.......on getting through the 40 point barrier so early in the season. You can put your feet up and take a rest for the next game which happens to be against.............. us In all honesty, apart from the fixture against the Swans, I hope you do well for the rest of the season and get into a Champions League spot. It will make a refreshing change.
When we came up I looked to Swansea as an example of a promoted side who did better than everyone expected. I know we've been in the PL before, but I think a lot of people like to see 'new' sides come good. I suppose we'll know we've really arrived when neutrals want us to lose. Best of luck this season (apart from next weekend).
I think the wind has gone out of Swansea's sails with the loss of Wilfried Bony. They need to invest that money pretty damn quickly, if they want to do something this season. If they don't mind being mid-table [that ambition won't go down well with prospective new strikers], then they should invest it next summer as early as possible. Good luck, but not against us, obviously.
As we know, selling a player for good money isn't a disaster if you reinvest well, but I'd be unhappy if I was a Swansea fan.
I didn't look at Swansea as an example. They are a frugal club with overhyped managers that all 'play nice football' yet flatter to decieve more often than not. Add to that their fans after 1 season were telling us what to expect in the Premier League. Before this season (snd probably last) I would say I set Everton as a benchmark meaning a well run team that regularly challenged at the top end of the league with a good manager backed as well as the club could manage. As I say that was a benchmark meaning if we managed what they do/did then it would have been an amazin achievment. As a realistic aim I would have used Newcastle as an example. Top team with good fans, hold their own in the PL and bar a couple of relegations have been there for ages. We equaled the Newcastle aim last season. We have passed both that aim and the Everton benchmark this year. A team from Wales that is well run but has no ambition whilst believing it has should not be an example for us.
Yes but Everton aren't and never have been a promoted side which was the original point. Swansea were. They also qualified for Europe whilst playing attractive football and, like Saints have a policy of playing the same style right through the club. I think there's plenty to admire.
we'll agree to disagree then. If any of the Saints board stated that they had seen Swansea as an example then I would question their ambition. Watch them park the bus against us!!! That will tell us all we need to know. they might still win but they don't play very attractive football. Occasionally the play a nice passing game but they never look like thrashing anyone. I am alludin to our first year back when their fans were telling us what we should expect and what our expectations should be when they had only just got there. Did none of them know the Premier League / top flight before they got there? They seemed to forget we had been there for a long long time only a few years prior. Should Hull or West Brom or Fulham have been telling us this? I hope we show them what ambition is in a couple of weeks
TBF, I don't think they know how to park the bus. They can only play one way, and that is pass and pass, and pass again. Sometimes they are spectacular in their beautiful moves, and then when they lose possession they are very much at their second best. It's really no surprise that Chelsea put 5 past them without breaking sweat. When Swansea are good, they are very, very good indeed. But their game is suited to a great pitch and not grinding away at a match to get a result. If anything, the St Mary's pitch will suit them. Problem for them is, it suits us too.
Fran said "When we came up I looked to Swansea as an example of a promoted side who did better than everyone expected" that was all. Everton simply cannot be included in this conversation. If any of the Saints board had said what Fran said, I would have applauded them.
Not quite sure why Swansea wouldn't be a club to be admired in any instance. They might not be pushing straight on the CL or anything, but given their resources their progression has been remarkable, and their player recruitment has been just as good as ours. And while they might not go around thrashing people, I've watched them routinely outplay the moneyed sides. Isn't a hell of a lot there to dislike.
Although I agree that Swansea aren't all that, I am beginning to suspect that Impsaint either lost his first love to a Swansea docker, his child hood sweetheart who dumped him at the altar was from Swansea or it peed down with rain when he went to South West Wales on holiday last summer
Which is why I said Newcastle And no I didn't lose my first love to a Swansea docker, nor a Fulham, Wigan or Cardiff (worker) when they were playing at Lincoln's level Just I never bought into the Martinez hype or the Rodgers hype and their fans annoyed me the year we came up telling us 'what to expect'. We f****n know what to expect you pretenders. We was 'ere before for a long long time. Oh and never been to South Wales. Been to North Wales. Snowdonia, the beaches and all that
Perhaps it's just my terrible memory, but I remember only one, and that individual is somewhat notorious for his conviction that most of the Premier League (including Swansea) is nailed on for the drop every season. Sometimes suspect that he has the table upside-down, with the drop line landing below third.
