Fair comment Cherry, but Citeh have plenty of talent on the bench, what I'd like to see is Bony getting the pass in front of him, or even too him, when the pass is finally made it's far too little too late, you can see he's starting to get very frustrated, and that's not good for any striker, if you check his video footage of last season, then you'll see he had far better service than we are giving him, it's really sad to see the way we are abusing his talent, when we are crying out for goals!...........
I'm not saying we can't do better but to say we're doomed all the time is melodramatic! And you keep getting yourself in a flap of melodrama only based on assumption and not backing your arguments with any facts! It's quite sad and pathetic! Answer this What games have we failed to score in?? Chelsea man city being the only ones I can think of in the past two months!!! Now it's time for you to remove your depressing black cloud and look at some of the positives! Europa league is out of the way and now we can concentrate on the league!! I will only get myself in a flap when I see our team get thumped week in week out by a promoted side and lying in a relegation spot! Fulham!x FFS!!!! Some people can't be happy without complaining about something!!!
Do not confuse realism with pessimism, I'm not saying we are doomed, but look at the fixture list over the last two months on the Swans web site, not many green bars there, matter of fact they are mostly red and amber? and it's not about if we have managed to score in games, it's about winning our games, and that means we score at least 1 more goal than the opposition, which we are not, that has to change as we enter the new year, it doesn't take much for the dressing room to get mentally fatigued once you start losing your games on a regular basis, and it can be one hell of a job to break it!.............. You mention positives of the Europa, and our current League position? All very flattering, and it gives us a false sense of security, forget about these, as they are like grasping at the wind, when the team cannot compete, were do you seriously think we will be after the next 4 games? As for the Europa, well lets just say Napoli are a good side and leave it at that. I'll be jumping up and down when Bony gets some decent service, and when the goals start flying in again, and we start winning our games, and not before.
I'm not confused at all, and this realism counts for at least 10 other teams as well as us! So in my opinion you are being melodramatic as well as pessimistic! Getting to where we are is an achievement and so what if we get defeated at Napoli least we got there on merit! And our leauge position for that matter. The only problem we have had this season is the extra euro games causing fatigue (why does this point constantly get ignored!!) resulting in mainly draws! I agree we need to strengthen our squad and that we are missing important players but I believe that would be rectified in January and that we have the right players and manager to keep us up! And that my friend is reality! None of us have a crystal ball, so until we are seriously looking at relegation can we keep all this talk to a minimum because it's killing this forum!
Last seasons Europa campaign was a killer for Newcastle which nearly saw them relegated Under the circumstances I would've thought considering the obvious blip in form that is inevitable with a small inexperienced at top level squad,Swansea are coping fairly well on the whole
So long as we keep up our home form the odd slip up isn't the end of the world but in the second half of the season we have to go to Utd Liverpool arsenal spurs Everton Newcastle where we must win/draw majority of Long way to go though
Yes by losing to us on Wednesday won't determine your fate but us losing will be slightly more important .Although we'll be slight underdogs for this one we could gain at least point .We're playing well enough to get something
Professional footballer's should be fit enough to play,and discounting injuries,shouldn't suffer from "fatigue". That's just an excuse for poor performances. Doesn't Michael Laudrup rotate his player's to avoid "fatigue"? Coal miners;steel workers;hospital staff working 24 hour shifts on a regular basis;armed forces on the front line not knowing if they will see the next day,etc.,etc.,now THESE people can claim to be "fatigued",but footballers should be laughed at for hiding behind that one. That great Australian cricketer Keith Miller,flew Mosquitoes' in the 2nd World War. He survived the hostilities,and returned to play the game he loved. After performing rather heroically in a Test match,a reporter asked him how he coped with "the pressure of Test cricket". "Mate",he said,"pressure is having a Messerschmidt up your ass at over 200 miles an hour".!!! I wonder what his response would have been had the word "fatigued" been ascribed to him? I don't really think that anyone mentioning the dreaded "relegation" word is "killing this Forum". It's a genuine concern for some,and they are surely as entitled to air those concerns as and when they feel fit,WITHOUT being hounded for doing so. This Forum is being "killed" by constant bickering,and not allowing people to air their opinions without being harangued for doing so. I also think that there is a possibility that we could be drawn into a relegation battle,but hopefully will survive the experience.
The inescapable fact is that if we hadn't been so lame in converting domination to points we could easily be 5 to 7 points higher in the table and we'd all be grinning. If we had scored the same number of goals as last season from a combination of Michu / Bony we'd be streets ahead of the "list" and other teams not on it. So is the cup half full or half empty. We are that one element from having a team that punches it's true weight, a weight that would see us in the top 7 in the table, finishing top of the Europa group instead of Valencia and telling Napoli to bring it on.
Well stated Vetch! You regularly hear Sheerer state that putting in a decent shift and working hard is a given and the least any Pro should be doing, but as Yankee has pointed out, some of our shifts this season have been very half baked, and something that Ivor has rightly been banging on about, and so many chances have gone begging this season, those points that Yankee refers to could well have given us the cushion and mental barrier we needed going into the new year. My concern is that if we get drawn into a dog fight at the bottom we will lose it, as we are not that good at scrapping with bottom clubs, no do we have Martinez 9 lives!....................
We are only "fatigued" in relation to those teams who do NOT have extra European fixtures to play. They are bound to be fresher than our players. Anyone care to argue with that? Okay, the top clubs also have extra games to contend with but they have the money to buy the in depth quality and numbers to deal with it. We don't. Therefore, I believe we are doing quite well under the circumstances and we are playing better than Sunderland, Palace, Cardiff, Norwich, West Ham, Villa and Fulham. Yes, we need to keep it up but we will discover fresh energy when we bow out of Europe and our run in to the end isn't too bad at all. Naturally the worry of relegation is always there but I'm not losing any sleep over it and, if the midfield can find a way to feed Bony, he'll get the goals to keep us in mid table.
Yes I'd like to argue the "fatigued issue, in relation to the other teams, firstly if Europa is so important to Laudrup which it obviously is, then we need to bow out of the FA cup, which we probably will considering the MANU fixture, that will leave us to concentrate on the Europa and League. As for the other teams not in the Europa, well they still have to cope with both the League Cup and FA Cup, I know the games are not so demanding, but still those clubs have to manage those extra games to, so it's not all one sided with the fatigue issue, and I still think that Professional footballers should be preparing for the extra fitness needed, not going the opposite direction on fitness and performances, such as Routledge who is having a very poor season, you'd think players of his maturity and experience would be up for the challenge, hell this is a game of football, not a back breaking shift down the mines!.....................
Given all of these protein shakes and recovery drinks they take, they shouldn't be fatigued (unless they are a load of rubbish of course) and shouldn't be used as an excuse. If rugby players in the 70s could be working down mines all week and then go on to win grand slams etc then surely our players can play one or two games a week. Not to mention our game is built upon keeping possession, so it's not as if we are chasing the ball every game, as we are the ones in control of the thing.
Of course there have been issues at the club with Graham and Lita on the town the night before, Booze and drugs are deadly for sharpness the day after, I'm not saying any of our boys are currently up to this, but it is a problem generally with a percentage of footballers.
This also in response to Dragon's post. By our/normal standards, of course pro footballers shouldn't be fatigued but don't try telling me that if we play on a Saturday, then travel overseas to play a midweek game, travel back and then play another game on Sunday, we'll be as fresh as opponents who have NOT had to do any of that? Of course they will be fresher than us - all common sense and logic dictates that. (And I daresay that every manager and player in the Premier League will tell you the same thing). They will also have had the benefit of valuable time on the training ground working on tactics, shape, fitness etc etc etc etc. Every team who has played in the Europa has experienced "fatigue" in the league and their form has suffered because of it. Why should we be any different? I knew this would happen because it has happened to other teams with bigger squads than ours but I embraced Europe because we don't know when we will get there again... if ever. I have no doubt that had we not had Europe to contend with, we would be many points better off and none of this hand-wringing would be appearing all over this board. Should we fight to stay in the FA Cup? I would say yes but I know it will come at a price if we do.
Good point Valley, I have just read Dai Morris' book and he literally went from a morning shift at the pit and drove to Cardiff to play for Wales! I have no doubt at all we will be in the top 13 and hopefully the top 10 come the end of the season. I have mixed feelings about the FA cup it would be nice to make a fist of it but not at the expense of our PL form. I expect both ourselves and Utd make a lot of changes for the cup game.
Exactly glam, my parents know the 'Shadow', and if people like him could work in mines and then play international rugby in the afternoon, I see no reason why footballers can't play twice a week. Hell it's only 180 minutes of football, it's not as if it's a strenuous job. Like others have said, do soldiers etc complain of fatigue? With sports science etc to aid recovery periods I.e. Ice baths, tiredness shouldn't be a major problem, especially when Laudrup is rotating the sides so some players are only playing once a week.
Ivor makes a valid point about the travel time, but we charter our own team plane, and I'm sure they get VIP treatment to Europe with average travel time of 3 hours?
