Friday 12 February 2016

Swansea City vs Southampton: Preview

Right - let's make sure we win this one.

I say that because in the last two Swansea City matches, points have been thrown away due to bad defending. As I outlined in my post earlier this week, we need to ensure we defend corners properly (i.e. no sticking Leon Britton on Graziano Pelle) and score more than one goal (because one is rarely enough).


The Swans take on Southampton at the Liberty this Saturday (3pm) - looking for a little redemption after the 3-1 thrashing at St Mary's back in September.

The good news for Swansea is Ki Sung Yueng is likely to play after recovering from the concussion he suffered in the 1-1 draw against West Brom. While he's not been in the best form this season, it's always handy to have him as an option.

In fact, it's as strong a team as we've had for a while with no injury worries - Francesco Guidolin has a good selection of players to choose from in all areas. I don't think any Swans fan is worrying about Guidolin's choices regardless. He seems to be on the ball, and going for another unbeaten game (although hopefully a win this time).

Thankfully Gylfi Sigurdsson is finally back in form and will look for a third goal in three consecutive games, while new boy Alberto Paloschi will be desperate to get on the scoresheet. With Ayew also fit and available, it's unlikely we'll see much more of Bafetimbi Gomis.

Meanwhile, Southampton will probably wear their away kit which looks surprisingly similar to Swansea's this season. Let's hope it brings them as bad luck as it has done Swansea tomorrow!

Unfortunately Soton keeper Fraser Forster is in top form, and looking for a sixth consecutive clean sheet in tomorrow's game. They will miss Victor Wanyama though, who is suspended for five matches after his third red card of the season!

Despite their clean-sheet heroes, I still feel either Sigurdsson or Paloschi will find a way through. But so too may Pelle or Long... So my prediction - I feel this could well be another 1-1!

Tuesday 9 February 2016

Swansea City 1-1 [The Other Team]: Twice

Even though we have finally seen some respite from the bleak results we witnessed back in December and January - mainly thanks to the arrival of Francesco Guidolin - Swansea have managed to throw away four important points in the last two matches.

In the game against West Brom at the start of February we saw the Swans take the deserved lead through the quick feet of Gylfi Sigurdsson in the 64th minute. They then held on for 25 tough minutes until injury time when Saloman Rondon fired in from close range after a chaotic corner. 1-1.

In the end, a disappointing draw - but at least one point and some confidence to take into the next game.

This was against Crystal Palace at the Liberty the following week, when we saw Sigurdsson once again score the deserved opener in the first half, only for Scott Dann to equalise after the Swans failed to defend a corner... again. Another 1-1.

When you look at both games it's definitely a case of four points dropped.

More annoyingly for me, I had Swansea to win on my Saturday accumulator both times - the West Brom game in particular would have seen me win a couple of hundred quid! I should have cashed out when they were ahead - taken my money and run.

(I'm aware I have broken my main rule this season - never bet on Swansea).

But I guess we can't dwell too much. Both games extended the run of unbeaten matches to four, and both showed a drastically improved Swansea City.

However there are two lessons we can take from this. Firstly, the players have to work on defending set pieces. How many times this season have we seen a goalmouth scramble following a corner? Or the tallest opposition player being marked by Leon Britton? Too many. It's a fundamental flaw, and needs to be addressed.

Secondly - one goal is not enough! This should be obvious, but these days nursing a 1-0 lead is a dangerous game to play. I mean, look at Liverpool on the weekend - 2-0 to 2-2 within a few minutes. Swansea have to start scoring a couple of early goals, then holding onto them.

That's where the points will come from.