Blackburn Rovers v Swansea City Ewood Park 3. 12. 11 Match Preview

Given the impossibly predictive nature of last weekend, when human tragedy impinged on the hard carapace of the Premier league, and made us all think again, the Swans get to travel north to face a team and game that could well have consequences for Steve Kean, Blackburn's first year, surprisingly chosen, under-siege Manager.

I, along with several thousand JackArmy regulars, will be travelling to this game from South Wales and elsewhere with a hope that this could be our Club's first Away win in the Division, not least because we are playing well, to both critical and general acclaim. Blackburn Rovers,on the other hand, fans particularly, are unhappy with both their team's management and performance.

There has been evidence of this to all of us, with regular calls for the removal of the manager Steve Kean, and the demonstrations and general disquiet likely to be on Saturday immediately evident if their team begins, in any sense at all, on the back foot against us.

After all, to their eyes, we've just come up from the CCC, and we're the sort of team they really think they "should" be beating. Particularly, given the merits of both team's starts, and the current situation in the Table.

Blackburn Rovers, just like Villa last week, are going through what to many of their faithful is a turbulent phase. Don't forget they are one of four, only, clubs who have ever won the Premier League. Yes, it was when the fear inducing SAS played up front, and Jack Walker's millions merely set the table for the Abramovich/Sheik Mansour era, but it counts none the less.

Since the Venky's takeover of last year however, the Club has not gone on to be a "brand leader" either here, or on the Indian Sub-Continent, however much planned for.

In fact, many supporters have pointed to the new ownership's lack of Football experience, and a lack of communication from Board via Management to Supporters/Fans is still cited.

The first team squad, 38 deep (2 are out on loan , Andrews at Ipswich and Aley at Southport) is not lightweight, by any means.

The two GK's are Paul Robinson, ex-Tottenham and Mark Bunn, who started his career at Northampton in 2005. Robinson has been an England keeper, but lost his national place subsequent to his and Gary Neville's cock-up v Croatia some years back.

He is, nonetheless, a fine shot stopper with a propensity to launch long balls, free kicks etc deep into the heart of the opposition. He bravely won a penalty in the last minute recently, up for a corner. He took a knock, but they scored.

Defenders are listed as Michel Salgado, Gael Givet, Christopher Samba, Ryan Nelsen, Scott Dann, Martin Olsonn, Grant Hanley, Bruno Ribeiro, Myles Anderson and Adam Henley.

Salgado, likely RB and ex-Real Madrid, is at the back end of a stellar career, but retains game nous and savvy in spades.He goes forward well, backwards less so.
At LB we may see Martin Olsonn, the talented Dane, who retains the capacity to play anywhere on the left of the field. A fine dribbler, highly skilled.

The first choice CB's are normally Christopher Samba, the man-mountain Congolese International, and Ryan Nelsen, the long toothed Antipodean Club Captain, injured of late.
Bought in the summer from Birmingham, the highly rated Scott Dann has not yet justified his fee or enhanced his reputation as a CB of note.

Samba, particularly, has an uncanny knack of success in the opponents penalty box when he is thrown forward late in games - wonderful aerially, and a threat from set pieces too. Dann and Nelsen can score goals as well as defend dourly.
Gael Givet from France can play both in the centre of defence and at LB, and again is a dogged defender with bite.

The main defenders listed above are covered by Grant Hanley, Bruno Ribeiro, Myles Anderson and Adam Henley, the young Welshman.

Midfield is chosen from Steven N'Zonzi, a South African ballwinner currently serving a suspension; David Dunn, Mauro Formica, Vince Grella, Morten Gamst Pedersen, Rad Petrovic, Simon Vuckevic, Josh Morris, Jason Lowe, and David "Junior" Hoilett.

Up front they go with Ruben Rochina and Ayegbeni Yakubu. Cover from David Goodwillie and Jason Roberts. Other young pros are listed but unlikely to feature.

Against Cardiff City on Tuesday, in a disappointing Carling Cup Quarter Final, a lot of the extended squad players started in the 2-0 defeat.
Bunn kept goal, with a back 4 of Lowe, Hanley, Dann and Givet.
Midfield was made up of Blackman, Petrovic, Dunn and Pedersen.
Jason Roberts and Goodwillie were up front.

This 4-4-2 is their preferred shape, particularly at home, but like all modern teams they can vary to suit the occasion, and Kean has always had a reputation as an innovative, original coach.

The result has seen Kean claim that they may have "forfeited going through [by losing to Cardiff] and having the chance to reach a cup final," because...... "We have games against sides within touching distance of us in the league. We need to treat those games as cup finals."

That's us, then Steve, eh?

Fans were understandably miffed because he had earlier said....."We have got a good tie and we're scoring goals on the road. We've said all along that we'd like to go all the way and get to the final and try to win the competition."

No confusion then. Back to the players.


Hanley is a young internal graduate from the Academy that also produced Phil Jones, now at Man Utd. Lowe came from their Academy similarly, and he can also play as a holding midfielder.
Blackman is an attacking midfielder cum striker who often plays "in the hole". Originally signed from Macclesfield in 2009.

Petrovic, the Serb, and Denmark's Morten Gamst Pedersen, are both regulars for their countries, and the left footed Dane packs an excellent free-kick. (+ recently,a highly contentious occasional corner-kick routine).

Formica is an Argentine playmaker in the No 10 tradition of South American teams. David Dunn, an England cap, although reputedly and evidently injury prone can influence games all over the field with his advanced all round skills.

Jason Roberts, the striker, has had a strong career. A "British" type centre forward, he contrasts with the young Scot, Goodwillie, signed from Dundee Utd specifically for goals and sharp fox-in-the-box tendencies. Now capped by Scotland, he scored for Rovers on his debut.

I'd like to highlight 3 more players particularly.

David Hoilett, the Canadian youngster, is extremely talented :- one who attacks with verve, skill and energy. Securing a first team place with a terrific 2011 campaign, he scored last year's goal-of-the-season at a West Brom win which was also his first PL goal.

Reuben Rochina was seen a coup signing, from Barcelona, in Jan 2011, where his appearances for the Catalans' "B" side had gained him Spanish U19 honours.

Finally, there's the Yak. The much travelled Yakubu Ayegbeni seems to have been around for ages (with consequent discussion of his real age), but at every one of his Clubs, Maccabi Haifa, Everton, Portsmouth, Middlesbrough, Leicester City (loan), he has ALWAYS scored goals. The Nigerian sometimes looks as wide as he's tall, but whilst less mobile than previously, his skill levels and slipperiness have not diminished.

Having won only once in 13 PL starts, Blackburn will be under some pressure. During that Carling Cup loss at the Cardiff City Stadium, their long-suffering fans again were chanting their "Kean Out" and "You don't know what you're doing" which must have been galling and hurtful to the players.

Can we, however, exploitative as it may seem, take advantage of this? We Swans will hope so.

After last week's heartwarming efforts from both our Team and our Fans, we have lost Angel Rangel to ankle-gah. Danny Graham also sustained foot-twang from one of many Villa players late tackling-oomph. That's my opinion anyway.

The debate seems to be who will cover for Rangel.

Jazz Richards stepped up admirably, and after a slightly wobbly first five minutes, did well to keep Agbonlahor generally in check. Graham's fitness will no doubt be assessed this week, but I thought Lita did add something slightly different when he came on to replace DG, carving 2 opportunities for himself. I guess then at a 1-for-1 re DG and LL, and given Brendan's trust in his players, Jazz to continue at RB.

Another point.

Villa, as we saw, did at times try to bully our Midfield. Kemy Agustien is obviously a muscular option, maybe remedy.The make up of the Subs will also be key.

Again, at the end of the day, our Manager and Coaching team continue to show us their greatly appreciated efforts to get it right.That's not just blind loyalty by me. I'd rather call it a realisation that the trust we have as fans and supporters is being both appreciated and well used.

We will be in good voice. The JackArmy always are. And on Saturday, at Ewood park, I'll be an equally proud member of it.

Onwards, Swansea City.

# I look forward to seeing as many JackArmy friends at a couple of Hostelries suggested pre-game.

Match Report Swansea City v Aston Villa : Liberty Stadium : 27 .11 .11

A sad,sad day at the Liberty.

We'll none of us forget the date.

A genuinely human tragedy overtook the fans turning up to watch this game.

Gary Speed, the young Wales Football Manager but more importantly, a husband and father, and massively respected decent human being, was found dead this morning. My sympathies, ALL our sympathies, are given to his family and friends. It will be little consolation to them, but it feels right to offer it anyway.

I've thought seriously about whether I ought to be writing this, but on reflection I felt it would be more honest to just front it up and put down briefly how I feel. You'll know why.

I'd planned to open the report with something light but things have changed.

In fact, in my preparatory rough work I'd even written some words. But it did, and still does, feel wrong.

On days like yesterday and today, those were not the feelings and emotions we were subjected to, not really. Our feelings matter little in comparison to those of his family and friends, and I repeat, we can only offer them our deepest respect and condolences.

Anyone reading this, if they care, knows exactly what I mean. Here was a Premier League game we had spent the week looking forward to, and as it turned out, it didn't REALLY matter.

After hearing the news of Gary's untimely death I didn't really care whether we won or lost. It didn't seem that important. To either me or the supporters of both teams who'd turned up in their thousands. It still feels like that now. I suspect I'm not alone in feeling that way.

If we did and do feel like that, imagine what it was like for the players in this game. Awful, sad...who knows. I certainly don't.

From a personal point of view, I got to know the news from whispers on the West Lower concourse and confirmation from the Sky Sports News TV feeds which flashed up the stark statement of facts from the Welsh FA at about 12.30, on a cruelly sunlit day.
It seems like ages ago, now.

I made my way to our Lower West seats, where, for many people, the first confirmation of the news came from Kevin Johns, Swans in-house Match Announcer, both reading the stark facts and asking both sets of supporters to honour a Minute's Silence in remembrance of Gary, along with both sets of players, prior to kick-off.

Many will have seen that the Minute's Silence turned, spontaneously, into a Minute's Applause from all present, and it did the game, the gesture, the memory, and everyone there proud that it was respected in such exemplary fashion.

The last thing you need to read about this game is a minute-by-minute report of the action so I'll reserve my opinions to these.

The game was, unsurprisingly, a very muted affair, generally with the Swans on top in the first half but Villa more generally dangerous in the second.
Swansea were neat in possession, but failed to carve any clearcut chances until when twice, late in the game, Leroy Lita (on for an injured Danny Graham), firstly rolled his marker but put his shot wide of the diving Shay Given's left hand post, and again had Given save his one-on-one well. The keeper had been in tears before the game. He was but one of many.
Swansea also lost Rangel to injury, and my only complaint was I felt Villa did, on occasion, "leave a foot in."
The visitors also created a couple of second half chances through Agbonlahor, saved by Vorm, and Herd, headed wide. Enough.

On such a sad day, it feels right to leave any further comments to people more eloquent than I.

As Adele once tragically, sadly, said in song,...
"I wish nothing but the best for you."


RIP Gary Speed.

Saturday Afternoons..........when you're playing tomorrow.

You know the feeling- it's a long,long day- that's when your club is playing tomorrow, Sunday, but in the meantime there is a full program of games today.

What do you do ?

Well, if you're anything like me I guess you'll take in all the football that you can, starting from Net, Newspapers, TV, anything.........leading to of all sorts and a hopefully rewarding MOTD/Championship show even, before you crash into bed.

Meawhile, having spent the afternoon with the bucolic (SO NOT) Jeff Stelling and his fantasmagorical crew on Sky Sports' Gillette Soccer Saturday, heart-failure may well be included.

How is it it possible for one Broadcaster, with a motley crew of ex-Footballer Monitor watchers, to engage you so? Because you know they do.

Take this afternoon for instance.

Jeff and the boys, on this occasion Matt Le Tissier, Paul Merson, Phil Thomson, Charlie Nicholas and crew, with their posse of in-game, at match, often gasping reporters managed to keep us on the edge of our chairs.

The skill in the program would appear to be the ability to keep us interested throughout the show, even in those moments when a great deal doesn't appear to be going on, and get us through to the close of games, where, whatever your allegiance, you can't help but be excited as the score changes from match to reported match, and things get more tense by the minute.

Eventually, they sum up, with the pertinent reports and post match interviews that'll form the basis of tomorrow's written press headline. Good stuff, indeed.

So at 5.30pm, I get to switch to ESPN's in-house coverage of Arsenal v Fulham. Let's see how it goes .And that's a very interesting 1-1 draw. Football First, MOTD, with a diversion via "The Killing". Gotta' keep a bit of perspective.


Swans tomorrow, with a full game report Sunday Evening/ Monday Morning.

Swansea City v Aston Villa. 27 11 11 at the Liberty Stadium

Preview

Aston Villa, by the standards they've set in recent years, are currently experiencing a worryingly turbulent patch which for many of their supporters is at least connected to their employment of current Manager Alex McLeish as the successor to the health-afflicted Gerard Houllier.

He in his turn had previously taken over from Martin O'Neill, the well regarded and successful gaffer of that earlier stable period.

The fact that McLeish's appointment came in controversial circumstances, (depressingly familiar nowadays in the Premier League), was mainly due to the fact that he came to them from Birmingham City , Villa's historical BlueNose rivals from just down the road.

It was also, in part, from his reputation for stodgy defensively minded football. Their results this season suggest that the Villa Park critics of "Big 'Eck" may have a point, with Randy Lerner, their enlightened (comparatively) Billionaire American owner for once taking what they believe to have been a rare wrong turn.

After all, since his taking control of Villa in 2006 for a reported £62.6 Million, the previous owner of the MBNA Corporation prior to his sale of same to the American Bank for £35 Billion, has generally been considered a sympathetic, almost philanthropic owner, with a genuine feel for the History of one of English Football's Iconic clubs.

The fantastic upgrading of Villa Park and the refurbishment of the Holte Pub are just 2 examples of supporter friendly initiatives. These sorts of schemes, coupled with O'Neill's achievements, including 3 successive top 6 finishes, have given their fan base an expectation of excellence, and the current management team a lot to live up to.


The Playing Squad.

The ultimate success of course of any team is it's performance on the pitch, and Villa can still boast a squad that has both youth and experience, strength in depth, and no small number of International and Premiership level players.

Despite losing Brad Friedel to Tottenham, the GK was replaced By Shay Given, the RoI's record cap-winner, long considered even now at 35 one of the Division's best shot-stoppers.
He is covered by the American International Brad Guzan. Also on the books is the experienced Englishman Andy Marshall.

Defensively Villa are solid with a reputation for set piece excellence at both ends of the pitch. In their most recent game, a disappointing 2-0 reversal at Tottenham, they went with a back 4 of Carlos Cuellar, James Collins, Richard Dunne and Stephen Warnock.

Cuellar, the Spaniard, is a CB by trade, strong in the air, but vulnerable to pace. Warnock, at LB, ex-Liverpool and England, is again occasionally caught out of position, but this is often because he can be a real asset going forward, and shoots and crosses well.

Dunne and Collins, Captain of the RoI and a familiar Welsh International are an established, experienced partnership.

Dunne can be inspirational for them, a real "roll your sleeves up" player who always "puts in a shift". Collins is Collins. Most of us have seen him often enough for Wales.
He can score from late runs on the end of free kicks, losing his marker.This is also his (defensive) vulnerability.

Other defenders include Alan Hutton, the Scottish International marauding RB (who played in front of Cuellar at Spurs to try to negate Gareth Bale- it failed) : Ciaran Clark, a talented young CB : Eric Lichaj, the American FB: Shane Lowry, an Irish/Australian youngster, and Nathan Baker, another young Academy graduate and LFB/CB and English to boot.

I'll come back to Villa's Academy, which has a fine reputation.

In Midfield they are likely to pick from Stephen Ireland, Jermaine Jenas, Charles N'Zogbia, Marc Allbrighton, Fabian Delph, Stiliyan Petrov, Barry Bannon and Chris Herd.

That is one talented bunch, capable both of creativity and highly competitive endeavour.

Bulgaria's captain, Petrov, has reinvented himself from an attacking midfielder to a defensive holder, but still retains both the experience and talent to score regularly.

N'Zogbia, the big money buy from Wigan, has not quite clicked seamlessly into the team but remains an intense talent and a wonderful dribbler - again, one that can score great goals.

Jenas, on loan from Tottenham is a seasoned International of good energy, a sort of Darren Pratley plus a bit. A big bit, no disrespect to Prats.

Allbrighton is a pacey widester (mainly right) who also shoots and crosses well.

Chris Herd and Barry Bannon, fellow graduates again have been rewarded by Herd's regular inclusion as a midfield enforcer/creator and Bannon, the skillful Left footed schemer being capped by Scotland recently. He can shoot, too. Rather well.

Fabian Delph is a hard tackling, highly rated box to box midfielder signed from Dirty Leeds a couple of years ago but still to have a breakout season for them.

Stephen Ireland remains an enigma.
Capable of brilliance and domination, the ex Man City player of the season is again one who has never quite really lived up to that high standard for Villa. He can drift in and out of games, often to great effect, often to no effect whatever. Dangerous, still.

Up front, they generally choose from 5, dependent on McLeish's inclination to switch from 4-4-2 to 4-5-1.

Darren Bent, the main goalscorer, is probably Fabio Capello's current first choice for England. He has fabulous PL goalscoring numbers which started in his Charlton days and have taken in both Sunderland and Tottenham, where, according to 'Arry's famous quote he once missed a chance that "Sandra (Redknapp-Mrs 'Arry) would have scored".
This one.
An out and out box-sniffer, goal-poacher, call him what you will- he generally gets 20+ per season.

The second main forward is Gabby Agbonlahor, who seems this year to have muscled up. Immensely strong, blisteringly fast, another scorer of "cracking" goals, he will also run all day for the side. And then some.

Sometimes in the team, sometimes out of the team, English Football's "How many caps?" guy, Emile Ivanhoe Heskey, is still muscularly plying his trade and weaving his lonely furrow. McLeish saw fit to use him in a wide left berth at Tottenham, redolent of Sven's use for England some years ago, and to equal effect- ie, minimal. Still, players who play with him are never less than grateful if only for taking the spotlight and flak off them.

They are covered by Nathan Delfouneso, the again quick England U21 player and goalscorer, and Andreas Weimann, yet another 19yr old Austrian Villa Academy graduate.

That Academy then.

Very highly regarded, Villa's Academy, run by the excellent Kevin McDonald, coached too by Gordon Cowans, continues to produce. There are at least nine graduates in the squad described above. Let's hope that one day we can produce at that level.

Since the loss of James Milner, Stewart Downing , Gareth Barry and the pacey Ashley Young in recent years Villa are still able to feed in quality youngsters.

Tempted away by the 2 Manchester giants and Liverpool, these four players perhaps give a clue to how top modern Internationals view both their own place in the scheme of things and in-game perceptions of Villa's status. Not quite as "big" as their eventual destination Clubs, Villa have struggled to keep their ambitious talents.

Nevertheless, this IS a Club that can proudly boast a European Cup victory, League Titles and FA Cup Final wins, earlier versions of the Carling Cup too, and a reputation as a founding member of the Football League that is hard to match.
There are others with a more illustrious past, but not many.

Tactically, as I've suggested, Villa's shape tends to be a "horses for courses" approach that principally veers from 4-4-2 to a 4-3-3 and it's variants, including a "diamond" 4-2-3-1 in some games. Given the horrendous Press they received from what has generally been considered a poor performance at Tottenham, I would guess that McLeish sees us as an opportunity to be slightly more attacking this time around. Having seen his Birmingham line ups in past days however, my gut feeling is that he'll be loath to abandon a smash-and-grab, tight defence, set piece centric mindset.

For all of my suggestion of a slightly rocky present, we Swans should have no doubt that we're in for a very hard game. I've not included in this piece any mention of how we will set up.

The key for us last week turned out to be BR's brave decision to replace Wayne Routledge with Joe Allen, a decision SAF no less highlighted in this piece from Tuesday's Guardian when he said this ........"We dominated the game in the first half and they made a really good change at half time, they brought on a more recognised midfield player and started to get stuck in and win more possession,....".

I suspect therefore that there may be not that many changes for us. We are playing well, but it remains to be seen whether a different game, and another difficult opponent, drives us to get back on track with a home win.

If Steven Caulker is fit, he may get a bench spot, although he didn't play in the Reserves 1-1 draw with Chelsea at Cobham on Monday. Similarly Kemy Agustien, who did play in that game, for maybe a muscular late game option.

I'm pretty confident anyway that our excellent Manager, BR will do what he thinks is the right thing and this Sunday, as part of Sky's Super Sunday early broadcast, we'll get to enjoy another fantastic Premiership day - as we did last week against Man Utd- but this time, with the result in our favour!

Onward Swansea City.

Swansea City v Man Utd Liberty Stadium 19 11 11

A view from me, and another from some sections
of the Media..........
.....or..... Danger- Bland Bastards at "work".

This was the one we'd all been waiting for.

In a seemingly endless week, perked and peaked by the increasing Media hype, what we got was "one hell of a Football match."

"Sir Alex Ferguson, Matt Busby, Paul Scholes, Roy Keane, Wilf McGuiness, Eamonn Holmes, Terry Christian, Angus Deayton...........your bhoys took one hell of a beating"....as a Norwegian Commentator once (almost) memorably said.

Or not quite, as the case turned out to be.

At Swansea's slick Liberty Stadium, following a brilliantly sunny afternoon, the Premier League's champions came to town. I'd spent much of the week thinking "..what if?" and "....but then" and a million other things. Here was the reality. The sides lined up as follows.......

Swansea
01 Vorm, 02 Williams, 03 Taylor, 16 Monk, 22 Rangel, 07 Britton, 11 Sinclair, 12 Dyer,
15 Routledge, (Allen 46) 27 Gower, (Dobbie 79), 10 Graham

Substitutes
25 Tremmel, 44 Moras, 24 Allen, 29 Richards, 14 Dobbie, 18 Lita, 19 Moore

Man Utd
01 De Gea, 03 Evra, (yellow card) (Fabio Da Silva 51), 04 Jones, 05 Ferdinand, 15 Vidic,
11 Giggs, (Fletcher 76) 13 Park Ji-Sung, 16 Carrick, 17 Nani, 10 Rooney, 14 Hernandez (Valencia 84)

Substitutes
34 Lindegaard, 06 Evans, 20 Fabio Da Silva, 18 Young, 24 Fletcher, 25 Valencia, 09 Berbatov

........which only went to confirm Utd's strength in depth and our stability. Joe Allen, subject of an injury scare midweek was replaced by Wayne Routledge with Scott Sinclair going wide.

We were the feature game on ESPN in the 5.30 teatime slot; Utd TV's in house cameras were also in attendance, and the Press and Media generally were ALL there for the Liberty's first live broadcast of the season, and the house was in good voice.
It buzzed, hummed, rocked......(please insert your own appropriate word). Even Only Men Aloud, throats duly lozenged, regaled the crowd pre game from a West Stand touchline spot.

Ah, the Media.

It has been a pleasure this year for many of us Swans to have at last some of the Media recognise us for what we are - a decent football team operating on a realistic budget in the madhouse of modern football.
It's good to be praised for playing the game in a style that's more recognisable as coming from the Barcelona rather than Stoke model.
Unfortunately, it also means we get to suffer from lazy journalism of the "just like Blackpool" type. Condescending, insulting even, and just plain wrong.
I'll come back to this later, it'll help explain the subheading at the start.

Swansea began, as Brendan Rodgers pointed out later, a little muted, almost "in respect" of their lofty opponents.

Pressed high up the field by SAF's use of Hernandez and Rooney particularly to close down and harry our construction from the back, the tactic led to what turned out to be the game's only goal.

After 11 minutes, Rangel's inside ball was intercepted just outside the area and the rapid Giggs made good progress to the byline to cross into the six yard box and see Hernandez, tigerishly quick, turn it in. From collection of ball to back of net took less than 10secs.

That's the hard truth that we are learning. Mistakes are, more often than not, inevitably punished more harshly at this level.
To be fair to Brendan, his after match interview confirmed for me the measure of the man where he said if there was any blame, it was to be directed at HIM because he's the one who asks the players to play it this way, to play out from the back.

Thank goodness there are enlightened people of his ilk in football, rather than the dross I heard later from supposed "expert pundits" who talked of "putting it in Row Z".
NO, Hansen (for it's you)- maybe you should be sitting there instead of on your fat arse on that plush MOTD sofa with the King of Saying Nothing, Alan Shearer, with the discussion led by Gary "I do Crisps and Golf too" Lineker.
So that's where the License Fee goes!

Back to the game.

After conceding, Swansea began to get to terms with the game, and as the half wore on, visibly grew in confidence - so much so that when Routledge crossed/shot from the right Scott Sinclair had only to sidefoot into a gaping net only to stumble his contact and almost air-shot the chance.

That United kept the lead owed much to decent Swansea competition allied however by our failure to get Routledge fully functional as the furthest forward midfielder and the subsequent weakish link to the hard working Danny Graham.

For the second half, BR replaced Routledge with Joey Allen, and the Welshman began to make the Swans tick properly.
Far more competitive and constructive now, Swansea created several decent opportunities throughout the half. Nathan Dyer continued to test Evra, to the extent that the already booked French International was subbed fairly early in the half by Fabio de Silva.

Sinclair's shot had been well saved by De Gea and now Vidic was forced to make several blocks and headers in clearance of danger. Carrick made an equally important block from DG but the game had a compelling ebb and flow from two teams showing excellent ball control, adventurous and classy tempo and a willingness to play modern, open football.
And it's this that the more enlightened commentators and pundits have highlighted.

United's only clearcut opportunities came in the last 10mins. - Phil Jones' cross shot from the right was feathered onto the far post by Vorm, and Luis Nani, similarly denied from the left with a curler again, left handedly this time, fingertipped wide. On neither occasion did the Ref award a corner,which tells you as much about the pace of the game as anything. United held their lead to the end, but Swansea had given them a genuine football test, as several of the United players have commented.

So, in summary, what did the game tell us? A great deal, once again.

This division continues to provide the ultimate test.
Our start maybe reveals that we can be guilty of paying "big" opponents too much early respect. That mistakes, at both ends of the pitch, can be seemingly disproportionately disastrous.
That we have the ability to compete at the highest level because SAF's team more resembled one he would send out in Wolfsburg rather than Wigan.
And, most importantly, we are in for an exciting, hopefully rewarding year.

As for the Broadcasters, well, here's a few observations.

Since it was the ESPN game, I've been unable to watch it on a Football First basis (ie a more than decent chunk of highlights). I am, however, reliably informed that Chris Waddle was in his full spoonerish (pelanty=penalty) form, confirming the TOWIG image he's capable of.

I intend to write to MOTD, not that it's likely to achieve anything other than make me feel better.
I realise on a highlights show we're never gonna' get a truly accurate reflection of a full game but when you consider that for lots of people nationwide it'll be their only view of us this week it surely deserves better than we're getting.
It's available on the BBC iPlayer from tonight. Watch it and weep.

Limited time I accept. Ignorant, bombastic and lazy punditry I do NOT.
We all HATE the "just like 'ickle Blackpool" comments dropped into the discourse.
WE ARE NOT. WE ARE DIFFERENT.

And as for Alan Hansen's troglodyte "can't play out from the back- put it in Row Z", surely his Editor can sit him down and demand that for £40,000 per week he could do some research. Like WATCHING us , for a start.

Time for a MOTD cull, methinks. How about putting the Sunday sister-show on Saturday and employing some decent journalists.
Try the Monday Night Club football team from Radio5 7pm.

I've just watched the Goals on Sunday crew and at least Ben Shepherd, Kammy and guest Teddy Sheringham know what they're talking about. Realistic, intelligent analysis from the very same highlights.

I look forward to MOTD2 tonight. C'mon Lee Dixon, don't let me down. And Colin Murray - more highlights on the screen rather than your hair, please.

Coming soon.....

Nearly got a Match Report/Comment thingy on yesterday ready. Will be posted by 7/8 ish tonight.

Deja Vu....Wolves Res haunt Swansea City, just as their first team did.

Deja vu, eh.
At Parc-y-Sgarlets, on a horrible "drizzle that gets through your outer coat and is slightly foggy as well" night, Swansea City's Reserves served up a performance that was redolent of the Senior Team's efforts some weeks back at Molineux.

In other words, they dominated a game for 75mins, playing their young opponents off the park, and then proceeded to commit hara-kiri +1.

Not only did they allow the Wolves back from 2-0 to 2-2, they only went and conceded a winner.In the 93rd minute. Ouch, ouch and double ouch.

When the winner hit the back of the net I got a strange feeling - d'you know that moment in "The Sixth Sense" when you realise that Haley Joel Osment does indeed "see dead people" and Bruce Willis, for all his great bloke shtick is just Toast, Baby. It's like a slap across the chops with a wet fish. Jaw dropping, stomach churning, collective groaning Swansea City result.

The truth of the matter is this. Throughout the first half the Swans, at first slowly and then increasingly often and regularly, created chance after chance after chance. That they took 2, through Luke Moore and Steven Dobbie, was good. That they missed at least 4 more, through Dobbie, Orlandi, Cotterell and Moore was frustrating in the extreme.

So they turned around, and gradually, persistently, Wolves got on top. So much so that when Kemy Agustien, who had muscularly shown advantage, was withdrawn (maybe to save him for Saturday), the Swans lost control.

Their first goal came on 75m, the equaliser on 89m, the winner on 93m. For the last half hour, their youth pressed our more experienced side further and further back. I couldn't say they didn't deserve it.My two compadres, Keith and Nick, one on each side of me, both made valid and pertinent comments. "Uh,oh, this looks familiar" and "They look the better side."

It did, and they were.

We all 3 felt as we had on that sunny Molineux day. Gutted.

The days in-between.

So here we are at Monday night.

We're all waiting for Saturday really.

I've written, published, about the Blank Weekend.
I've considered,completed and am about to post, a preview of the Swans v Man Utd game this coming Saturday.

It'll be up on here Wednesday morning for reasons it's too difficult to explain.Call it timing, if you will.

Oh, dear, what next??

I dislike the spaces in-between. The fact that life has to go on in the gaps to Saturday.
That may be because your life has a deal more interest than mine , currently.

But IT DOESN'T MAKE IT GO ANY QUICKER.

Any sympathies offered are gracefully accepted.
Any smirking "what a load of bollocks" comments are headed for the round file.
That's the bin.
Don't tell me I'm a sad sack, I know that.

That's why I write, innit?

Well, maybe.

After all, we're all killing time in one sense or another.
Aren't we??
Enough of this quasi-philosophical bullshit.....let's get onto some Football discussion ; there's been plenty of that to keep us amused and interested.

On said Blank Weekend for instance, England played Spain at Wembley, and won.
Wales played Norway at the CCS, and STILL won.
And Eye-er-land did indeed confound Cheese-Murnkey braggadoccio by winning, too, in Estonia.
To keep the cat, as Trap would have it, "steel een baaag".

That's right, England, with 29% possession against Spain 71% managed to win 1-0. With a set piece goal.
Clue No 1.
They defended in depth, committedely and frantically: some said they "parked the bus".
Clue No 2.
Finally, did Spain have an air of "Who gives a fuck?" about them, or was that just my mistaken perception ?

In the Welsh game, Speed's side gave the lie to that commentators stand-by of "It's all about Bale, Bellamy and Ramsey".
It's NOT you lazy people.
Matthews, Williams, Blake, Croft, Joey Allen, Morison and the rest proved that it's about the team, stupid.
In spades.

And in the stag capital of the Western World, Tallin, the Republic went 4-0 up in a first leg that showed the value of preparation.
Trappatoni, having been everywhere, was going nowhere but his stated aim - solidarity, structure and safety first.
Estonia, frustrated by this, committed the cardinal sin - overpressing - allowing Robbie Keane and his LA compadres (in spirit) to thrive.

Doncha' just love it. I do.

Preview. Swansea City v Man Utd 19 /11/ 11

Well here we go then.

On Saturday, Swansea City host Manchester Utd.
It feels good to write that.

Probably, it's the game most Swans fans and commentators generally will feel that really gives Swansea City the "arrivability" test.

The first time the Premier League Champions have visited the Liberty ; the first occasion when no one will argue that it's a MONSTER Home fixture.

No disrespect to Wigan, Sunderland, West Brom, Stoke or Bolton, and I mean no irony there, Manchester United really are of a somewhat different order. A different level some would say.

After all, they have indeed won the Premier League in 12 out of the 19 seasons since it's inception, along with a host of other successes.
These include Champions League Cup victories, FA and Carling Cup trophies too, and a host of lesser pots.

In some seasons they occasionally "fail". Ha, I feel ashamed I typed that.

Because it's only applicable if you take failure to mean winning nothing other than Sir Alex Ferguson's dislike of "lesser" trophies like the Carling Cup or the beanfeast that is the modern Charity Shield. Meanwhile, they play in the largest Home arena in the Division in front of sell-out crowds and take in pre-season "Tours" to Malaysia and China to open up the Asian Market to their Brand.

Plus there's a question of style - say what you like about our current fashion, and I do, because it's both deserved and wonderful - but they've been THERE too. In style terms I mean.
They may still be a little short of Barcelona's masterful template, but I guess you have to say by not much.

So you can see I'm a little excited, but I'm not overawed. And neither will be OUR team, Swansea City.

This analysis will hope to tease out why that's the case.

From our own perspective, we can sometimes be guilty of what Sid Lowe, the fantastic Brit commentator who writes from his base in Spain quoted from Alfredo Relaño, editor of AS, as saying about England v Spain recently,.......
"Sometimes we play so well with the ball we forget about the other goal. It was like when Diego Maradona said that Spain would be world champions if the goals were at the side of the pitch not the ends."

Sound familiar?

I'll come back to us, later. Firstly, let's have a look at Man Utd in detail.

David de Gea, the Spanish U21 keeper signed from Atletico Madrid for £20m approx, seems not to have SAF's total trust, as of yet. Witness his spirited defence of his young keeper on several occasions, and his use of Anders Lindegaard in selected fixtures. Tested by hopeful long-shots regularly in the Prem after his early season blunders, the young Spaniard has since delivered, but remains a less than physically imposing target, Movemberish facial hair included.

At full back, Patrice Evra, French International and a top performer, is a lock at LB.

On the right, however, since Gary Neville's retirement to the Sky Studios best-pundit Lounge, Rafael and Fabio de Silva, the Brazilian twins, compete with the future England CB's Phil Jones and Chris Smalling, both of whom were probably signed to replace Nemanja Vidic and Rio Ferdinand. Both Jones and Smalling were again big money British buys.

The first choice pairing (Vidic and Rio) could claim to be the Prem's best CB duo of the last 6 years, but age/fitness have reduced Rio to the "...is he fit/unfit? Again?" category and the Serb (who often puts his head where others would fear to tread) more prone to the "Fernando ripped me another one" kind of afternoon that he got in a 4-1 defeat at Old Trafford to Liverpool some seasons ago.

Cover is also provided by Johnny Evans, who continues to confirm his "loaned to Sunderland, once" form. Theatre of Dreams regulars reckon he's not "fit for purpose". Harsh, I know, in judgement of a PL player, but when you set your sights as high as Utd do, there's perhaps a kernel of truth in the criticism.

It's in Midfield though that the comparison with past SAF teams is crucial to their overall effectiveness.
Having lost Paul Scholes' weekly masterclasses, and with Ryan Giggs nowadays a less frequent contributor, the selection options are both intriguing and open to dispute. Nowadays, Christiano Ronaldo light, post his Madrid bound departure, the owner of the most efficient hairdryer in football is forced to perm some from many.

So check this- these are the Midfield options....

Valencia, Park, Anderson, Carrick, Nani, Young, Cleverley, Fletcher, Gibson, Pogba, Giggs.

Not much to choose from there then, eh?

Now however much I might try to suggest that it's not as effective as it used to be, there can be no arguing that it's a talented, international, and tempting assortment. And one that's been generally up to the mark.
Still, I can't help but feel that compared to the dream line up of some years back - Beckham, Keane, Scholes, Giggs - it does lack a little something.

Like true star quality.
It sparkles, yes, but a couple of years ago you might have said you were Blinded by the Light.

Especially when you think, as I do, that it's been at it's most effective when Tom Cleverley, the young Englishman, has been one of the few this season that's made it sing.
And, that in recent weeks, SAF has seen fit to play Wayne Rooney, a World Class No 10 in my eyes, in a supporting role to fill it's capacity.

Still, what do I know. Opinions,it's just about opinions.

Formation wise, SAF has progressed from an out and out 4-4-2. to a more Champions League friendly 4-3-2-1, as he's confirmed that the midfield battle is often where it's won.

And then, up front, they are left with the aforementioned Rooney, the "Little Pea" Hernandez/Chicharito, Danny Wellbeck, Dmitar Berbatov, Michael Owen and the lesser used Federico Macheda and Mama Biram Diouf.

Poor them, left with that lot, eh?

I think you'd have to say that's strong.

England's man-child, Rooney, remains one of the Premier League's outstanding footballers - able to influence many a game by sheer force of will and talent. Javier Hernandez is as prolific as Suarez at Liverpool, and a deal less flighty. Berbatov veers from the sublime to the ridiculous and Wellbeck is forcing Fabio Capello no less to widen HIS circle of opportunity.

Wow. I'm as exhausted thinking about it as I guess most opponents must be.

United's effectiveness is often highlighted by their ability to "win ugly", that concept that however they appear to be playing - well, ordinarily or poorly - they can come up with a win. Plus, they seem to have the almost magic ability to score in "Fergie Time"...ie late in the game, just when you thought it's safe to go in the water. Cue "Jaws" music.

As Swans fans you know how much we love those late game flourishes where the opposition slings the kitchen sink, often aerially, at us. I'd dearly love to be in that situation Saturday, if only because it'll probably mean that we're in front.
And MAY stay there. After all, Burnley did.

This brings us to what I think their line-up might be. I'm going to be greedy and hope that SAF sees us as another game where he might tinker and put out a line-up that's not his strongest possible, but is still one he thinks can win.

So, we might get Lindegaard, Fabio, Smalling, Evans, Evra, Valencia, Carrick, Anderson, Park, Berbatov, Owen/Macheda .

That's bloody strong. It might well win/draw. I hope not.

I'd hate to see De Gea, Smalling/Jones,Vidic, Ferdinand, Evra, Nani, Cleverley, Fletcher, Giggs, Young, Rooney.

I think the my second guess is stronger than my first.
On Saturday we will get to see.

As for us Swans, I suspect it'll be no change from Liverpool, apart from a straight swap of Scott Sinclair for Wayne Routledge which would be harsh on Wayne particularly as he played so well at Liverpool.

Steven Caulker maybe on the bench?

We will hope that Ashley Williams and Joe Allen return from the excellent Wales win versus Norway in good shape and continuing their fine form. That Neil Taylor is over his ankle-twang , and Michel Vorm continues his wonderful starts, attesting to being the buy of the season.

Can Nathan Dyer, our very own buzz-fly torment Evra ? Can Scott Sinclair and Danny Graham continue to score Premiership goals against some of the League's finest.

Who knows.

Whatever, I am confident that Brendan Rodgers' team will be the one that he thinks can win.

Even against Manchester United.

Let's be honest - these really are very good days that make us puff out our chests with pride.
We are ESPN's feature match in the 5.20pm Saturday evening slot.

At the Liberty. Roll on. Can't wait.

# As I write this I read that Michael Owen is sidelined for 6 weeks due to some thigh muscle-gah.

Coming soon...............

Having sat through a notorious non-club weekend, as we Swans have and are, I thought it might be interesting to do a preview of our upcoming fixture with Manchester United. It's done. I'll post it on Wednesday. See you then.

It's another (FIFA-designated) "Blank Weekend".Help!

It's early November. Your team is a satisfying 10th in the premier League.

You've just played Liverpool, at Anfield, and because of the outcome, which was a thrilling (genuinely) 0-0 draw in which they performed well enough to get clapped off by the Liverpool fans, you're feeling pretty good.

So, who's up next? It's only Manchester United, the Premier League Champions in 12 of the 19 seasons since its inception.

And that's on the 19th of November, a week later than the coming Saturday.

How's that then? What happens in between?

Well, if I were to whisper FIFA into your ear, you'd either punch my lights out, or shrug, dismissively - you know, like that cool thing that Gallic Actors do (Gerard Depardieu, Alain Delon)- with a Gaullois or Gites Bleu dangling from their lips.
Then you'd mumble something like "Sepp Blatter" in response, and I'd know EXACTLY the problem. Because Saturday 12th November is a FIFA designated International weekend with it's very own Poppy controversy , which I'll come back to , included.

Hang on a minute, isn't that the 3rd one we've had this season??

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think it is.

I recall the last one as I wrote about it , and I recall the one before (delaying the start of the season): very early, whatever.
In fact August's Premier League start was a week behind, as I've said. Isn't this just a little excessive?

To be fair to FIFA -now there's a phrase you won't see written very often- it's designated this break to allow the remaining EURO 2012 qualification "best runners up" from the Groups to play the 4 matches that produce the final 4 qualifying teams for that competition. For South American teams there are fixtures of equal importance. In Europe, thus, we get Turkey v Croatia, Estonia v ROI, Czech Rep v Montenegro and Bosnia/Herzogovina v Portugal as the 4 most important games on Friday 11th , with the return legs on Tuesday 15th .

At the same time, most other International teams have arranged Friendly fixtures of varying interest to coincide.

I know, I know, it's the same in every country - it's just that since our elevation to the Premier League it's never REALLY affected us that much before has it? That's my gut feeling anyway. It's the first season for us though as we all know in this division,and, with the whole program delayed just when we seem to be in good rhythm, I worry about any loss of momentum.

Don't get me wrong, I LOVE where we are and why, it's just frustrating as hell to miss a routine that we're just about becoming used to.

The most obvious comparison is with last year. A calendar year previously, we, as members of the Coca Cola Championship, had played 16 games, as have this year's Championship sides, and were settling in to the schedule of Sat/Wed, Sat/Tue, Sat games. Twice (usually) weekly, and building, as fans and team, a compelling tempo.

I genuinely believe that momentum and tempo, both within games and over weeks within seasons, play no small part in the success or not of both individual players and the clubs they represent.

Witness Newcastle Utd currently. They sit 3rd in the Premier League, undefeated so far, and one of the reasons suggested is that they've been able to field the whole back 5 virtually unchanged. Two or 3 other players have been ever present too.
Yes, I realise that if you look at Man City for example, who rotate their players on a more regular basis, it seems to argue against this. I'd suggest, however, that they're extending the "regularity concept" by both having a wider and deeper basic pool of players, and that's without beginning to describe the quality of squad.
We'd all surely agree that Signor Mancini does have a big pond filled with some very,very big fish.
Brendan is choosing from a slightly smaller aquarium, and, doing it rather well.

That's why it's the case that with a number of our players chosen to represent their countries (proudly) in these Internationals, our squad depth is bound to be tested.

For example, the Wales U21 squad includes 5 Swans (Daniel Alfei, Joe Walsh, Lee Lucas, David Cornell and Captain Jazz Richards). The Senior Squad has Ashley Williams, Joe Allen, Neil Taylor selected and David Cotterell on stand-by. Michel Vorm and Scott Sinclair too are away with their country. Although this fine representation brings pride to us as a club, it is sure to test Brendan Rodgers calmness. He'll be hoping, as are we, that they all come back next week injury free.

So,to the games themselves. What do we get for our slavering delectation - our "Football Fix" as it were. What can we sniff, snort, smoke, snaffle (metaphorically, not literally) into our Soccer synapses via Sky Sports, specially.

If I had to pick one match (or tie) that I'm really looking forward to it's the EURO play off game between Bosnia/Hertzogovina and Portugal. Why? Well, I'd love to see Bosnia, a country like Wales always looked down on, with both Dzeko and Pjanic likely to play, put one over on Portugal, who nowadays more and more resemble the shop window of a team designed to highlight that prancing pony, Christiano Ronaldo.

Elsewhere, can the Republic of Ireland claim some karmic revenge for the Thierry Henry handball which did for them in their last play-off game?

Wales take on Norway on Saturday in a friendly with Gary Speed looking for his team to confirm the improvement of their last 3 games. Take good care of our players please Gary. Brian Flynn's Welsh U 21's have a difficult Qualifying visit to Armenia on Tuesday. You too, Brian.

And finally, to return to the Poppies. England, as we can't fail to have noticed given the hysteria and hyperbole served up by the Tabloid press (and parliament even) are due to play 2 friendlies- against World Champion Spain on Saturday and Sweden in the week. The hullaballoo over their right to wear embroidered poppies on their shirts, to honour the fallen on Armistice Weekend, seems to me to have been whipped up by certain sections of the Media as some sort of attempt to besmirch FIFA (who will not allow it.) I am sad that the enduring dignity of the image of the poppy has been used as some sort of political football. It, and the memory of the fallen, deserves more than that.
The thing that made me most angry about the whole kerfuffle was hearing that two fools from the fascist English Defence League (EDL = now there's an unsavoury bunch ) had been reported on the roof of FIFA Headquarters protesting about poppies with some sort of banner. How dare they? As the Guardian's Richard Williams Tweeted "The whole affair has been an object lesson in how to devalue what was once a dignified tradition."
Here's a more considered opinion .

As I write this, news is just filtering through that FIFA will now allow the England players to wear poppies embroidered onto their black armbands. I learn also that this applies to Wales, too.
I'm glad.

Here's wishing all fellow Swans a happy Blank weekend. Try not to enjoy it too much : don't forget, next weekend Manchester United get to try out the Liberty Stadium's sublime surface. And, wouldn't it be nice to join in a "SWANS will tear you apart" chant.
Now,now, mustn't get ahead of myself.

Anfield - Liverpool v Swansea City 5/11/11

We've been to some iconic stadia already this year - the Emirates, Stamford Bridge, the Etihad included- but none of those exude the shiver that a football fan gets from Liverpool's home venue. Go on, say it, Anfield. All over the footballing planet, people will know where you are. From the timeless vibe of the "This is Anfield" sign that greets the teams as they make their way onto the pitch to the Shankly Gates and Hillsborough Memorial commemorating a real tragedy, this is a ground that makes you proud to be there. History hangs heavy.

Swansea's visit this week came after a comprehensive win over Bolton, whilst the Reds were following a 2-0 win at West Brom. BR went with a team that showed one surprising change with Scott Sinclair, carrying a slight hamstring twang, replaced by Wayne Routledge. On the bench with Sinclair, Kemy Agustien returned. King Kenny Dalgliesh meanwhile continued with £35million Andy Carroll partnering the prolific Luis Suarez up front and Henderson standing in for the injured Gerrard. The Tattoo twins, Skrtel (he of too few vowels) and Agger (doo doo doo -a great Dane?), were at Centreback.

Liverpool: Reina, Johnson, Skrtel, Agger, Jose Enrique, Henderson, Lucas, Adam, Downing, Carroll, Suarez. Subs: Doni, Maxi, Coates, Kuyt, Spearing, Kelly, Bellamy.

Swansea: Vorm, Rangel, Monk, Williams, Taylor, Gower, Britton, Allen, Routledge, Graham, Dyer. Subs: Tremmel, Sinclair, Lita, Moore, Agustien, Richards, Moras.

Early exchanges were lively with Swansea giving as good as they got, particularly in ball retention, but over the period of the half, Liverpool squeezed and battled as Home teams do to emerge the more likely to score.Despite this clear cut control, their only out and out goal chance came when Downing crossed from the left, only for Carroll, clear in the six yard box, to fail to live up to his price tag by hitting the bar when it was easier to score.

Half chances at either end included Routledge for Swansea creating for both Danny Graham and Joe Allen, and Michel Vorm turning aside a sharp Suarez shot and cumbersome but persistent Liverpool pressure.

The Swans continued to compete, with the travelling JackArmy putting the Kop to the test by vocalising support for their own team as an equal, if not better, version than the Home supporters efforts. "Swansea, oh Swansea", "Hymns and Arias", "Swans will tear you apart" (a la Joy Division) rang out, as City knuckled down to contain, but not quite better, Liverpool's efforts.My personal current No 1 is "You've only come to watch the Swans" ringing loud and proud.A good Away following is helpful not only to the team it sings for, but adds to the passionate atmosphere within any ground, as we at the Lib can testify. We have a GREAT Away following. It did its job wonderfully. Watching on my Internet Stream I was glad to see us get to half time, level at 0-0 and, hopefully, Brendan's tweaks able to make us more competitive.

We all know the feeling of twitching, involuntarily, when that last ditch tackle just HAS to be made. Heading every ball (from 200 odd miles away),being afraid to go and make a cup of tea (someone WILL score, probably THEM), and URGING,WILLING,PRAYING for things to go your own team's way.

Fortunately, for me, and us, Brendan delivered. I was not disappointed, because the Swans came out and gave a display of why they deserve to be in this Division.

By again retaining the bulk of possession but with more purpose,from passing and moving and creating, it was possible to see that they were not only comfortable, they might have gone on to win. Joey Allen, Mark Gower and Leon Britton showed, time and again, that they're a Midfield unit that's both clever and effective. Their promptings allowed Dyer, Routledge and Graham to threaten. A word to the wise.Nathan Dyer, as Swans have seen, can always be both a help to the defence and a real threat going forward. Wayne Routledge confirmed that he,too, is a class act. He had been good in the first half- he was again. DG did his now accepted channel running, helping out defensively, and all but scored when he closed Pepe Reina down.The defence was again solid.(Solid?? at Anfield, to get something,you have to be). Rangel and Taylor linked, passed, tackled and performed to excellent effect. Monk and Williams, under intense pressure, exuded class and defiance. And just when Liverpool thought that they were there, there was Vorm. The Dutch International keeper gave another example of what we've seen so far this season by producing a clutch of outstanding saves. I've said on Twitter- if Steeklenburg is the Dutch No 1 keeper then he must have four arms, because to be better than our keeper he'd have to have an unfair advantage.

Swansea's equivalent opportunity to Carroll's came when Dyer's good cross was headed down by Danny Graham to Mark Gower, six yards out, but his left foot attempt under challenge went wastefully over the bar. We all put heads in hands, Gower included.

It's only fair to say that during this fantastically competitive second half, the 'Pool threw everything at us. I've bigged us up enough above- they were equally inventive and competitive- in fact, the match could fairly be described by that old cliche as being "one of the best 0-0 draws I've seen".

As the clock ticked down, the Merseysiders threw everything at us. Minutes from the end, Dirk Kuyt, on as a sub, headed one home only to be denied- justifiably- by the offside flag of Sian Massey (that's the best Linesperson in the Prem then). Vorm's late saves again held the line, perhaps the best of which was his instinctive parry from another net bound drive that sent the ball rocketing into the stands.What a keeper!

When the final whistle blew, I leaped up shouting "YES! YES! YES!" because this had been, I believe, a performance that not only can we all be proud of, but one which shows people in and around Football that we have a certain something about us.
Call it style, ability, determination, nous, whatever.

I call it all of that.

We are, after all, Swansea City.

##Commentator and Pundit corner.
As a 0-0 draw, we were always going to be the last game on MOTD. That's the way the Beeb operates- goals are generally front loaded for the broadcast. Hansen and Lawro, along with Lineker, this week gave more praise than their previous efforts, including a "...this lot can play". No shit, Sherlock.
Barry Horne, who did the co-commentary on Sky, will always be second rate in my judgement, but even he was forced to concede we were up to the task as the game progressed.
And Kammy and Ben Sheperd were more gracious still on Goals on Sunday this morning- there were no guest pundits due to the early start I suppose. MOTD2 didn't have sufficient time for comments about us. That may be no bad thing if we fly under the radar.

## Next Home game is against Manchester United. Say what you like about them, and I will, at least they'll sell out the away end. Welcome to the Creso i Gymru Stand.

Swansea City : Priorities for a Club promoted to the Premier League.

When our Club was promoted to the Premier League I thought I'd have a go at blogging on a regular basis.Some of you may have read those pieces on here. So via the fantastic scope of the net, I'd also contribute to various Swansea City fansites. My preferred choice was always scfc2

The host of scfc2, Jim White, was courteous enough to both allow me to post links to my blog when I messaged the Guest Book, and the opportunity to write a guest blog on there, my favourite of those Swansea City fan sites. This post is the result. Hopefully, people enjoy reading it. We've all got opinions and experiences through our support of Swansea City.
If anything I write can stimulate debate all the better. Thanks.

When a newly promoted club joins the Premier League, as my club did via the play-offs last May, the last thing on supporters' minds is likely to be the first thing the Board thinks about.....How the hell do we cope with this?

When the celebrations are over, and they can justifiably go on for a long time, the fans attention will be drawn to questions of "When do we play Liverpool/Man Utd/Chelsea/Arsenal" naturally- meanwhile, for a traditionally lesser or smaller Club, which ours is, the football life it's led for most of the recent years is about to change in the most dramatic fashion.

Joy, elation, pride, was unconfined, and deservedly so. Ours was a club that on May 3rd 2003, just 7 years previously, had won a last day fixture against Hull City, 4-2, to guarantee it's very survival.

I can't really put that point strongly enough. Were it not for James Thomas's goals and the performance of a team that included current stalwarts Leon Britton and Alan Tate, coupled with a storyline from the Roy of the Rovers handbook - one that told the tale of the back room and off-field efforts of Supporters (ex-players included) better detailed elsewhere -we might not be here now.

If things had gone differently the Club may not have survived, and we would NOT be where we are today, which is in "the best League in the world" (according to some), and part of a cartel of clubs that can attract sufficient revenue to ensure that very same survival in perpetuity. For ever. Amen to that.

From the day after the historic 4-2 win against the admirable Reading at Wembley on that May day , things got very, very different.

By the way, what is it about us and 4-2's? Our fans will tell you , we do like to do it the hard way.

Let's look briefly at simply the broad brush financial rewards.

For doing things the right way we stand to trade as follows.

The Prem's payment for placement means that should we finish 17th- one above the relegation slots, we will receive £3 million odd. Not bad.

Coupled with that if we've been on TV a lot (live more than recorded) we should stand to make at least £6 million from the Broadcasters.
This seems eminently fair to me, since we're a great deal more attractive to watch than some teams.
But then that's me, not you.

Then there's the Equal Share of £13.8 million for being a Premier League team.
Finally, as a reward to our Asian fans (sic) , we're due approximately £ 17.9.

That's a total of £40.7 million.

You may think I'm deluded and I'm just plucking figures from the air. I'm not. Wolves, who finished 17th last year, made £40.5 million pounds as you can see.


That's just the start. It has always been for me the case that you get what you give.
My side, I think, gives good value for money. We entertain, amongst other things, but then, I may be biased.
So, given the rewards freely offered, what could, or should, be the way we utilise this largesse.

The season, prior to opening, taught us a lesson. The response, from the City, was fantastic.
From a base of 11/12 thousand fans, including 9000 odd season tickets, which made some of us rather proud in the CCC - (Officially the hardest League in Europe to get out of)- going upwards - our Club tried to cope with selling out.
People queued, overnight, amongst other things, to get their hands on the equivalent of a Big Lottery win -a home season ticket - and that was only half of it......wow! - wait until we got to the Away allocation!!

Eventually, the club settled on an Away season ticket scheme with points for attendance on both this and home fixtures- a JackArmy scheme... modelled on, some said, the Villa and Chelsea templates.

So whilst the Club did it's darndest to cope, here we are enjoying/loving our first season in the Premier League.

That was only one small instance of the factors that a smaller club has to take into account on it's leap to the PL. Like many football supporters, I'm a regular reader/contributor to/of the Club's unofficial supporter sites.
A good example of one of the better ones is to be found as I've said at scfc2 .
To all who haven't been there before, welcome, and take a look around. It's always worth a read, and it might give you an inkling of the continuous stream of commitment from just one section of the Swansea faithful.

The debate over our playing strengths continues to this day, and is guaranteed to raise hot air. For me it seems that the Club has continued its principles of steady, cumulative, affordable investment in the playing staff, with further development of our footballing philosophy, to play in a manner that is both attractive and effective.
Long may that be the case, please, and at the end of the season I'll be surprised if that's not enough to keep us in this division.
But hey, I may be wrong, but it won't be from lack of effort from both the staff and players and the majority of supporters.

I say majority because there will always be some who know that Brendan Rodgers and his team have got it wrong,wrong and wrong again. Ask Mick McCarthy at Wolves as we've seen recently.
I really do wonder how those who do object violently (metaphorically speaking) would feel if in their day job a whole posse of people (some of whom might be slightly tipsy) were gathered at their workplace to chant in unison "you don't know what you're doing". Really ??

Anyway,let's move on.

Is it fair to speculate on what might be the longer term outcome of our Premiership adventure, be it fleeting visit or something longer term. You know I'm going to anyway, or I wouldn't be writing this.

Let me start with a contentious word - Legacy.

Ah, Legacy. Now there's a thing.
Ask Lord Seb Coe whether it's that straight forward a concept.
West Ham and Tottenham, not to mention Leyton Orient, might be arguing about this even after the Olympic Games of 2012 have come and gone.
The battle for Premier League status, and any Club's Home stadium, amongst other things, is complex.
Especially when you consider the rewards, and whether that club makes a profit, or loss. Remember the word loss.
We have experience of this.

Here's an interesting quote from a writer discussing Derby County, a club that has seen the trauma of overspending, and was not one of the three promoted clubs in 2011-

" By the way, the size of the loss appears to have little bearing on a team’s chances of success, as the three promoted clubs in 2011 represented all points on the spectrum: QPR made a large loss, but Norwich City only had a small loss, while Swansea City were actually profitable."

Incidentally, I've not mentioned the "£48 million parachute payments over the next four years (£16 million in each of the first two years, and £8 million in each of years three and four " that would come our way were we relegated. Same source.

I'd say that the whole point of being in the Premier League is both to participate in the "World's most exciting League" and to profit from it.
In every sense.
What I mean by this is what follows, and you may, or may not, agree.

A) The Team.

As I've hinted both earlier and elsewhere, Swansea's player acquisitions over the Summer and beyond were done within a structure and pattern that was, amongst other things, affordable.
Never forget that this is a club that was taken to the brink of extinction by financial excess allied with administrative and managerial incompetence.
So in the signing of Danny Graham, Leroy Lita, Wayne Routledge,Steven Caulker (albeit on loan) amongst others, despite again breaking the club's transfer record fee paid for a player, the total outlay came to no more than £ 9 million pounds (reported).
It was also in line with Manager Brendan Rodgers' stated ethos that the club will live within its means.

If you want to delve deeper into Swansea's numbers, I advise a read of the estimable Swiss Ramble.

This seems eminently good sense to me,especially so in a week where Plymouth Argyle stepped back from the brink of oblivion by exiting Administration.
A collection of clubs are still capable of testifying to the foolishness of overspending on playing staff to try to match both some Fan and Director desires/expectations.
Recent and pertinent examples arguably include a list that it's easier to see by just looking at the CCC and League 1 Tables.

Confirmation is given by David O'Leary,the Manager of Leeds at the time of their fall from grace ,a man caught up in an early example of the type of spending spree that's dangerous and has pertinence for us all.
It can be found in this article = "O'Leary hopes lessons can be learned from decline of Leeds "

Despite these numerous examples of how NOT to do it, and positive patterns in the success of Stoke City, Wolves, Wigan, West Brom - who could all argue Premier League status on a semi-permanent basis, this isn't good enough for a vocal minority of our own supporters.
In this camp the argument starts from (reasonably enough they would say) that old saw that one MUST "speculate to accumulate".
In other words, bet to win.
Or lose. Big time.
Notice that nobody ever puts it that way though, and a moments reflection will tell you why.
Roman Abramovich, Sheik Mansour and their ilk are few and far between, and tend not to look outside a very very small circle of opportunity.

Take Everton FC, a long established Premiership Club that has been on the market for some years and still has major financial issues -
"Everton have effectively been on the market for many years, but the chairman Bill Kenwright has so far failed to attract the new investment that the club so badly needs."

Huw Jenkins, our Chairman, and his Board, think differently.

That's why I hope to see the club continue it's planned, phased development of the team.
It may, or may not, be good enough to keep us in this division and help us move into the bracket of a more secure residency in the EPL (sic).
In the meantime we get to watch a brand of football and opponent that at least 72 other professional teams would die for.
As do, and would, we.
So what else can we hope for?

B) Training Ground/Club Complex

This is the Guardian's David Conn on the plans of Manchester City..........

" The 80-acre, £100m-plus training "campus", plans for which City unveiled in September, represents more than England's most extravagant facilities. The complex is a statement of Mansour's commitment, central to City's ambitions, and key to complying with Uefa's rules, by aiming to develop young talent, rather than buy it.
The plans, developed after City's project managers travelled to Europe and the US to scout the facilities of other top clubs such as the LA Lakers, New York Giants and Barcelona, include training surfaces with turf to match those at the stadiums at City's opponents, 15 full-size pitches and a 7,000-capacity stadium for junior teams."

Now I know that whilst we're in the same division as the Eastlands Emirates-offshoot , we're not in the same financial league. However, if any club means to develop/expand it seems to me that this is key.
Swansea City currently train at Llandarcy, at a facility that's both public and not owned by the club. The board has shown its willingness to advance by its stated desire to go down a similar(if lesser) route, maybe purchasing a site in Landore to develop along these lines. I think that's a wonderful idea, and I hope to see it pursued in the next few years. If not Landore, then elsewhere.
The bonuses and results might see more home grown players emerge, as did Joey Allen and Lee Lucas recently. There are more to come. Gwion Edwards, Kurtis March, Daniel Alfei, Jazz Richards, Casey Thomas, Joe Walsh anybody ? And that's the key, surely, for clubs like us.
If we've not got the ability to compete in the muscular money market we must develop our own talent.
Home grown skills are honed on the fields of Carrington, London Colney, Cobham and all of the Training complexes that are the heart of modern football clubs.
It's like growing your own plants. It helps if you have a garden in which to do it.

C) The Liberty Stadium

The Swans play at the Liberty Stadium, newly opened in 2005, a purpose built 20,000 capacity arena, owned by Swansea City Council and leased to the Club as a shared Tenancy with the Ospreys Rugby Union franchise and run by a triumvirate of SCFC,SCC and Stadco.To quote the Official Site.............
"The council invited a developer-led consortia to submit a proposal for a sustainable 'bowl' venue for 20,520 seats on a site to the west of the river, funded by 355,000ft retail park on land to the east of the river. The final value of the development being in excess of £50m. Construction commenced in the autumn of 2003 with the opening game taking place in the stadium between Swansea and Fulham on 23rd July, 2005."


With it's pristine playing surface (a winner of Awards) and it's modern, satisfactory environs and facilities, it has suited perfectly and helped our rise through the FL Divisions.
However, given the world wide interest in the Premier League, as mentioned above, it now sells out every week and it's capacity limits the opportunity to maximise revenue, given that more people would come if the capacity were greater.

Within limits.

The Board has recognised this, and has phased, progressive plans to expand to a suitable size and timescale.

This matches, I think, what's both realistic and achievable in that the PL opportunity again gives a tangible,long term, concrete (sic) outcome.
It's Legacy innit', or at least what I believe is important.
25,000 seems to me to be achievable.

D) Social and Local Prosperity

It feels good to be a part of a generally good news story.
Here we are, one of the 3 newest members of the Premier League and performing with no lack of style and substance, in front of almost always full houses and on national TV with a regularity that can in all likelihood lead to increased admiration.

Moreover, both the Club and the City and district of Swansea are coming to the attention of a far wider audience. Local Hotels and Guest Houses recently reported an upturn in occupancy that they themselves put down to Swansea City's elevation.

So, here's a brief conclusion.

Having watched my team both Home and Away this season, I've been satisfied, excited, frustrated and a whole lot more.
I know, because like you, I talk to my friends both near and far.
They have been too.
And this is all because of the efforts of the people on and around the field of play: they have, and are, succeeding.
On OUR behalf. And we LOVE it.

The whole point of this piece is simply to voice my opinion that that much-maligned term "Legacy", really does have relevance for us Swans.
It can only be satisfied if our Club uses it's current justly earned prosperity to lay down something that makes all of us proud to be a Swan.
Not just for the team, which is wonderful, but for being partners and contibutors to something so special.
Swansea City F.C. Onwards.

Blogging for fun......on http://scfc2.co.uk/blogs/west.aspx

Just a brief note to say that I've very kindly been offered a Guest Blog spot on my favourite Swansea City fan site scfc2 which is at http://scfc2.co.uk/

Decided to call the slot A View from the West, both to reflect the fact that I sit in the Liberty Stadium's Lower West Stand and I live in Llanelli.

The first post I've done for them is called Swansea City : Prorities for a Club promoted to the Premier League. You can read it on the links provided and I'll post it on here on Monday 7th.