Swansea v Ipswich Competition - Sky Bet Championship Venue - Swansea.com Stadium Date - 17 February 2024 Kick off - 3:00pm Following their 0-4 thrashing at the hands of automatic promotion hopefuls Leeds United, next up for Luke Williams’ sinking Swans is the daunting prospect of a match with high flying Ipswich. On Tuesday evening, Leeds maintained their perfect start to 2024 in the league with a seventh straight win against a shell-shocked Swansea team. Crysencio Summerville, ex-Swan Joel Piroe and Wilfried Gnonto put Leeds in the driving seat by half-time. Gnonto added a fourth goal after the break to complete a win that sent Leeds up to second in the Championship. They were simply faster and sharper than their hosts who were brought back down to earth just days after Luke Williams' first win in charge has been achieved at Hull. The following evening, Ipswich cruised past struggling Millwall to end a three-game winless run in the Championship and move within three points of the automatic promotion spots. The Lions started brightly at The Den, but subsided after Nathan Broadhead met Omari Hutchinson's whipped cross with his back to goal and flicked a fine back-header past keeper Matija Sarkic. Wes Harding then diverted Broadhead's centre into his own net from close range, before Kieffer Moore's downward header from Harry Clarke's super far-post cross looped over Sarkic in first-half-stoppage time. Millwall looked to salvage some pride after the break as Ipswich eased off, but it was the visitors who struck a stoppage-time fourth when Murray Wallace brought down ex-Swan Ali Al-Hamadi, who rolled in the resulting penalty. The Swans have played the Tractor Boys on 32 previous occasions, winning 12, losing 11 and drawing 9. The teams last met in Swansea in the 2018/19 season when Ipswich ran out 2-3 victors: John Busby will be the referee tomorrow against Ipswich and it will be the eighth time that the Oxfordshire-based official has overseen a Swans match following his promotion to Select Group 2 in the summer of 2021. The most recent of those matches was against Millwall at The Den in September. The Swans won 3-0 on that day with goals from Jamal Lowe, Matt Grimes and Mykola Kuharevich. Busby handed out four yellow cards with Carl Rushworth and Ben Cabango booked from the Swans. Busby began his career as an assistant referee and served in the EFL for eight years before switching to the whistle and joining the National List of Referees in 2016. In total this season, he has overseen 22 matches – mostly in the Championship – and has handed out 22 yellow cards and one red. Tomorrow, he will be assisted by Richard Wild and Lee Venamore. Tom Nield will be the fourth official. Turning to tomorrow, can Luke Williams get a reaction from his players following Tuesday’s thrashing? Is the players’ confidence shot to pieces? We are only 7pts above the relegation places - that’s not enough breathing space at the stage of the season. Are the players up for the fight? I’m hoping for a draw but expecting a 1-3 defeat, with Al-Hamadi and Moore both likely to score…. Hope I’m wrong
Despite the "blip" against Hull I can't see much hope. Really have no idea where we are right now, worrying.
The return of Joe Allen is one of four changes to the Swansea City starting line-up for this afternoon’s meeting with Ipswich Town. Kyle Naughton, Ollie Cooper and Jerry Yates are the other players to come into the team, with Jay Fulton, Bashir Humphreys, Przemyslaw Placheta and Liam Cullen the players to drop out of the side. Fulton, Placheta and Cullen are named among the substitutes, while Humphreys misses out through injury. But Harry Darling is fit enough for a place on the Swansea bench. Carl Rushworth is in goal, with Naughton joining Ben Cabango, Nathan Wood and Josh Tymon in the Swansea defence. Allen joins captain Matt Grimes in the Swansea midfield, with Cooper operating ahead of the pair. Jamie Paterson and Ronald will provide width in support of Yates in attack. Swansea City: Carl Rushworth, Ben Cabango, Joe Allen, Matt Grimes (captain), Jerry Yates, Jamie Paterson, Josh Tymon, Nathan Wood, Kyle Naughton, Ollie Cooper, Ronald. Substitutes: Andy Fisher, Jay Fulton, Harry Darling, Przemyslaw Placheta, Charlie Patino, Mykola Kuharevich, Liam Cullen, Charles Sagoe Jr, Filip Lissah. Ipswich Town: Vaclac Hladky, Harry Clarke, Leif Davis, Sam Morsy (captain), Luke Woolfenden, Conor Chaplin, Cameron Burgess, Omari Hutchinson, Kieffer Moore, Massimo Luongo, Nathan Broadhead. Substitutes: Christian Walton, George Edmundson, Wes Burns, Marcus Harness, Ali Al-Hamadi, Kayden Jackson, Jeremy Sarmiento, Lewis Travis, Cameron Humphreys.
What I've learnt so far.... we're a bottom of the table side, Ipswich are a top half side and Leeds and Leicester are too good for this division.
Well the owners will have a shock end of the season when they try to sell players to balance the books, as we have nobody of any worth to sell.
‘A bit of a defensive mix up …..” Blackburn winning 0-2 at Preston, Birmingham losing at home to the Mackems Still 17th but only 6 points above the relegation zone
