Taff at the top?
For several years now, Swansea City have shown themselves to be the template for a small club that can be successful on a smaller budget and yet play football the way Robbie Fowler intended it to be played.
Huw Jenkins sowed the seeds of success. With backing from the supporters trust he became chairman some 15 years ago. He instilled a direction and ethos to the club, this was a team that was going to be financially stable and play good football. Appointments followed this philosophy. Whatever enjoyment Bobby Brown Shoes may have given us at Everton, his spell at Swansea showed a tremendous style of football. He was of course succeeded by Rodgers (after an interregnum with Paulo Sousa) and with his excellent coaching they were a joy to watch.
Michael Laudrup seemed a natural successor, stylish and popular, but his teams couldn’t produce that on the pitch. From this point the managerial selections seemed more erratic Guidloin and Bradley came and went in succession, before they were replaced by clement who seemed a good fit for the club. That Clement left must be looked at in the context of selling Llorente and Siggurdson.., these are deals that look like economic folly now.
So tonight’s game comes hot on the heels of the 5-0 defeat away to us. The manger says they have a plan, but a team that is built to play football may struggle with that more than other teams that don’t care about the performance. Can you coach a ruthless defensive performance in so short a time? Experience tells us not, but a year ago almost to the day, we thought the same and came back with bloodied noses. For the Swansea fans their seems a sense of fatalism. Looking forwards to the game only because it may be one of their last in the top flight, but fearing defeat.
Swansea and Liverpool have a great shared history, with Toshak and Molby both managing them. Let’s hope they mark this with generosity in front of goal.
Experience tells us that this will be far harder than expected. Up the reds, a 1-0 off Emre’s quiff will do me fine.
(This OP was not brought to you whilst I was making teriyaki salmon. This is progress).
