Welcome one and welcome all to the match thread for todays game against Real Betis. Swansea City vs Real Betis The Liberty Stadium Saturday 6th of August 2011 3PM Kickoff Tickets 25 pound For travel information to the Liberty Stadium click HERE -------------------------------- The Match Swansea look to culminate their pre-season preparations with a victory over Real Betis, newly promoted, like the Swans, from the second tier of their league system (albeit after a shorter hiatus). Some information about our opponents lifted from Wikipedia; Real Betis Balompié S.A.D. is a Spanish football club based in Seville, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded on 12 September 1907, it currently plays in La Liga, holding home games at Estadio Benito VillamarÃn. Amongst other titles, the club - who holds the distinction of being the first from the region to compete in La Liga - won the top division league in 1935, adding two Copa del Rey trophies. Both the King of Spain Juan Carlos I and his son Prince Felipe de Borbon are honorary members of the club. Maintaining an historic city rivalry with Sevilla FC, its motto is Viva er Betis manque pierda! ("Long live Betis even when they lose!"). -------------------------------- Prior form; The Swans have had a preseason which included games against local sides (Port Talbot Town, Neath, Afan Lido), as well as games during their Austrian training camp, before most recently defeating Celtic FC 2-0 at the Liberty Stadium in their first appearance there since triumphing at Wembley in the playoff final. After a timely boost to their confidence against the first "real" test we've had this summer, the Swans will be looking to garner a further confidence boost in front of their own fans by defeating Betis. Real Betis are mounting an assault on La Liga, and will also be looking to gain a win to boost squad morale by winning their penultimate friendly, ahead of their match with Juventus on the 13th. Interestingly, their first "regular season" game is at home to Sevilla, their biggest rivals, so they'll really be up for getting game time in preparation for that. Here is a breakdown of their pre-season results up until now; 20/7/11 v Olympique de Marseille (in Bayonne, France), Kopa Baiona (0-1) 23/7/11 v Girondins de Bordeaux (in Bayonne, France), Kopa Baiona (0-2) 25/7/11 v Real Unión & Osasuna (in Irún, Spain, 45 minutes v. each side) (2-0, 0-1) 30/7/11 v Havant & Waterlooville (A) (7-0) 3/8/11 v Newport County (A) (3-0) 4/8/11 v Neath (A) (8-0) While they have put a lot of goals on a lot of teams, I'm still confident the Swans will gave them a very good game. It'll be nice to see two teams get the ball down and play it, as Betis have a history of playing passing football too (which obviously pre-dates our link with good football!). ------------------------------------- Trivia; ---------------------------- Completely guessed lineups (this is getting easier as the season approaches...) Swansea City Moreira Rangel Taylor Williams Caulker Britton Augustien Dobbie Sinclair Dyer Graham Real Betis I can't even begin to guess their lineup, so here is a link to their squad Clicky Team News For the Swans, Wayne Routledge is likely to feature and I fancy him to play the second half on one of the wings, and Leroy Lita is probably going to get close to a half up front. Be that alongside or in place of Danny Graham, I don't know, but it'll be interesting to see, in our last friendly, what team and shape Brendan goes with. Also it'll be good to see how our level of technique squares up with that of a technically proficient side from a country where passing football is the standard aim, and long ball really is looked down on. They should have a lot of nous and guile, so our central midfielders will need to have their heads screwed on and move the ball out quickly if we're to control possession as we normally do. Betis have been training in Cardiff this week, with Iriney Santos and Rubén Castro taking full part in training yesterday and showing no ill effects from doing so. Betis have more or less a full squad to choose from. ------------------------------- Key Battles Williams & Caulker vs Castro/Molina In their last test before going up against, potentially, Tevez & Aguero, Williams and Caulker will be looking to firm up a potentially excellent defensive partnership. Molina can handle himself so expect the boys to have a little bit of a rough time, while they'll have to guard from clever passes played in behind. Betis have been scoring goals for fun (at least against lesser opposition) and the strikers will be full of confidence, so the first 10 or 20 minutes will be key and we need to make sure we shut up shop so they don't fancy it from the first opportunity they have. ---------------------------------- Brendan Rodgers before the upcoming game; ---------------------------------- While our pre-season hasn't exactly set the world alight, the recent game with Celtic gave us something to smile about. When you compare Betis' results against teams we've also played against, it might look alarming but I'd be surprised if they were indeed an indication of a gulf in class between the two teams. Betis are likely to have toured with, and started games with, close to their first 11, whereas we have been putting out teams of players with, until the Celtic game, very much a non-first XI. In goals, it remains to be seen if Tremmel or Moreira will get the nod, but I'd imagine the Portuguse will get the nod as he is contracted to the club and must be considered our first choice keeper by now unless a signing is imminent. In defence the team sheet is writing itself, with last seasons back four of Rangel, Monk, Williams and Taylor looking stronger (sorry Garry) by swapping Monk for Caulker. I'm very excited by the young Spurs centre-back, and I have a feeling he'll be a signing along the same lines as Borini, looking a class above, but the difference is we have him all season. Very good. In midfield, unless Brendan decides to start Routledge, it's likely to be Dyer and Sinclair on the wings, and then 3 of our central midfielders fighting it out. At a punt (and there is no science behind this) I've gone for Britton, Augustien and Dobbie, but Allen, Gower, Bodde and Harley will all be looking to stick their oar in and have a say on that front. Up front, we've got options now. Like Routledge, Lita might get the nod if Brendan decides to see how he fits in with our system from the off, but I fancy Graham to get the nod again this close to the start of the season. I'd imagine in the second half, Lita will either swap with Graham with half an hour to go, or maybe come on at half time to play alongside him for a while at least, before some more substitutions are made. I have to say by signing Lita AND Graham, I do wonder whether Buck plans on utilising more than one forward a couple of times this year. This should be a very, very good test of how much our "tappa tappa" football will stand up to rigourous testing in the Premiership. There's a lot of teams in the Premiership capable of retaining possession just as good as, and better than, we can, so to play a Spanish team completely accustomed to this type of football will be just what the team needs. The full backs will have a tough game tracking the wingers and at the same time being expected to get forward to support the attacks, while Routledge will also need to start forging an understanding with them if he's to be a success at the Liberty. Either way, interesting times, and an interesting match. I hope everyone who's going has a great time and sees some good goals. Scottswans completely guessed (and biased, and normally completely wrong, but sometimes correct, but mostly completely wrong) prediction; Swansea City 2 - 2 Real Betis ---------------------------------- Here's hoping for a quality game and a good attendance. I hope everyone there roars the team on, and hopefully we can get some feedback from attendees as to how the new signings are gelling with the squad.
I spent several days looking at a map of Spain trying to find the city of Betis but I see now they play in Seville. Why didn't you post this sooner, Scott, you could have saved me a lot of time
Hope that's tongue in cheek, Aswan. Cracking article, Scott. I'll be at the game so looking for some decent displays all around the pitch - on our side hopefully.
Thanks, Scott, informative and interesting. As a writer I appreciate the amount of time and effort that is involved in producing these articles. Cheers, mate. Oh, and Swans 2-1!!!!!!
Cheers man, your opinion is one that carries a bit more weight around here than most so it's well appreciated It's a bit harder finding info for pre-season games, but I quite proudly utilised the Spanish language Betis website a little!
Scott, wonderful, informative and interesting. Keep up the good work. I have one minor, and it is minor, point for you; The link how to get to the ground/travel information is a great idea for those visiting for the first time, but it should be published a few days earlier. This should be something for a 'Sticky' on a welcome to the Stadium. Keep up the good work, especially given your location.
Yeah that's a decent shout, I think there was talk about a while back but I think the problem is there are so many things that seem like a good idea for a "sticky" the board soon becomes cluttered. I tried to add mr gullibles comments but I'm right on the character limit! Who'd have thought 10,000 characters would get filled so quickly!
Great article, in the future do you think you could include a part where you talk about where we can listen to the game, or where we can watch it?
Yeah man I'm planning on it. Little hard to find sources at the moment but I'm all over MyP2P like a rash so expect audio and video links as soon as the season is up and running. The first game I might not be in the house when it's on due to it being a monday night, and I'll be in a pub watching it, so I'll stick a load of links up and hope that some of them work!
I've found a couple of live updates that are all still reading 0-0, but no info on the game... http://www.goal.com/en-us/match/64797/swansea-city-vs-betis/play-by-play
0-0 half time, Routledge on for Dobbie as the attacking mid, Allen on for Britton and Tremmel on for Moreira second half. Think there is about 15mins left but I'm only going by text updates from a friend so not up-to-date myself.
