I read today yet another piece by a journalist saying that Europe has had an effect on Swansea's domestic season. He's right in the sense that our injury list has grown because of European competition but are we that far off where we were last season, bearing in mind some of the fixtures we've had? Seems to me it's an interesting debate and there are two questions. Firstly, is it just a football cliche that lazy journos come up with or do they have a point? Apart from injuries has the Europa affected our domestic form? Secondly, is being in Europe something we should be proud of and grasp with both hands, accepting there may (or may not) be a trade off, or is it a distraction that we can well do without? Some might say there's little money in it, only some limited glory. Do you think that the sooner we're out of it the better? We know Laudrup would disagree but that's what some fans are saying. I'll try and set up a poll but not done it before so let's hope it works. [Edit: Think I've done it, lol. Can't seem to edit multiple choice on poll, never mind. Just make a choice out of the bottom two. If a mod can do it then thanks. Result will be public.]
I do embrace Europe but there is no doubt that it has impacted on our league placing, which is why I voted for option one.
Fair enough Ivor, it's my fault for not clicking multiple options when I set up the poll. But what about the fact that we're not far off where we were this time last season? Doesn't that suggest the impact of playing in Europe has been minimal?
Not really, KJ. The signs are there with the injury list growing and the fact that we can only seem to play one good half these days. I wonder if, psychologically, the players aren't playing as hard as they could do for the full 90 minutes - that they are "saving/pacing themselves. We are not as fluent these days either and I put that down to less time on the training ground because of Europe. My guess is, and it is a guess, that we would be six points better off if we hadn't had to play the extra games. For me, I want us to go as far as possible in Europe but I think I might let out a sigh of relief when we do go out - providing we give a good account of ourselves. It would be good to see how fresh legs will improve the lads and I still maintain that a squad of 25 would have served us better.
Option 1 for me. It has directly impacted the work we do during the week, development and game preparation, plus additional wear and tear. This loss of work and player availability must have had an impact on our overall ability to be at our best every single match. At the very least, we are not able to field our strongest possible starting XI every Prem game because of the need to rest players and rotate through the squad. Our squad is deeper than last year, but still not deep enough to keep squad rotation from being a problem.
I have gone for option 1 as although we should enjoy our European adventures as who knows when we'll get the opportunity again. Saying that should our results against Newcastle and Hull go tits up I'd say the sooner we are out the better as our squad is now becoming very stretched.
Has affected our domestic form "BUT" we should embrace European competition, going as far as we can. So both 1 and 3.
Same as, embrace all of it because who knows when we'll pass this way again. To pit yourself against some of the better sides in Europe can only give the club/players/supporters a glimpse of how the other half live and it raises the profile of the club
Im the same as Ivor, I love european games but our squad is much to small to compete at both to the standard required. Our premiership form has suffered due to injuries and tiredness from too many games.
Not sure we've we can say it's affected league form - decent results and good performances after European games. We are doing as well as last season and only dire refereeing has left us short of an additional 3 points. Injuries? Maybe but no way of telling - a run in the League cup could have seen similar injuries. I'm enjoying the opportunity of seeing us doing a meaningful job in Europe and an excuse to have some short European breaks.
Im not bothered if we don't make the knockouts with the position we are in at the moment...5pts from a relegation spot and just 7 from rock bottom. I never expected to be here at the beginning of the season and reading the posts on day one neither did most others..
I agree with Dai that I didn't expect us to be where we are in the league (points wise) this season, but I don't think Europe is to blame. I don't think we look a tired team. I do however think that we have more expensive team than last season as opposed to a better team.
Have to disagree to an extent , Bony , Poz , Amat, Shelvey as opposed to Moore, Monk ,Tate , Lita. Augustein and Schecter ,I think we've improved quality wise but with a with so many injuries and squad rotation we haven't put out the same team for consecutive weeks although I may be wrong on that point
I honestly do think we have a stronger team this season but we are not playing or have the confidence of previous seasons due to the way the players are made to play. Its non productive results wise, We can look good but going nowhere and the minute the opposition scores we go to pieces...Its all wrong and its such a shame when we have the best team we have ever had and certainly one of the best outside the top six.. There is only one weak link and Brian Laudrup could tell you that..
Our results and performances after European games have generally been decent to good, so I'm not exactly sure why that's getting the blame. If anything we've been holding back more in our continental games lately. Far more relevant to the recent downturn in league performances are our managers tactical choices. Paying £12m for a striker then leaving him on the bench for long stretches, including most of our bigger games. Replacing him with a midfielder who regularly states that he dislikes playing upfront. Insisting that our wingers all cut inside, whether it suits their natural game or not. Reverting to a dull, possession based style that opposition teams have long worked out how to deal with. From this angle it seems that Laudrup has run out of ideas and doesn't know how to spark the team into life again.
Glad to see the poll results show that most of you say that you should embrace it - this is part of "living the dream" Good luck in the competition (from a jealous Bristol City fan)
Well I thought most of us would agree that being in Europe is something we should be proud of but we're also concerned about League form. I tend to agree with Lone. This business of removing our width by having our wingers cut inside all the time has really hurt us, but it looks like we're putting that right at long last. As for Bony I think he was woefully unfit and that's the reason he was benched when he first came and that's why he's been undergoing some special fitness training of late.
