please log in to view this image ............................................... please log in to view this image Swansea City................................... vs ...................... Fulham The Liberty Stadium Swansea Referee Jonathan Moss Sat 10-12-11 15:00 PM KO For links to watch the game online, click HERE Welcome one and all to the match thread for the game between Swansea City and Fulham. Swansea are looking to get back to winning ways after failing to pick up maximum points in any of their last four games. Fulham come into the game on the back of a rousing result against Liverpool, albeit a game where they benefited from a slice of luck on one or two occasions. It seems that match is doomed to be remembered for something else, Suarez's gesture to Fulham fans, for which he has been subsequently charged. The last time these two sides met was in February 2009, in the FA cup, firstly with a 1-1 draw at the Liberty Stadium before Swansea were defeated at the Cottage 2-1 in the replay. Fulham do not have a good record away at Swansea and they'll be looking to remedy that. The Match; Swansea are at home for the third time in four games, and will be looking to pick up their first three points since Bolton visited the South Wales coast. After a demoralising defeat in Lancashire, Brendan Rodgers' charges will look to learn the lessons of a loss where, despite the "basic" nature of Blackburn's football, they were possibly beaten tactically. A big, powerful Fulham team who also play tidy football will no doubt be a stern test. Fulham travel to Swansea for the fixture and the thing that jumps out for me is their goal-shyness. 3 goals in their last 4 games isn't, by any means, free-scoring, and that combined with the Swans stinginess in defence at home should mean we see a tactical battle on Saturday a little light on goals. Obviously, football always has the potential to throw prior form and expectations out of the window, but on paper this looks like it'll be a low scoring game. Prior Form; (most recent at top) Blackburn Rovers 4 - 2 Swansea City Premier League Swansea City 0 -0 Aston Villa Premier League Swansea City 0 -1 Manchester United Premier League Liverpool 0 - 0 Swansea City Premier League Swansea City 3 -1 Bolton Premier League Fulham 1 - 0 Liverpool Premier League FC Twente 1 - 0 Fulham Euro League Arsenal FC 1 - 1 Fulham Premier League Sunderland 0 - 0 Fulham Premier League Fulham 1 - 3 Tottenham Premier League Team News; Swansea are sweating on the fitness of Danny Graham but Leroy Lita should step in so that's not a major worry for Brendan Rodgers. Rangel remains out so he has a choice of Jazz Richards or a newly fit Steven Caulker to fill in at right back, while he'll need to make a decision on who'll replace the suspended Joe Allen in central midfield, with Luke Moore looking likely to step in. Tate and Bodde remain sidelined. Fulham should have both Damien Duff and Steve Sidwell back in contention, returning from a calf injury and minor hernia operation respectively. Grygera is still sidelined cruciate damage, and the game will probably come too soon for Danny Murphy who hobbled off against Liverpool late on. Trivia; - "Courtesy" of Opta Completely guessed lineups; Swansea Vorm Caulker Taylor Williams Monk Britton Gower Moore Sinclair Routledge Lita Fulham Schwarzer Kelly Riise Hangeland Senderos Dempsey Duff Sidwell Etuhu Dembele Zamora Key Battles; Any Fulham player over 5'11" vs The SCFC Defence Looking through the Fulham line up, I see Senderos, Hangeland, Dempsey, Sidwell and Zamora, who I know to be good in the air. I can't say I know a great deal about how good Duff, Etuhu and the rest are aerially, but just with the aforementioned threats the Swans could be in trouble. Anyone watching the Blackburn vs Swansea game last weekend could see that the easiest way to deal with Swansea's gameplan is to bypass the midfield, which is exactly what they did. Hitting it long to Yakubu and others worked a treat, and the result of 4-2, despite only having 32% possession, couldn't be argued with. If I was Martin Jol, I'd be saying to hit it long, and play for set pieces where they can hang the ball up at the back post and play off knock-downs... Brendan Rodgers ahead of the game; Martin Jol on conflicting priorities; Analysis; As I've alluded to already, unless something radical happens I can't see this being a high scoring game. Both sides pride themselves on being solid defensive units, and Swansea's ball retention threatens to cancel out Fulham's physical attributes, making a 0-0 a distinct possibility, a lá Villa. Unlike any Alex McLeish team, however, Fulham are under the instruction of a man who likes his teams to play some football, and Jol will no doubt have analysed the Swans' style in an attempt to work out how best to tackle the men from South Wales. Fulham have serious physicality in the squad, and Hangeland and Senderos in particular I expect to be told to get forward at every opportunity and head to the back post. Even if the Swansea back-line have an outstanding game, there'll still be occasions where a Fulham player "sits one up" at the back post for someone to knock back across goal, and the prospect of that needs to be addressed as it's definitely somewhere the Swans will be attacked every week if they don't remedy that particular ailment sooner rather than later. It seems Luke Moore is going to start in the hole behind Leroy Lita, and while it may be detrimental to our ball retention, I think it's a good option. Easily as technically gifted as Stephen Dobbie (the other contender for that position), a sterling performance and he could realistically be in with a starting shout for the next few games too. He, along with Leroy Lita (and quite probably Wayne Routledge in the place of Nathan Dyer, too) will be looking to grab their chances in the starting eleven and not let them go. The one issue here may be that Fulham do have a busy, combative midfield, and I'm worried that Gower, Britton and Moore just won't have enough between them to retain the ball. The Swans should look to move the ball forward with more urgency than usual to avoid being mugged and overrun in midfield. Stephen Kelly & John Arne Riise are two players who I think will be targeted by Rodgers. With pace in abundance out wide, expect Routledge and Sinclair to consistently run at their men in the hope of getting in around the back. Neither defender is particularly slow (although Riise is getting on a bit...) but the Swans have real pace and will be looking to use this to cause problems. Lastly, I expect Buck to go with Caulker at RB in place of Jazz Richards. Jazz performed solidly at Blackburn (completing 82 passes, more than any Blackburn player) but the added height and physicality Caulker can bring to the table, coupled with years of specific defensive training, would be enough for me to include him in the lineup at the possible expense of a little width. For me, this is going to be a low scoring game, 1-0, 0-0, 0-1, but I'm going to go with a Swansea win (for a change). Iechyd Da. Scott Scottswan's famously biased, ill-fated and banned prediction; Swansea City 1 - 0 Fulham FC
very tough game that is a must win but confidence has gone out of the team and we may struggle as fulham are on a high at the moment. sorry but i have gone for a fulham win 2-0.....please let me be wrong...
Granted, but the only team who've beaten us at the Liberty since February are the league champions, so I'm still confident of a result.
Scott, thanks for that extremely well-balanced summary. I think you've hit the nail on the head by pointing out that our strengths and weaknesses are basically the same - great in defence, not so good going forward. This is a game that I think most Fulham fans feel we can win if we play the way we did against Arsenal and Liverpool. However, there is every chance we won't do that and, as you guys have already mentioned, we don't travel well and if the Swans can sneak a goal past Schwarzer and your solid defence does its thing I can see you winning 1-0. Either way I think there will be only one goal in it (if any) and the game will be last on MOTD (not uncommon for us).
I've got the choice between Vorm and Schwarzer to play in my fantasy league team this week. The amount of umming and ahing I've done says how hard I'm finding it to read this one. In the end I've gone for Vorm, partly because that way if I'm wrong I'll still be happy! As the OP said, we've not scored a lot lately, but I feel we're due to put a lot past someone. The last time I felt like that we did QPR 6-0. Then again, Swansea's keeper is a lot better than QPR's and your defence a lot better organised. Bobby Zamora has been out of sorts for the last few games, which is also a concern for us. As Penguin says, I don't forsee a lot of goals, and wouldn't like to predict which way it will go. We could certainly do with the points though, to keep a bit of momentum going.
Nice thread again Scott. Agree with Dai, this is a must win game for us, a loss would put us down a bit nearer the bottom three. Like the rest so far, I think this one will be decided by the odd goal in a low scoring game. I think we need a strong midfielder who can draw the defenders away from the defence. Once the defenders are drawn towards that midfielder, the way is open for us to score. This is the sort of thing I mean: please log in to view this image ..................................................................
Nice thread Scott - good to see a match thread started with balance and goodwill. I have to agree about likely low score. Obviously, I'll go for Fulham (though head says 0-0 and last on MOTD is most likely). After tomorrow, we wish you good luck - a team that deserves the Prem - a real belief in passing fottball.
The last time I watched Fulham play us was in the Cup at the Liberty, a few season's back, and I remember Simon Davies, saying after the match how impressed he was with our game, and how he was chasing shadows, hope we can do the same again tomorrow. I think that we really need to have our concentration levels high tomorrow as Fulham have started to find some form, though we do have the home advantage, I'm going for a Swansea win, 2-0, though my head says a draw, as we just can't seem to click up front yet. Scott where is Agustien?? surely he should be our replacement for Joe Allen........................... please log in to view this image PS: Stephen Caulker, and Danny Graham have both been cleared fit for Saturdays game, good news indeed, feel bit more confident now!.............. please log in to view this image
Thanks for all the kind words folks. Dragon - no Augustien because I don't think he'll play! If there weren't so many enforced changes I think he might start, but as it is we'll have a change at right-back, attacking midfield, and probably on the wings and up front as well... so I think, or rather I think Buck will think, that another un-needed change will be asking for trouble. Continuity is one of the reasons we've done so well over the last few years, and it says something that Dyer possibly being dropped for Routledge is one of the first "unenforced" changes we've made this season!
Is the Dyer/Routledge issue about current form? My perception is that Dyer is a greater threat - but that might be based on Wayne being fairly dull when with us.
Yes I would agree that Dyer is generally the greater threat Tosh, but he's taken a fair bit of kicking from Villa and Blackburn recently, and as Routledge has come into some good form, Dyer may well be rested, even if he doesn't start, still think he'll come off the bench at 60 minutes, unless Routledge has a blinder!............. please log in to view this image
I think Routledge has looked consistently good when played on the wing, and given that's his natural position it's to be expected he'll perform better there than in the more central position we saw him in earlier this season. Dyer and Sinclair are very different players, and while both have been struggling for the proverbial "end product" Dyer generally has less goals and assists in him, so I think that's why he'd be dropped for Routledge ahead of Sinclair.
Buck thought Sinclair had a blinder against Blackburn and he's been talking him up saying that the goals will start flowing from him soon. Given that, I really don't see him benching Sinclair for this one - it would go totally against what he's been saying and would hammer Sinclair's confidence. Can't see it myself...... but you never know.
Yeah he's been all over that in the press, and I think it's a "horses for courses" situation. It's becoming increasingly apparent to me that Sinclair isn't a "drop him to inspire a good performance" kind of player, and hopefully the kind words will do the trick!
Top class thread Scott!! Tough one to call, just hoping the Swans will have enough in the locker to sneak it. 1-0 to us please......
We need something to put Fulham off their game please log in to view this image Hope it does`nt put us off our game.
