Sig wants to sign and the club are in negotiation with Hoffenheim. We are virtually unanimous about him signing but, of course, it all depends on price. As you know, we have to watch the pennies. Unfortunately!! If Caulker returns to Spurs we will definitely need a centre back - might go for one in any event as cover. Ours is a thin squad for the PL so we could do with players all over the shop. We seem to be OK in midfield but will be looking to strengthen at the back and up front - we are actually looking at a 6ft 8" centre forward and the thing is he's more than useful on the deck. Would make Andy Carroll look like a midget, eh? There are lots of options out there but BR insists that whoever comes in has to be good on the ball and comfortable in possession which makes it a pretty tough ask on our budget. Luckily, he's good at spotting players from the lower leagues, and from abroad, who can be coached into our system. Second season syndrome? We are very aware of it. We did OK in our first season and intend to add some quality to make us better for the second. We should be fine because our style differs to that played by most teams, so we present a different type of challenge. If we can add some decent firepower to what we've got I fancy us to stay up. But then you never can tell so we won't be taking anything for granted.
I hate to say it but in terms of dealing with few pennies and coping with a thin squad you can look at Everton as a good example of how to cope (gritted teeth there). As you say it's about buying to fit into the teams style and that aint so easy when it requires a higher technical level of skill. Not impossible though so I hope he sticks to his principles. I think the second season will be tougher especially after raising expectations somewhat. Partly this can be down to a level of complacency within a squad but more i think it is simply down to other good Prem managers having had a chance to witness what you're about first hand. Unfortunately you might see fewer teams quite so eager to play an open expansive game against you next year and thus it can become trickier (especially at home) to break down those teams who will be happy with a point away from home.
second season is always harder but i think we have a manager who will strengthen in the right places, he acknowledges that we lack fire power up front and he will rectify that, it has been our biggest let down this season not being able to finnish.....we will probably bring in 3 or 4 new players who we will have to bed in to our way of playing and when that happens then i think we will have an even better season than this one.....we are going in the right direction and with siggs wanting to stay with us then there wont be many teams better than us.....
That's what I mean about over confidence seriously though I wish you lot all the best for the future, what a fairytale it must be for those who suffered through the hard times eh...I'm looking forward to tomorrow just hope we stuff you (obviously).
This is what thousands of swans fans will look and sing like at todays game ! [video=youtube_share;GEdhGKoLAL8]http://youtu.be/GEdhGKoLAL8[/video] And this is what a lot of scousers will look like when we score ! [video=youtube_share;H_81lFc-qrc]http://youtu.be/H_81lFc-qrc[/video] No offence you are the best of all the reds and very welcome here 2-1 home win carefull where you park your cars or we`ll av your alloys !
Well I'm glad you'll all be wearing elvis outfits rather than your usual attire please log in to view this image And here's the obligatory one: please log in to view this image
Well, Arsenal4life, I expect you could possibly be right. Who knows? I expect you will also remember that you were extremely fortunate to nick a win against us at the Emirates and I expect you will further recall losing to us at the Liberty - outplayed at your own game (media and pundit's reports, not mine) by a team that cost a fraction of yours. My point is that we established credibility in our first season despite all the doom and gloom forecasts vis a vis our survival in the Premier League. As it happens we won more games and gained more points against teams from the top half of the division than we did from those in the bottom half. On that evidence I would not say that it is a foregone conclusion we will go down, particularly as we will add quality before next season. On the other hand we might struggle, who can tell? I think that superswan is being overly optimistic when he talks about, "won't be many team better than us". Of course there will and I think he knows it too. Thing is, most Swans' fans believe that we will be better than about a half dozen other teams, which will be enough to keep us up. Personally, I will be delighted if we finished in 17th place. That means survival and at least a third season which will give us more money to further improve our team. I hope we can do it but if we don't we will go down trying to play our football and will never resort to route one stuff to stay up.
I think people have to understand that second season syndrome really is not about the team being found out tactically. It is more about the players mentality and desire. When you stay up in the PL people want bigger contracts to match what others around them are on. A club cannot afford improving everyone's contract, so it obviously causes resentment and friction between some players and management when one player gets a raise and the other does not. That can damage team spirit, which is something very important in most PL teams and its something that makes the team work that little bit extra together. Then you've got the fact that some players believe they belong at the level and have made it, which is not bad, but then they try being too clever in some situations OR they put 100% into games instead of the usual 110% they did last season, which could've been the difference between survival and relegation. The other bad thing for teams that stay up is they venture towards the world of foreign/big name signings for big money, now that is sometimes a good thing (see Newcastle) but you get teams like Hull who overload their team with these type of players and end up having a team that has no team spirit and has no connection to the fans whatsoever. I do not think this will happen to Swansea because the players know that what they're learning and being a part of at Swansea is much more important than that 10/20% wage rise to match other teams players around them. And also they have one of the shrewdest men in football in charge of their club in Huw Jenkins and I don't think he'll let anyone be wasteful with his money. So I think Swansea will still be in the premier league for the 2013/14 season. And an even stronger team by that time.
Geraldine ! you know her first name do you know her mate Julie suarezzz too ? the real Steveee G before he became a legend [video=youtube_share;o4vxN9vP3mg]http://youtu.be/o4vxN9vP3mg[/video]
This typical Jack looks more like Elvis Costello than Elvis Presley. [video=youtube;yqMTtd4dl8U]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqMTtd4dl8U&feature=relmfu[/video]
Fattest nation in Europe, so definitely more "later years" Elvis than the early, hip-thrusting version...
Some swansea fans have already tweeted pics of themselves getting ready for the game please log in to view this image
