his head down for the next few weeks!

Naughty keeper.

Bad Swans #2

And finally, Swans' reserve keeper Gerhard Tremmel was also in the news for some dodgy behaviour. Last week it was reported that the German shot stopper had been given a six month driving ban by Swansea magistrates after failing to reveal to police who was driving his car, after it was caught speeding along Mumbles Road twice last year.

But his ban has now been lifted, with a fine and penalty points awarded instead. Slow down Gerhard, you're not on the Autobahn any more!