Swansea City

[savage 4 england]

West Brom are different from Swansea. Swansea's success was built on a very solid defence. With their ability to counter attack I think they will be fine.

I think Norwich will struggle. I think they will concede a lot of goals. They conceded a lot of goals last season and I can't see much improvement in that area.

[Big Foot]

Was more to hear he has never scored a Premier League goal.

7 different teams he's played for in the Premier League too

[swansea jack]

Finally back from the game. Madchester is ace!

So a fair result, could've been worse though. Pleased to see we can, to an extent, use the same style in the Prem against the big boyos but we definitely need to be more direct at times including attempts from distance. Bit sloppy in the final third when we had a couple of decent openings.

Random thoughts:

- Toure and Richards are HUGE especially when ickl Britton is stood next to them
- Adam Johnson sent shivers down my spine when he had the ball
- Keeper looks decent
- Caulker looks decent
- Still need a DMC
- Citeh are a class act
- Our supporters are great

It's going to be a long & hard but interesting & enjoyable season. Only need to finish above 3 teams though...

Real test is this Sat at home to Wigwam.

[manny96]

Real test is this Sat at home to Wigwam.

Exactly.

[swansea jack]

They've signed players, people said EXACTLY the same about blackpool how they would finish bottom by 20 points...it didn't happen. Reading finished 8th in the prem with a largely unchanged team from the championship. People writing teams off after one game are silly.

Oh yes, lets look at Swansea's signings:

Lita - Arrogant trouble maker who hasn't done it consistently for years.
Routledge - Never made it at premiership level
Caulker - Untried CB who hadn't played at this level before last night.
Graham - Decent goal scorer for Watford, how he will do in the premiership is anyone's guess, but personally I think he might struggle.
Vorn - Admittedly looks a decent buy, but there's only so much a keeper can do.

Not sure who else they've signed, but those are the ones i can remember, and TBH they wouldn't fill me with much confidence.

I'm not 'writing them off', I'm just saying I think they'll struggle, it's a prediction, just like the predictions that every other football fan makes before the start of a new season.


If you disagree then fair enough, but let's try and keep the name calling at a minimum is all i'm trying to say

As Urz proved in your first season...it's all about the team and not the players. Happy with the signings considering our $ position, just hope they gel in time.

Complete worse case is that we have a great squad if we go down providing we can keep the key players together...

[Ian Royal]

Nought against Swansea but my prediction was that despite the attractive football they play, they'll go down with QPR. I'm not taking much from the first game - plenty of time left but still...Norwich seemed the most likely to grind out the kind of results to keep them there and that's still where my money would be to stay up of the three of them.

Norwich remind me a little bit of us in the Premiership......not the best footballing wise, but know how to work as a team and get stuck in. QPR and Swansea wont be able to play their football they did last season

These two posts are exactly where I'm coming from.

[savage 4 england]

QPR will be looking to spend a bit now. That could be a worry to Swansea.

[FiNeRaIn]

My feelings aren't quite as strong as that, but im bitter about losing, both were pens but they got absolutely ALL the luck on the day just as I knew any opposition would get against us in a play-off final. Just like walsall did also, shittest OG i've ever seen in football the one of rougiers head.

[TBM]

shittest OG i've ever seen in football the one of rougiers head.

was fcuking funny though

[M-U-R-T-Y]

Not at the time...

[cmonurz]

Am I the only one still upset about the way they won the playoff final?
Constant diving, and one-way refereeing.
BBC says they were awarded 18 free kicks, we got only 4. 18-4!!!!
Meanwhile, we had 11 attempts on target - they had 4 - of which two were penalties.
We had 16 corner kicks, they had one. One.

To me this says something. It says they were extremely lucky to win it, and had they not had the benefit of the 12th man Dowd on the pitch for Swansea, they would not have beat us.

I'm still absolutely furious about it, and I hope they lose every single match, going down with zero points. oxf*rd them!!

It might have been a rousing Reading comeback of nearly Liverpool/CL final proportions, but that doesn't mean Swansea weren't deserving winners.

The main reason they got so many free kicks was that our defence were, in the main, utter gash, and couldn't cope with Sinclair, Dyer etc.

Kebe might have won a few more free-kicks if a) anyone could ever get near him when he's at full pace, and b) he could maintain control of the ball more often.

[Wycombe Royal]

QPR will be looking to spend a bit now. That could be a worry to Swansea.

Sky Sports reported last night in one of their "Sky Sports understands..." moments that they had bid £4m for Scott Parker.

[M-U-R-T-Y]

No chance West Ham would accept that. Shirley?

Would Parker want to go to QPR?

[swansea jack]

My feelings aren't quite as strong as that, but im bitter about losing, both were pens but they got absolutely ALL the luck on the day just as I knew any opposition would get against us in a play-off final. Just like walsall did also, shittest OG i've ever seen in football the one of rougiers head.

That's football.

[rhroyal]

Am I the only one still upset about the way they won the playoff final?
Constant diving, and one-way refereeing.
BBC says they were awarded 18 free kicks, we got only 4. 18-4!!!!
Meanwhile, we had 11 attempts on target - they had 4 - of which two were penalties.
We had 16 corner kicks, they had one. One.

To me this says something. It says they were extremely lucky to win it, and had they not had the benefit of the 12th man Dowd on the pitch for Swansea, they would not have beat us.

I'm still absolutely furious about it, and I hope they lose every single match, going down with zero points. oxf*rd them!!

It might have been a rousing Reading comeback of nearly Liverpool/CL final proportions, but that doesn't mean Swansea weren't deserving winners.

The main reason they got so many free kicks was that our defence were, in the main, utter gash, and couldn't cope with Sinclair, Dyer etc.

Kebe might have won a few more free-kicks if a) anyone could ever get near him when he's at full pace, and b) he could maintain control of the ball more often.

Not entirely true. I remember Williams climbing all over Long time and time again and having nothing given against him. If we started playing a little physical to counteract this, he blew up. Penalty decisions were right, but Swansea were allowed to use force and strength in that final. We weren't.

[TBM]

I am pretty sure if we had Webb in the final then we wouldn't have lost..........

[swansea jack]

I am pretty sure if we had Latchford in the final then we would've won 8-0..........

[FiNeRaIn]

My feelings aren't quite as strong as that, but im bitter about losing, both were pens but they got absolutely ALL the luck on the day just as I knew any opposition would get against us in a play-off final. Just like walsall did also, shittest OG i've ever seen in football the one of rougiers head.

That's football.

Maybe, but when it continually goes against you, it doesn't feel like it. We lost three play off finals in a row and been outplayed in none of them. When is football going to give us what we deserve for a change?

[TBM]

I am pretty sure if we had Latchford in the final then we would've won 8-0..........

you must have seen how bias Webb was towards us against Cardiff.....got a feeling he doesn't like the Welsh

[swansea jack]

I am pretty sure if we had Latchford in the final then we would've won 8-0..........

you must have seen how bias Webb was towards us against Cardiff.....got a feeling he doesn't like the Welsh

Didn't actually see the Urz v Cardiff game but THANK YOU (again).

T'was the perfect final line up for moi. Didn't think that the ref was overly biased but I was on the 4th day of a 4 session. Great game. Could've gone either way.

Confident we'll do ok this year but not a big issue if we go down. A win on Sat against Martinez (aka Judas to some) will help...