Its where we'll be in May that matters I'm afraid , and I don't think we'll be in 9th spot if we continue this decline
Came to the same conclusion earlier - the sad part is in September I had us gaining 18 - 20 from those fixtures.
I reckon 9-10 points if we are lucky. And that includes winning the home games against Stoke and Hull. Which neither will be easy regardless. The point of the post however was the likes of Dai has always said that Laudrup was **** last season. Now considering we were in the Europa League throughout those games, and **** if you believe Dai, then you would expect Monk to get a much better return without those obstacles in his way, surely? So would be interesting to know Dai's take on those games. And in fact any others who wanted Laudrup sacked. After all this is in comparison to his "terrible" second season, the one they say was worthy of his sacking, ya know, relegation form. So how is the poster boy doing in comparison?
Especially with, imo, better players signed over the last two windows than those who have left (Bony the major exception of course).
Read this on another thread, "Whatever anyone thinks gomis is certainly not Rubbish, He is a quality player who is having trouble with the way we play and once monk finds the right way to use him he will be fine." from the same source who commented Pulis is a great manager and we should expect his team to outplay us. Monk has had Gomis for 7 months, Pulis has had WBA for 7 games. Pulis got his want away striker scoring goals. Even given the difference in experience the outcomes should not be that stark Either Gomis isn't up to the job or Monk isn't.
I have to be honest, I am not entirely sure they are better. Don't get me wrong, they are good players, but I personally feel that a Laudrup team would kill our current team. Vorm, Rangel, Williams, Chico, Davies, Britton, JDG, Routs, Dyer, Hernandez, Bony (bare in mind their form last season, not this) Fab, Naughton, Williams, Fernandez, Taylor, Carroll, Ki, Siggy, Montero, Dyer, Gomis (I use Gomis as Bony is no longer here and not an option for Monk any-more) Other than the lieks of Montero and Siggy, the rest for me are either on par, or a backwards step to what we had last season in terms of form. I know they are a year older, but the team for me should be getting better, not worse.
Base on this and last season. My ideal line up (bold for this seasons players) ------------------Vorm-------------------- Rangel - Chico - Williams - Davies --------------JDG----Ki------------------ Routs----------Siggy--------Montero ------------------Bony-------------------- Found it hard to decide between Fab and Vorm, but went with Vorm purely for his distribution, which was phenomenal at times.
The truth is not one of us as Swansea fans want Monk to fail. We just don't, but where some of us are open to his flaws as well and that as real fans concern us. Some fans need to take their rose tinted glasses off and actually look at what he is doing, he has done some things very well, but no one can deny he has fallen well short on an awful lot of things as well.
Not for me , only because how many with excluding the balls up against liverpool ? ,goals have we conceded because of miss kick or because the balls gone into touch. If we were playing at pace and looking to counter quickly then you're probably right but we're not and imo Fab hasn't let us or himself down and is the better keeper
I am not basing my team selection on this seasons play style as I do not like it, last season we were pretty offensive, and getting up quick, not to mention with Bony as the main striker a good distribution up to him could lead to some very effective attacks being created. Or playing it quick out to Montero to run at them. Some of our best goals of recent seasons have been team goals that have started from the keeper. That is because as the keeper gets the ball, their players tend to be pushed up, so good distribution would lead to attacks. At the same time some of our goals conceded were due to keepers being poor in the air from set pieces, but I prefer the attacking side myself over the defensive. So will always go for the distributing keeper. That does not mean to say I don't think Fab is a great keeper, and our best signing this season.But I have a soft spot for a keeper who is a good distributor as he could create attacks from a good pass whilst the opposition team was getting back into position from their own attack.
Vorm is the top distributor in the PL by a million miles imo. Watching him in warm up used to be one of the highlights of a match day visit. He could literally kick the ball from dead and pop it into a basket on the half way line. Me and my son used to watch him and shake our heads at each other in awe of his accuracy - and he would replicate it 20 minutes later by placing the ball from 50 yards on to Nathan Dyers head, something we don't see any more. Having said that, Vorm had a poor second season by his standards probably due to his injury against Man City, so I am more than happy to have Fab in goals. His ability to pluck a cross out of the air is something we've missed for a number of years.
Swans makes a good point about Vorm's distribution (I'd have Fab every time and work on his distribution or find ways to compensate) but we rarely win the ball in midfield, almost not at all without Wilf, but the majority of clearances are long and high which more often than not gives the ball away or makes players battle for possession. This could well be the reason we spend so much time defending the edge of the area!
for once I will defend Monk, he has to manage the crap players he has, whose fault is it the club bought Gomis and did not get rid of Dyer, Routledge, Taylor, Shelvey etc, if it is Monks SACK HIM. tbh the crap the club has bought and didn't sell is beyond belief, the crap they wern't sold is probably no club wanted them
I have to say Valley I don't think he has, His signings have been very good with one glaring exception. I think the issues run a bit deeper than his signings (maybe a job as chief scout), Its moulding those players in to a side worthy of the football Swansea are known for, that is where he is struggling.
Well he has publically stated that we have an extended break to work on the attacking and passing side of our game etc before Man Utd next week, so there can be no more excuses if we are as poor as we were v WBA next week
The WBA away game I predicted swans a 1-2 win, I could not watch this game unfortunately but my guess would be WBA simply wanted it more. In fairness this was always going to be a really tough game and probably the exact type of game Laudrups team would lose if they were on 34 pts after 25 games. It's tough and I thik monk needs to feel some love from the supporters, and he did put in a brilliant tackle.. IF the quality players are all wanting to go aat the end of the season then it's important to consider a new manager..
