He fielded a very weakened team, but it's done now Dai, no point in going over this in ever decreasing circles, we will just have to forget this one!..........


**** me Ivor, I love your posts but your pessimism really does my head in. You fall right into the trap of raising expectations when you really need to look at who we are and what we've spent. For ****'s sake we've done brilliantly under Laudrup and have reached a major final.
Let's just wait to see what happens next week. If we finish top half and win the cup you'll feel differently. You're fretting about something that in all probability won't happen.

there is no doubt that we will beat bradford but there was no need to rest players today...what for???
The question has to be asked with the pending negotiations about his contract extension. So, why might he go? Well I'm sure he will see out his existing contract because he is that sort of a man BUT what if we lose at Wembley?
As I see it Laudrup is pinning all his hopes on winning the cup. He has often stated that he loves cup competitions and winning the League Cup would be total vindication of his decision to come to a team with no top level pedigree to speak of. It would be there in the record books for all time that, at his very first attempt, he took an unfashionable club to a major cup final and won it. For a man for whom money probably comes second; for a man who won everything worth winning as a player, I'm sure that this trophy would mean the world to him.
If the unthinkable happens and we lose, particularly as we are overwhelming favourites, I believe that the disappointment would be so hard to bear that he will just see out his contract and move on. Also, I would guess that the players he has lined up, are possibly only prepared to come to us on the expectation of European football and the exposure which that would give them. I doubt they would be so keen to come to a team that flopped on the world stage against a team from the fourth tier.
So, my take is this. Beating Bradford is a must because not only would it be our first major trophy, not only would it prevent us being the subject of total ridicule from those queuing up to take the piss, but also we are playing for the future of our club, by ensuring that one of the brightest young managers in the game is going to pledge his future to us for at least two more years and take us on to even greater heights.
With all this at stake and looking at the many shocks which lower league clubs have produced this season (Eg only yesterday, ARSENAL ffs!!!!!!!!!), I sincerely hope that every single one of the squad that is picked for Wembley, focuses on that game to a degree they never have before. I believe it is that important.
I've heard that Chelsea are going to replace Rafa Benitez with Laudrup this summer.
Resting players might go a bit further than just the Cup Final, I am totally making this up on my own accord meaning I haven't read it and cannot use any credible source, but I suspect ML may have wanted to give the first team a "winter break". We say it works for the European teams, in the long run our boys will have had two weeks off and who knows what that could do for us when April comes around.


Ivor- Superb article and i have to say i was thinking exactly the same thing when i saw the line up against Liverpool. Laudrup see s the cup as a statement of intent and a way to europe where i feel he really wants to test himself with a club which has his brand written all over it.
I think your 100% correct in your assesment of where laudrup is heading. A cup win will mean a signed contract an embarrassing loss would probably damage him more than the players and he may well decide to walk away after his contract runs out!!
i feel this is a very delicate time and getting stuffed by Liverpool really hasnt helped matters, if i was him i would be thining about how easy it is for players like Bartley,kemy,itay,lamaar,monk etc to damage a reputation that has been in pretty good health since coming to Swansea.
His reaction to the defeat spoke volumes for me, in every great footballer there is a massive desire to win and be the best,very few acheive that but Laudrup has, apart from being extremely talented there is a part of him that would have been disgusted by what he saw on the field of play at Liverpool,application was zero and to the likes of laudrup that would be completely unexcceptable!
Can he fully trust the players on the field? judging by his reaction i think he felt let down and it opened up alot of questions for him in terms of selection and attitude. I think he finally realised that he works with mentally inferior players and it could raise a few doubts about what standard he gets to work with in the future .
The Bradford game will tell us everything we need to know, the liverpool hammering could well be a blessing in disguise and it will focus the players minds as to what is required. Laudrup is a winner and players need to realise that they either put it in 100% or they **** off from the club! Laudrups statement of "learning alot for the future " is a great indicator of what he thinks of some of the players after that shower of ****e yesterday,coaching in europe is an ambition of our manager,not perhaps to put himself in the window but probably more because he beleives he can use his experience and do well there for the Swans.He is prepared to give it 100% so the players should follow that lead, they were just flown to Dubai and back in a private boeing 757 with armchairs and double beds so the club is doing everything it can to be professional and give them the best! the players need to keep their end of the bargin, laudrup will only want ot work with people that want to improve and and win.
All roads lead to wembley, victory will secure his signiture and give him european football,defeat may start the begining of the end,it will prove to him the players lack that level of mental toughness needed to become successful in the pressure games, laudrup may think he is flogging a dead horse and cut his losses.

Dai: "All our previous managers were active in the community and attending functions and opening things and getting to know the Swansea public."
...and they all left when an offer came along did't they? Rodgers gave us the old "wonderful city" guff and we bought it. Most fans don't give a ****. It's results that count.
Just a thought is he registered as a player manager just thinking like![]()

He would leave for bigger club at the drop of a hat like any other manager would.


