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!..........
The team Laudrup selected today only underlines, for me, just how much he values winning the League Cup. If the unthinkable happens and we lose to Bradford, which for all Dai's bullishness IS a possibility, he just might consider seeing out his present contract and call it a day. Some big guns are already sounding him out. If he wasn't disillusioned and felt let down by his players today, he certainly will be if we lose to Bradford. Some things can be tolerated but losing in the wimpish way we did today and then seeing a full strength side being beaten by Bradford on top of it, will certainly stretch his tolerance to the limit. For all my caution, I don't think that will happen and I hope to God it doesn't.
it wont ivor....the only down side is these players who he left out will have had a long time without a competitive match and that is why i was sure he would have played them today so at least they would not be rusty. any player will tell you that if you dont play for a time then you do lose that bit of sharpness, after saying that we should still be to good for a league two side...
**** 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.
KJ, I prefer to think that I'm being realistic. I have said often elsewhere how much I rate Michael Laudrup and been positively gushing about how well we've been doing. I have also said that the cup win and a top ten finish would be a marvellous achievement which would fulfil all my expectations. If you remember, I was the first person to suggest that Laudrup would be a great manager for us and, so far, he has exceeded everything I expected of him. In the right way, I just love everything about the guy. But look at his interview today. I have never seen ML so downbeat, confessing that his team were so outclassed that they could have conceded ten. As he said, he could have accepted (if truth be told, probably expected) defeat by a couple of goals but the complete capitulation by a team he selected just stunned him, as it did me and most of us. From his demeanour, it seemed almost as though he regarded the non-performance of his players as an insult, as being offensive to the standards he has set and what he is trying to achieve with them. If he did think this, I would agree with him. That performance was so bad, it was worse than embarrassing - shameful in every sense of the word would be an apt description: and this will not be conducive to a happy training environment this week when we need confidence and good feeling abounding for one of the most important games in our history. Without a doubt, Laudrup will be dumping some of those players at season's end and I'm guessing that they know who they are. Others who expect to stay will also realise that Laudrup will be signing some pretty stiff competition for their places. This will motivate some players to do better; others will just sulk and mope depending on the personalities involved. Whatever, it is a scenario we could well do without, which might impact on our preparation for Wembley and, by general consensus, the performance today was just about the worst thing that could have happened to us. However, I'm hoping that our dire display will fire the players up to get out and do a number on Bradford. As I've already said elsewhere, if we do that we can consign the rubbish we witnessed today to the back of our minds. But you can bet your arse that Michael Laudrup won't be doing that.
Because like any manager in any walk of life, Sir Mike makes mistakes. NB Sir Mike is going nowhere because he knows which side his bread is buttered. He likes the freedom here. He will stay here this season and next and then take over from Wenger.... unless Wenger gets sacked in the meantime.............
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.
Laudrup wouldn't tolerate the sort of repressive regime that exists at Chelsea with their managers. He had enough of that at his previous clubs which is why he left them. He is his own man and loves the freedom he has with us. He has been given sole responsibility for football matters and allowed to get on with it. Chelsea is the polar opposite and wouldn't interest him one iota.
Must admit that this thought had crossed my mind, as the only reason for such an extended break, and we shall have to see what effect this has on our final third of the season, but good point there VRD, fair play to you!............... Well said Ivor, what Manager in his right mind, wants the giants grave job at Chelski, Rodgers was linked last year, and he refuted any interest he had with the statement, on the lines "I'm building my career not destroying it!" so no way would Laudrup work under that Russian basket case!..................
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.
I have to echo these points by KJ. Its great telling the punters that Swansea is "a beautiful city" and that they will"have to be kicked out of the club" but most realists know that when you hear that type of thing its time to worry!! both rodgers and martinez were politicians who needed the masses to buy into them as they had zero stature in the game ,laudrup is totally different,he doesnt need to say anything to make him popular as his career speaks for itself,he commands respect because of it. I fBrenden and Bobby didnt need the popular vote they would never turn up for any function what so ever! I must add that Laudrup is apparently an extremly humble and polite bloke,exactly the kind of guy that gets his good nature taken advantage of, the best way to avoid that is to not go whoring around to the opening of a crisp packet otherwise he would end up buying the crisps !!
no,but im sure he would have been head and shoulders above at least 7 of our players at Anfield yesterday !! its not like our lot run around alot isit ?? mid 40's laudrup is still probably smoking hot on the pitch!
I felt massively let down by that non performance at Anfield but Laudrup and the players are left with 2 possible reactions: they sulk about it all week and take that feeling into the Final with possibly disastrous consequences OR they learn from their mistakes, put it behind them and come out with all guns blazing (aka West Brom first half). Bradford will be absolutely fired up for this one so its essential we approach it with a positive atiitude. Our confidence took a hammering yesterday so the next game will tell us a lot about the ability and mentality of Laudrup and the players. Beyond that i like to think that regardless of the result Laudrup will be here for the long run, shaping the team he wants.
Yes he would any manager would, we are a stepping stone for laudrup as a taster in the premiership.... the same fans said Martinez wont go...he went. ditto with Brendan, fans were so sure he would stay for the whole of his contract having seen him a few weeks earlier sign an extension......he went. and laudrup will be exactly the same if something gets offered that is to good to turn down.. I'm not expecting him to be here for more than two seasons or less even if he signs an extension himself as thats the way it is...the exact can be said about players but we will survive we always do.....Its no good crying over it and just get on with it....
Managers come, managers go, we seem to have this issue sorted anyway, our board is the real gem, so it doesn't bother me if Laudrup goes this season or next, but it would be nice if we could keep Laudrup for a few seasons, to get some continuity, as he's clearly someone very special. Anyway we are here now focusing on Wembley, and I just hope our boys, put in a shift that will go down in the history of our club, as one of the greatest days ever!..........
I dont remember one person on here saying that they thought Brenden rodgers would stay for the length of his contract. 99.9% were pretty sure he was gonna walk,he just went one season sooner than most expected. Personally, the writing was on the wall when he stopped doing so many interviews and started to distance himself with the local media. All water under the bridge now anyway. Laudrup,of course we can never say what happens in football but i think he is an hounerable person and he has never felt the need to bullshit people in the past,im not sure why he would want to start now. Talk to Danish people about Laudrup and his principles. I work with a few and they all say the same about him, that he is the type that sticks very strongly to his prnciples in life, if that means staying till his contract runs out and walking away then so be it. Im just proud to have a living legend of the game as our manager,its still mind blowing even now!! The more we talk of Laudrup going the more we do him a dis-service, we should be happy and proud and enjoy the good times,there is no point in thinking about "what if" Lets give the guy some credit and respect what we have been told by his fellow countrymen and indeed by laudrup himself!! he was asked many weeks ago the same journo bollocks question as he was asked the other day. asked about him staying ,laudrup just looked eye ,shrugged his shoulders and said "for sure,i have a contract no? " he just took it as a given that a contract actually means something! i know in the cheating world of prem greed it doesnt but i think laudrup is cut from better cloth than most on this type of thing. Lets just enjoy him for however long we have him
I agree we should be enjoying his managerial tenure, and I for one have extolled his virtues from the day Ivor rolled out his 'dark horse'. Men of integrity are hard to find, in this dog eat dog world, where money is god, but I'm under no illusions as to how long he'll stay, as on average our managers only stay 18 months or so. Clearly there has been quite a contrast between Rodgers and Laudrup, and given a choice between the two, Laudrup wins hands down, well it's a no contest if the truth be told anyway. I'm not going to get my hopes up too much though, so yes we should all enjoy the here and now of Laudrups term, but boy wouldn't it be so good, if he stayed, to build something special, that was a lasting legacy here at Swansea! That's the dreamer in me coming out now............
