Three excellent performances in the space of seven days has left Swansea fans with broad grins on their faces
This past week, we've seen our beloved Swansea City put in a rousing display at home to Liverpool (and claim a credible 2-2 draw - their first dropped points of the season at the time), before two away performances that have had the footballing world drooling - and for good reason, too. The first, a complete demolition of Valencia in the Europa League, gave the squad a much-needed confidence boost and they carried that form into Sunday's match with Crystal Palace, which, in truth, was just as one-sided - albeit not aided by a sending off like the match in Spain.
Ok, now I know we won the League Cup, and that promotion to the big-time (both times around) brought forth quite the party, but I'm struggling to recall a time when it feels so good to be a Swansea City fan. The way we've played in the last three matches gives real hope we can kick on this season, after some (myself included) had become concerned with our league form - although that was mostly due to how we finished last season as opposed to anything we'd done this season.
There are numerous things you could pick up on over the last few games - and you'd be hard-pushed to look past our floppy haired flamenco lover Miguel Michu. A recent article in the national media asked "Is Michu the best player outside the top four?" and if he's not, I'd be interested to see who is. His turn which led to the second goal against Palace really was exquisite, and he's added so much to his game compared to last season that I'm no longer worried about ball retention between three dedicated central midfielders - with Jose Canas looking like a truly excellent acquisition I think a midfield of Canas, Michu plus one other from Shelvey, De Guzman & Britton is only going to get better and better.
I'd still like to see a bit more solidity deep in midfield against bigger teams - maybe Canas and Britton until Shelvey properly gets his head around the way we play and cuts out the extra-Hollywood stuff, but who am I to argue with results? If we continue to play like we have in our last three matches there's real reason to be confident about the forthcoming season, and that we can now go on to string a couple of positive results together. We've just won back-to-back away games for the first time since November last year, and with a run of home fixtures coming up - after Birmingham away in the League Cup 5 of the next 6 will be played at the Liberty Stadium with opponents including St Gallen, Sunderland & West Ham - I'm fairly confident we'll see a number of wins over the next few weeks.
It's been repeated time and time again that, above all else, it's the style of football in particular that's winning admirers the world over. With progress through the group stages in the Europa League now looking more likely, coupled with the continued growth of the Premier League, "The Swansea Way" could quickly become as synonymous with good football as Arsenal or even Barcelona are. Yeah, I just said that. One man team...cold night in Stoke... yada yada yada.
The future's bright. The future's black and white. Come on you Swans!