Next Saturday the Saints come to The Liberty in tremendous form inspired by their new manager Mauricio Pochettino. Wins over Chelsea, Liverpool and Reading followed by a draw against West ham have all but guaranteed the Saints survival for another season in The Premiership as they lie 11th in The Premiership with 38 points. Top English scorer in The Premiership, Ricky Lambert, has been one of the surprises of the season firing in 14 Premiership goals and will be ably supported by Rodrigues with 9 goals. There is no fear of either team stepping off the gas yet though. The Swans, currently on 41 points in 9th position will be targeting this match to secure their first three pointer since Newcastle on March 2nd as they seek to surpass the 47 points won in last seasons campaign when they finished 11th. Last 5 Premiership Matches Southampton - DWWWD (11 points from 15) Norwich (A) Drew 0-0 Liverpool (H) Won 3-1 Chelsea (H) Won 2-1 Reading (A) Won 2-0 West Ham (H) Drew 1-1 Swans - WLLLD (4 points from 15) Newcastle (H) Won 1-0 West Brom (A) Lost 2-1 Arsenal (H) Lost 2-0 Spurs (H) Lost 2-1 Norwich (A) Drew 2-2 BBC Match Report - http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/22133505 Sky Sports Report including Sky Bet - http://m.skysports.com/article/football/yourclub/8652127?compid=263&teamid=375 Live Premiership table - http://espnfc.com/tables/live/_/league/eng.1/barclays-premier-league?cc=5739 LATEST WEATHER - http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/2636432 AWAY FANS - http://www.footballgroundguide.com/swansea_city/#Visiting-The-Liberty-Stadium OTHER MATCHES THIS WEEKEND Saturday Fulham v Arsenal QPR v Stoke Sunderland v Everton West Brom v Newcastle West Ham v Wigan Sunday Spurs v Man Citeh (1.30pm) Liverpool v Chelski (4pm) Monday Man U v Villa (8pm)
Hard game for us . Soton look good going forward but decidedly shakey at the back (come to think of it so do we) & they're on a bit of a roll with confidence high so 2-1 to us
The type of high energy team we don't like playing against - they're a bit like Norwich with more football and they are doing well. Nevertheless this is a game we should win. If we keep possession we can starve their potent attack but, yet again, it will all depend on our midfield stepping up, getting involved and KEEPING involved. Passengers and onlookers not required if we are to kick on for a top ten place.
I watched the Southampton game for a while yesterday, they look very good and full of running with good skills, i can see your forward line causing us all kinds of problems. Im just not sure what Swansea team we will see, if our players are at it properly from the start then i expect a win. We need this victory badly to secure a decent points finish and be mathmatically safe,southampton need it because the gap is still to be closed in terms of relegation. the swans will know they are in a game with this lot . A draw would be a good result, i will however go for the swans to win this, if we dont win this my article following the game will not be very kind!! 2 good equal sides where there is nothing to be afraid of for any of the players. We need a strong ref for this though, if we get a flakey ref it would suit Southampton better, they will be running around and closing down so the late niggly tackles that Spurs and Norwich got away with need to be looked at . 3-1 Swans
no excuses if we cant beat the saints on home turf then we have problems......It was not that long ago we were confidant of beating one of the big teams at home so we should have to much for the saints....Laudrup has to do his research and pick the right team and play the right tactics, anything less then it will be another win less game No 5 and that will be the worst run of matches for years and questions will be asked...a must win game...
A point I have made before and fully agree with. I know Michael Laudrup favours a tight squad but if we suffer a couple of bad injuries we will become badly stretched. To be honest, I favour 25 against his 22 with three capable utility players making up the numbers.
he has to increase the squad for next season, He should know more than most having played in europe himself, Im sure he will as its not as if we cant afford it.....
I agree but i do think our playing style being less "British" helps alot , we do less running than other teams because we let the ball do the work, its why i think we had a decent run over Xmas . Our game management should be better than most uk teams in the euro league which should mean less blowing through the arse !! my worry is the players losing focus on the bread and butter of the prem league.
Really looking forward to this one, last game I can get to before going back to the dust. The Saints play a fast, high energy passing game and to counter this we have to control their possession and pass them off the pitch. We have to overload midfield playing Michu up front, De G, and Leon controlling/holding midfield. Personally I'd play Ki (swapping with De G) in the pocket with Nathan and Routs playing flank to middle, Bench Moore, Pablo, Lamah, Tiendalli and Monk/Bartley. One thing, among many, in our favor though is that our currently shaky defense is far better than their shaky defense, we know that our defense can be strong and if they are we will win buy 2+ goals.
Some very valid points, just need to do our homework at the back, hope Ash and Chico have a blinder, and Michu gets off to a flying start, 2-1 for me to the Swans, though this is a team that can whip us if we don't batten down in the midfield!.............
If we don`t play 100% we are going to get stuffed. Saints are playing really good stuff at the moment and are going to cause us lots of problems. We`ve got to get back to winning ways as, if we lose this one, we might not win again this season. If I was ML, I`d put young Donnelly on the bench Saturday, as well as moore. He can`t be any worse than Schechter, surely. He`s scored two tonight against Millwall, as well as scoring a few in previous games. No, he probably won`t get involved in the game, but it might make him think that he could make it sometime soon? Swansea u21 3 Millwall u21 0, link here: http://www.futbol24.com/Live/
I said that a while ago after seeing donnelly play....he deserves his chance now so we need to give it to him....
You can now vote above to guess the result. (Sorry lads, but it's my new toy Only found out how to do it today!!)
