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Swansea (H) - What Can We Expect


Davefevs

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So good ole @jbcfc over on twitter is saving me a lot of effort.  Thanks James!

Its a really good read, and anyone that saw our home game with them last year will know the kind of way they play.

So I’ll go straight to the players:

GK - Freddy Woodman - England age group keeper on loan from Newcastle and remembered for winning the u20 World Cup for England.  Not the biggest, but good with his feet, and of course well known to manager Cooper.  Kristofer Nordfelt, a decent keeper himself finds himself relegated to the bench.

RB - Connor Roberts - Welsh international who’s played on loan in the West Country for our north of the river neighbours and Yeovil.  Very exciting modern day fullback who is very capable on the ball, a good engine, and solid defensively.  A key player in their build up from the back down the right channel.

LB - Jake Bidwell - ex-Everton, Brentford and QPR LB signed on a free in the summer.  A lot of fans were worried about his passing pedigree having come from a direct-QPR team, but I remember him being very suited to Swansea’s Style from his Brentford days.  Had Dasilva not signed, he was someone high on my list.  Good player, and likes a tackle too!  Keeping Kyle Naughton Out who is very tidy.

CB - Mike Van der Horn - the stats man dream, high up in all the key metrics.  Ex-Utrecht and Ajax player, who is key to their passing out from the keeper.  I do think his passing stats to give him a bit of leeway defensively, and I’m not convinced he is as good against players that will run him around (Yes, I’m looking at you Andi Weimann).

CB - Joe Rodon - haven’t seen much of him, but did watch him in Wales games v Azerbaijan and Belarus and be is a good prospect.  Comfortable on the ball, but at 21 someone who might be able to be muscled around.  

CM - Matt Grimes - ex-Exeter man, and one scouted heavily by us in the past, but got away.  Neat and tidy midfielder who as jbcfc says comes deep to join the CBs and start the play.  

CM - Jay Fulton - former Scottish u21 midfielder who joined from Falkirk 5 seasons ago.  Nice left foot and will hurt us if we give him time on the ball.  

RAM - Andre Ayew - Ghanaian international, and the not quite so good Ayew brother, but still a very good player at this level.  Good back-catalog of clubs - Lorient, Marseilles, West Ham, and strong runner with the ball.  Likes to come inside off the wings, and also dart in behind.  One of those players where everything is done at pace...and one we don’t want to let run on the blindside.

CAM - Bersant Celina [dangerman] - Kosovan international who played against England in the last run of international fixtures.  Ex-Man City, Ipswich (Loan) wideman who’s now playing inside...£3m signing in summer - excellent value.  Let this guy get on the ball in our final third and we’ll be in serious trouble.

LAM - Wayne Routledge - 34 now, but been around the block at the top level with Palace, Spurs, Fulham etc.  Tricky wideman who can still give teams a lot of trouble.  Will swap sides with Ayew to cause us problems.

CF - Borja Baston - Spanish striker who was looking to leave in the last window, but early season goals (and minutes) forced a change of mind, despite interest back home.  5 in 7 so far this season, and has scored goals at a good rate in La Liga, even if he spent a fair bit of time in La Liga 2.  Not as mobile as McBurnie was last season, with his focus being on staying in the box as much as possible.

Other Players:

George Byers - young energetic midfielder with a good shot on him.  In and out of starting eleven.

Nathan Dyer - Small wideman who has had a very good career.  Only 31, thought he was mid-30s at least!

Sam Surridge (not Sturridge) - striker, on loan from Bournemouth.

So How Do We Win:

- press efficiently in 2s and 3s not individually.  Two up top may help, or crowding Grimes May force errors

- physicality, they are a side who can be outmuscled, and winning that battle may help get us on the ball rather than chasing pretty trisngles

- force them wide, their wideman like to come inside.

Prediction:

Goals - I can see this ending 2-2.

I’m really interested to see how we set up in opposition.  Our 5212 might help us to stop them playing through us, but Taylor Moore will be key to us building our own attacks.  Formation might depend on Afobe rumour.

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For me, alongside Leeds, Swansea and Fulham will be the big teams this year. Swansea for an impressive front line and pairing at centre back alongside seemingly good coaching. Fulham for that electric front line of Cavaliero, Mitrovic and Knockaert, with Reid in the number 10 role if that is the route that they decide to go.

I commented a few months ago saying how uninspired the appointments of Cooper, Bilic and Woodgate seemed. In the case of Cooper, I am fully prepared to eat my words.

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5 minutes ago, marcofisher said:

For me, alongside Leeds, Swansea and Fulham will be the big teams this year. Swansea for an impressive front line and pairing at centre back alongside seemingly good coaching. Fulham for that electric front line of Cavaliero, Mitrovic and Knockaert, with Reid in the number 10 role if that is the route that they decide to go.

I commented a few months ago saying how uninspired the appointments of Cooper, Bilic and Woodgate seemed. In the case of Cooper, I am fully prepared to eat my words.

Interesting last week that although they played nice football, they didn’t penetrate / create much.

I think Forest are a dark horse this season.  Semedo is very good.

Don't disagree about Fulham and Leeds either.

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1 minute ago, Davefevs said:

Interesting last week that although they played nice football, they didn’t penetrate / create much.

I think Forest are a dark horse this season.  Semedo is very good.

Don't disagree about Fulham and Leeds either.

Haven't really seen them much so couldn't really comment, going under the radar a bit perhaps?

I wouldn't want them to go up purely because they tried to emulate Wolve's strategy to get promoted a couple of years ago, and it backfired on them last season!

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40 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

Interesting last week that although they played nice football, they didn’t penetrate / create much.

I think Forest are a dark horse this season.  Semedo is very good.

Don't disagree about Fulham and Leeds either.

At the rate we are going with injuries, our reserve team might end up dark horses this season.

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1 hour ago, Davefevs said:

Interesting last week that although they played nice football, they didn’t penetrate / create much.

I think Forest are a dark horse this season.  Semedo is very good.

Don't disagree about Fulham and Leeds either.

Looking at their forum posts, Forest just sat back, defended deep and hit them on the break. Difficult to penetrate much when opponents stick 10 men behind the ball.

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9 hours ago, Davefevs said:

So good ole @jbcfc over on twitter is saving me a lot of effort.  Thanks James!

Its a really good read, and anyone that saw our home game with them last year will know the kind of way they play.

So I’ll go straight to the players:

GK - Freddy Woodman - England age group keeper on loan from Newcastle and remembered for winning the u20 World Cup for England.  Not the biggest, but good with his feet, and of course well known to manager Cooper.  Kristofer Nordfelt, a decent keeper himself finds himself relegated to the bench.

RB - Connor Roberts - Welsh international who’s played on loan in the West Country for our north of the river neighbours and Yeovil.  Very exciting modern day fullback who is very capable on the ball, a good engine, and solid defensively.  A key player in their build up from the back down the right channel.

LB - Jake Bidwell - ex-Everton, Brentford and QPR LB signed on a free in the summer.  A lot of fans were worried about his passing pedigree having come from a direct-QPR team, but I remember him being very suited to Swansea’s Style from his Brentford days.  Had Dasilva not signed, he was someone high on my list.  Good player, and likes a tackle too!  Keeping Kyle Naughton Out who is very tidy.

CB - Mike Van der Horn - the stats man dream, high up in all the key metrics.  Ex-Utrecht and Ajax player, who is key to their passing out from the keeper.  I do think his passing stats to give him a bit of leeway defensively, and I’m not convinced he is as good against players that will run him around (Yes, I’m looking at you Andi Weimann).

CB - Joe Rodon - haven’t seen much of him, but did watch him in Wales games v Azerbaijan and Belarus and be is a good prospect.  Comfortable on the ball, but at 21 someone who might be able to be muscled around.  

CM - Matt Grimes - ex-Exeter man, and one scouted heavily by us in the past, but got away.  Neat and tidy midfielder who as jbcfc says comes deep to join the CBs and start the play.  

CM - Jay Fulton - former Scottish u21 midfielder who joined from Falkirk 5 seasons ago.  Nice left foot and will hurt us if we give him time on the ball.  

RAM - Andre Ayew - Ghanaian international, and the not quite so good Ayew brother, but still a very good player at this level.  Good back-catalog of clubs - Lorient, Marseilles, West Ham, and strong runner with the ball.  Likes to come inside off the wings, and also dart in behind.  One of those players where everything is done at pace...and one we don’t want to let run on the blindside.

CAM - Bersant Celina [dangerman] - Kosovan international who played against England in the last run of international fixtures.  Ex-Man City, Ipswich (Loan) wideman who’s now playing inside...£3m signing in summer - excellent value.  Let this guy get on the ball in our final third and we’ll be in serious trouble.

LAM - Wayne Routledge - 34 now, but been around the block at the top level with Palace, Spurs, Fulham etc.  Tricky wideman who can still give teams a lot of trouble.  Will swap sides with Ayew to cause us problems.

CF - Borja Baston - Spanish striker who was looking to leave in the last window, but early season goals (and minutes) forced a change of mind, despite interest back home.  5 in 7 so far this season, and has scored goals at a good rate in La Liga, even if he spent a fair bit of time in La Liga 2.  Not as mobile as McBurnie was last season, with his focus being on staying in the box as much as possible.

Other Players:

George Byers - young energetic midfielder with a good shot on him.  In and out of starting eleven.

Nathan Dyer - Small wideman who has had a very good career.  Only 31, thought he was mid-30s at least!

Sam Surridge (not Sturridge) - striker, on loan from Bournemouth.

So How Do We Win:

- press efficiently in 2s and 3s not individually.  Two up top may help, or crowding Grimes May force errors

- physicality, they are a side who can be outmuscled, and winning that battle may help get us on the ball rather than chasing pretty trisngles

- force them wide, their wideman like to come inside.

Prediction:

Goals - I can see this ending 2-2.

I’m really interested to see how we set up in opposition.  Our 5212 might help us to stop them playing through us, but Taylor Moore will be key to us building our own attacks.  Formation might depend on Afobe rumour.

Andre Ayew a better player than his brother.

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