The Match
Welcome to the first match preview of the season! Swansea are as ready as they'll ever be, and are set to face Malmo FF who have been hovering around the top of the Swedish league all season. One of Swedish football's big clubs, they'll no doubt be looking at the Swans as a team they can get the better of, especially given their 7-0 (9-0 on aggregate) win over Hibernian in the last round. Interestingly, they triumphed over Drogheda United (2-0 over two legs) in the first qualifying round, so the Swansea match presents the opportunity of performing what is possibly a unique feat; performing a Celtic "One-two-three" in seeing off opposition from Ireland, Scotland and Wales in progressing to the group stages.
They did, however, go down 2-0 to Gefle on Sunday, a team who are definitely at the wrong end of mid-table, and that put paid to a six-game unbeaten run in the league (plus four games unbeaten in the Europa League) so they'll be hoping they can catch the Swans cold and produce a swift return to winning ways. For a bit more info on the history of Malmo FF (and Hibernian), click here.
Swansea are, unlike their opponents, yet to kick a ball in anger this season. That's not to say they'll be under-prepared in any way, however, as recent signs have been very positive indeed; especially the demolition of Reading in their last friendly. What team Laudrup puts out can likely be viewed as a "first choice XI" given the range of fit players at his disposal (with the possible exception of Chico who looks likely to miss out), and it should be interesting to see for the first time what the Dane thinks is his strongest side going into 2013/14. An impressive pre-season saw the Swans score twenty-eight goals whilst only conceding one - if they can take that kind of form and confidence into the Malmo game we could be in for a quite electric performance.
Prior Form (most recent at top)
Friendly Reading 0 - 3 Swansea
Friendly Exeter City 0 - 2 Swansea
Friendly Yeovil Town 0 - 5 Swansea
Friendly ADO Den Haag 0 - 1 Swansea
Friendly Haaglandia 0 - 10 Swansea
Friendly ADO Den Haag 0 - 1 Swansea
Friendly Haaglandia 0 - 10 Swansea
Swedish League Gefle 2 - 0 Malmö FF
Europa League Hibernian 0 - 7 Malmö FF
Europa League Hibernian 0 - 7 Malmö FF
Europa League Malmö FF 2 - 0 Hibernian
Swedish League Malmö FF 4 - 0 Åtvidaberg
Europa League Malmö FF 2 - 0 Drogheda United
Team News
Swansea look set to be without Chico Flores, who is still recovering from a thigh muscle injury. There's no point rushing these things, and the Spaniard will be fighting fit in the very near future, but sadly this game has come a little too early for him. Aside from the hirsute centre-back, the Swans squad enjoys a clean bill of health, so the only headache Laudrup will face is who to cut from the team, with new signings Jose Canas, Alejandro Pozuelo, Jonjo Shelvey, Jordi Amat & Wilfried Bony all realistically standing a good chance of making their competitive debuts for the club.
Malmo could also be without a first-choice centre-back, after Erik Johansson had to leave the field in the first half of their 2-0 defeat to Gefle on Sunday. Johansson aside, they have no fresh injury concerns and should be able to field a first-choice team for Swansea game.
Completely guessed lineups
Due to my lack of knowledge regarding Malmo's team, it's more or less pointless predicting what team they're going to be putting out. They have a number of young players who are enjoying great seasons, as evidenced by seven different goalscorers in the win over Hibs, but I'd be lying if I said I knew anything about them. Below is how I think the Swans will line up:
Straight from the horse's mouth
Laudrup is, understandably, trying to play down any notion of the Swans being favourites for this tie, and for good reason. Malmo are mid-season, full of beans and will very much fancy this one - if you're going to play Swansea at all this season you'd want to be doing it before we've played a competitive game. For his part, Laudrup's Swedish counterpart Rikard Norling swiftly dismissed this talk, installing the Welsh side as clear favourites for the win - a theory endorsed by the bookies with some offering odds as long as 4-1 on a Swedish victory.
"I know why Michael would suggest this is a 50/50 game but I don't think he's right. He is under-estimating his own side saying that.
"We are playing a team that play in the best league in the world and last season finished ninth. They also won one of the cups so it's going to be special for us. We've done our homework, we know how Swansea play, but I can't tell you more than that." Rikard Norling
If their answer to our passing football is reminiscent of how UK teams deal with it, we could be in for a tense 90 minutes as they sit off and look to hit us on the counter-attack. Unless adrenaline gets the better of them, they're unlikely to chase the game and they'll no doubt be under strict tactical instruction, which could suit the home team as a clean sheet will be of massive benefit when the 2nd leg comes around.
Whether the Swans can break them down is a different matter. In recent pre-season games we've seen glimpses of what we may come to expect from Jonjo Shelvey and Wilfried Bony, while Pablo Hernandez, Michu & Wayne Routledge have excelled. With all likely to feature (plus a newly-bearded Leon Britton - liking your work mate) we know what to expect in terms of how the game will be played, but what we don't know yet is at what level or intensity the squad will be able to perform after what was, in all honesty, a fairly tame pre-season schedule.
As mentioned previously, Laudrup will be hoping that the confidence accrued in these wins will be enough to get the Swans off to a winning start. Let's hope he's right!