Swans' pre-season culminates in win over Royals at the Madejski
Well, that's encouraging isn't it? Comparing Shelvey to Bodde is starting to look more sensible too - note the pinged pass to Bony within a minute of kickoff. You can probably count on one hand the number of successful passes like that which came off successfully last season, and the combination of Jonjo's range of passing and Bony's increased attacking threat will most definitely add something new to the Swans' forward line.
Michu grabbed the first goal after what was, in all honesty, a horrible deflection off a Reading defender. Not one of his more picture-book goals, but he enjoyed it nonetheless - I've noticed that of Michu often though. When he stuffs one in from 20 yards he acts nonplussed, however a deflection or a 1-yard tap-in and it looks like he's in danger of hulking out, such is the ferocity of his celebration. Each to their own - personally I used to celebrate every goal like I'd won the World Cup, but I'd imagine the novelty wears off somewhat when you do it for a living.
Wilfried Bony enjoyed his first start on UK soil for the Swans, and I thought he looked cerebral throughout. Ok, he didn't get a goal but he showed good savvy in and around the area and found himself in useful positions times and time again. When he got the chance to have a shot, it was invariably close to the target and some of his link play was quite spectacular. The second goal was an outstanding bit of football; Jonjo Shelvey picked an absolutely ridiculous pass with the outside of his right boot before striding on to pick up the return from Bony, before beating a man and blasting it into the bottom corner. Outstanding stuff, and two minutes later we were three ahead, Bony again linking well with Pablo this time, and his threaded pass found the onrushing Spaniard who finished with aplomb.
All in all, a pretty efficient performance from the Swans and what's pleasing is that, despite the friendly nature of the game, the goals scored (well, two of them anyway) were of a very high calibre. Hopefully the squad are up to speed now because they'll need to be with Malmo waiting in the wings. Bring it on!