Swedish side demolish Hibernian to secure their place in third qualifying round
Well, this is quite emphatic isn't it? At the time of writing there's 20 minutes left to play at Easter Road, but with Hibs 6-0 down on the night (and 8-0 down on aggregate) I'd say it's a safe bet to announce we'll be playing Swedish as opposed to Scottish counterparts next Thursday.
As mentioned in a previous blog (here), Malmo currently sit second in their league (they were top when I last checked!) which is very much in the swing of things. They'll have more match-fitness than the Swansea squad, but Swans fans will be hoping that given recent Saturday-Thursday exploits we'll have the upper hand when it comes to energy levels. That being said, they had a weekend off in-between their two games against Hibs, but they've got an away game this Sunday which they'd no doubt prefer to play at another juncture given the sterner test you'd hope Swansea will provide a week today.
In the previous blog regarding Malmo I mentioned four players who seemed liked they'd be worth keeping an eye on; Emil Forsberg, Magnus Eriksson, Jiloan Hamad and Tokelo Rantie. All four have got their name on the scoresheet tonight against Hibs (it's now 7-0 to the Swedes with 7 different scorers) and a massive away win will no doubt instill confidence in their young squad ahead of their trip to South Wales. I won't have been alone in hoping Hibs could do a number on Malmo - would you rather face a side who finished 7th in the SPL last year or a side who are consistently amongst the front-runners for the Swedish title? Bit of a no-brainer really.
As for the Swans' preparation, we can only hope that not facing any particularly difficult opponents in pre-season won't come back to bite us in the derriere. To date, you'd say that Den Haag and Yeovil are the two most challenging teams we've come up against, although obviously we're playing Reading this Saturday which will, I'd imagine, easily be the most competitive (non-competetive) fixture we've faced. Will that be enough?
It seems that instead of lining up against equally matched opponents, as is favoured by many teams, the Swans hierarchy have gone with the PMA approach (that's Positive Mental Attitude to anyone not well versed in modernist management jargon). I'd imagine they're thinking that if the team can get into the habit of winning and scoring goals, this will instill a winning mentality throughout the squad.
Whether it will work remains to be seen, but given Malmo's performance in Edinburgh I'd wager there are many Swans fans who, like me, are wondering whether lining up against some more auspicious opponents would have been of any benefit. Thinking you're the dogs' bollocks is great an' all, however if you're caught with your trousers around your ankles on opening night any previous feel-good factor would quickly dissipate.
Let's hope that's not the case, and in all honesty I've no reason to believe it will be. I'm no expert, and if Michael Laudrup is happy with our pre-season preparations that is more, much more than good enough for me.