(From the Swans site) . . . pre-match build-up to friendly at the Goldsands Stadium The Swans head to the South Coast for their latest pre-season friendly as they take on Bournemouth at the Goldsands Stadium on Friday night (7.30pm). With the Swans also due to play Reading on Saturday, manager Garry Monk is expected to name a side combining the club's young talent and first-team fringe players against the Cherries. Rory Donnelly is ruled out of both matches as he faces an ankle operation that will sideline him for three months while Jordi Amat (hamstring), Chico Flores (back), Marvin Emnes (knee cartilage) and Leon Britton (knee) also miss out. Right-back Angel Rangel is included in the squad, however, after the Spaniard recovered from the dead leg which saw him miss the midweek win at Plymouth. The Swans take on a Bournemouth side featuring Shaun MacDonald, who spent six years as a pro at the Liberty before moving to the South Coast club. Bournemouth finished six points off the play-off spots in the Championship last season, with Eddie Howe's team having won six of their nine pre-season friendly matches. Squad for Bournemouth and Reading friendlies Gerhard Tremmel, Lukasz Fabianski; Angel Rangel, Dwight Tiendalli, Jazz Richards, Liam Shephard; Ashley Williams, Kyle Bartley, Scott Tancock; Neil Taylor, Stephen Kingsley, Raheem Hanley; Ki Sung-Yueng, Jonjo Shelvey, Gylfi Sigurdsson, Lee Lucas, Josh Sheehan, Henry Jones, Adam King; Nathan Dyer, Wayne Routledge, Jefferson Montero, Alex Bray; Wilfried Bony, Bafetimbi Gomis, Alex Samuel. Tickets v Bournemouth: Adults - £15 Over 65s/Students* - £10 Under-16s - £7 Family ticket (1 adult, 1 U16) - £20 Wheelchair - £2
(...a Cherries fan's take on matters) AFCB take on Swansea - the pass masters "Gary Monk's Swansea City have a reputation of being a team that passes the ball all day. Built on the legacy of Brendan Rodger's and Brian Laudrup's sides the new look Swansea have not changing their style and have impressed with their prolonged attendance in the Premier League. A few years ago Swansea were in a similar position to AFCB in the Championship and so there is much that Eddie Howe and his team could learn from playing the Swans. Most of the talk at Swansea over the summer has been about Wilfred Bony and whether he would go to Liverpool or not. At the moment signs are that he is staying and that we could see him play at Dean Court. Bony played in Brazil in the World Cup for the Ivory Coast and scored in the group stages against Japan, but the 25 year-old is seen as a target for several Premier League teams having scored 25 times last season. He is powerful, quick, good in the air and will give AFCB's centre back a difficult time. An indication of where Swansea now are was seen by the summer signing of Jefferson Monetro from Mexican club Monarcas Morelia. He is an Ecuadorian international who again featured in the World Cup and can play on the left or right wing. He is joined by Icelandic midfielder Glyfi Sigurdsson who returned to the club in the summer and will be part of a strong midfield. Altogether Swansea have made six summer signings with Monetro and Sigurdsson accompanied by former Lyon striker Bafetimbi Gomis, goal keeper Lukasz Fabianski from Arsenal, Dutch striker Marvin Emnes from Middlesbrough and defender Stephen Kingsley from Falkirk. Swansea have been down in the south west during pre-season and have beaten Plymouth 0-4 and Exeter 0-2 in their last game. The ever present captain and Welsh defender Ashley Williams should be leading the team out against AFCB at Dean Court. I wonder what is the betting that Shaun MacDonald get a chance to share the pitch with one of his former clubs?"
(....and the 'pride of Blaenymaes', the "Welsh Zidane", has this to say to the Bournemouth Echo) AFC Bournemouth's Shaun MacDonald: Leaving Swansea was the right move LIFELONG Swansea supporter Shaun MacDonald is relishing the chance to face his former club and says he has no regrets about leaving the Welsh outfit. MacDonald will be hoping to be given more game time when Cherries host the Premier League Swans in a pre-season friendly at Dean Court tonight (7.45pm). The 26-year-old, who hails from the Blaenymaes area of the city, joined his hometown club as a six-year-old and progressed through the ranks to earn his first pro contract in 2006. MacDonald, who also served Yeovil on loan during his time with Swansea, decided to end his long association with the club when he moved to Dorset three years ago. He told the Daily Echo: “When the move came about, I remember having a positive conversation with Brendan Rodgers and we both decided it was time to leave. I knew that myself because I knew I wasn't going to get much game time there. “There is nothing I can regret and you only have to look at how far we have come in the past three years to see the decision was the correct one. When I first signed here, I said there were a lot of similarities between the clubs and that helped me settle.” MacDonald, who made 24 appearances for Swans and played alongside current boss Garry Monk, added: “It will be good to see some old faces. I still know some of the lads there so it will be good to catch up with them. “Whatever happens, whether I start or come off the bench, hopefully I can get some minutes. We have a strong squad and I am sure everyone will want to play in such a good game to test themselves against Premier League opposition.” MacDonald, who sat out Cherries' defeat by Southampton due to a minor hip problem, returned for the midweek win at Portsmouth and also scored during the victory at Eastleigh. “I have been catching up slightly during pre-season,” added the south Walian. “I had a hernia operation in the summer and missed the first two days of training. I have trained more or less fully since then and everything has gone smoothly. “I am carrying a little niggle but it is nothing serious. I feel I have done well in the games I have played and I am just looking forward to doing well for the team. "I am 100 per cent focused on playing for Bournemouth. I love the club and want to do well for the manager, the players and the fans. "Everyone has been brilliant with me since day one. Without putting pressure on myself, I want to get in the team and enjoy my football. Hopefully, I can kick on.”
Had my tickets for the Villarreal game this morning, hopefully see our strongest 11 start against them.
Not to keep kicking the dog .... but the number of injuries we have had this preseason is alarming. Why? This is the question that has to be asked. Our injuries didn't start happening last season until around November and that's with the burden of Europa and basically two games a week for many weeks. Three sessions a day ... is that still going on. Was this such a good idea? Clearly we are either having injuries due to fatigue, over work and wear and tear .... or, we're playing a bunch of low level teams that are kicking the **** out of us. Do the people in charge of this really have a clue as to what they are doing and the consequences of three sessions a day.
There is a huge discrepancy between last and prior season's incidents of pre-season injuries and this season. We're either **** out of luck or there's a real cause and effect. I don't believe in dumb luck - good or bad. Things always happen for a reason, there is always a cause and effect. You may not know the reason ... or want to recognize and accept the reason ... but that doesn't mean there isn't one. I am open to other explanations - I really am. But ... this season, the one significant difference is three sessions a day. If somebody as an alternative theory post away - bad luck is not a theory. Whatever Monk's intention was in running three sessions a day, the number of pre-season injuries is a hard price to pay .... IMO.
Or ... to put it another way CJ .... more bluntly .... Monk was pissing and moaning about the pre-season regimen of Sousa and Laudrup, and went bleating to HJ about it. Perhaps ... just perhaps ... Sousa and Laudrup had a better understanding of player preparation than Monk. They didn't have a pre-season injury list like this. Perhaps our un-licensed, I know it all, but have never ****ing won anything, couldn't only cut it in the lower leagues Manager needs to hit the books, learn something and get licensed before he ****s up our player roster. There is a reason players have been leaving the Liberty ... they can't all be assholes ... perhaps they know something Monk doesn't ... as in the best practices to train players and to prepare for a season.
Don't forget we were critically low on players mid-season last year. Round Christmastime we had a whole bunch of players out, for various reasons. Vorm, Dyer, Michu (nearly all season), Bony (briefly), Chico (at various times), Pablo (nearly all the time), Shelvey (occasionally), Leon (occasionally), Angel (occasionally). What do you think about that?
There have only been a few that have left and if what I have heard and read in here are true, yes they are arseholes As for training, Monk is doing what he thinks is needed to get us fit. Rather than look for ANY opportunity to knock him, why not wait until a few games this season to see what is what. Then again, maybe some have left because they want a manager who doesn't turn up for training and buggers off to Paris etc
Last season we were playing two games a week quite often. We didn't suffer those injuries, as you correctly list, until November .... when we had played considerably more matches than any other team in the Prem. It would seem to indicate that with heavy load of matches and travel that player personnel were being reasonably well managed in terms of work load and recovery time. Injuries during a season will happen .... especially during a Europa season .... that's why there is a squad. This season, we've just entered August and here we are with an injury list piling up like we're in November in a Europa season. Something's not right.
I'm commenting on what is now. We have a mid-season injury list at the start of August. I'm not knocking, I'm making an observation a blind man could see and asking WTF is going on. Try to give me an explanation instead of stupid nonsense based rumor an innuendo.
Not knocking? You're criticising Monk left right and centre in the previous two posts. Try being supportive for a change
Read my posts. I have not criticized him. I have made an observation of what is, compared to history, found discrepancies, offered an opinion as to cause and effect, and asked others for a viable alternative. I think I clearly stated that I'd love to hear an alternative explanation for our current injury situation. I also asked if three sessions a day is worth the price of injuries. How much more f**ing reasonable do you want me to be. Stop banging your head .... and think.
What would you call this then Yankee? "Perhaps ... just perhaps ... Sousa and Laudrup had a better understanding of player preparation than Monk. They didn't have a pre-season injury list like this. Perhaps our un-licensed, I know it all, but have never f**ing won anything, couldn't only cut it in the lower leagues Manager needs to hit the books, learn something and get licensed before he f**s up our player roster." Hardly supporting him is it?
