Swansea City vs Kuban Krasnodar - Match preview, team news, statistics & analysis

The Match

Swansea got back to winning ways against Sunderland, triumphing 4-0 and consigning new Black Cat's boss Guy Poyet to defeat in his first outing. With heavy rotation likely, it's more than possible we'll see a number of changes despite Laudrup's statements about taking the opposition seriously. Whether he'll retain Bony & Michu with West Ham next in line at the Liberty is another debate to be had, but the squad could and should be confident of a win over a side who've lost their two opening Europa League group matches.

Kuban Krasnodar come into this match in quite dreadful form. They've won only once in their last nine in all competitions, and find themselves way off the European qualification spots in their domestic league. What's more, they recently sacked their manager and the new boss, Viktor Goncharenko, got off to a tough start losing 3-1 away at Dinamo Moscow. His side will be playing for pride as much as anything else, as it's already looking unlikely they'll be able to progress from the group stages of the Europa League.

Prior Form (Most recent at top)

Team News 

Swansea will be without Ben Davies after he was ruled out for around a month with a nasty twisted ankle, while Ashley Williams will probably not be risked with West Ham coming to town so soon after this fixture. Pablo Hernandez is pushing for a start after recovering from his own injury problems, while Garry Monk is fit again after picking up a knock against Birmingham in the League Cup. Roland Lamah could see a rare start in a game which could provide an opportunity for a number of fringe players.

Kuban Krasnodar look set to be without Alexei Kozlov and Charles Kabore, who missed the last outing at Dynamo Moscow and are still rated as doubts. That's all I've got...

Completely guessed lineups

In Kuban Krasnodar's case, I may or may not have just copied their lineup from their last match...

Statistics & Trivia

• Swansea have won their first two group games, scoring four goals and not conceding a single goal.
• Kuban have started rather more poorly, losing their first two games (away at St Gallen & home to Valencia) and boasting the opposite goal tally to the Swans - four against with none scored.
• Jonathan De Guzman has made more passes than any other player in the opening two group games - 145.
• Swansea have managed a mighty 90% pass completion rate thus far in the Europa League - Kuban come in much lower at 72%. 
• Kuban average 336 passes per game - less than half the 675 the Swans manage. 
• Swansea's average pass streak in the Europa League is 7.5, compared to Kuban's 3.

Straight from the horse's mouth

Michael Laudrup recalls a time when perhaps his team didn't take the opposition as seriously as was necessary:

"I remember it well, because in May 1992 I won the Champions League at Wembley with Barcelona against Sampdoria. Just after that, the following November, we had to play a play-off before going into the group stage. 

"We played CSKA and drew 1-1 away. Then we were 2-0 up after 30 minutes of the home leg and everybody thought it was done, but we lost 3-2. 

"It was a big surprise, and it could be an example for us because even though it was 2-0 after 30 minutes it showed you have to be 100 per cent focused. We had a fantastic team - better than CSKA with all respect, but they went on to the next round, we can use that tomorrow."

http://www.sportsmole.co.uk/football/swansea-city/europa-league/news/laudrup-experience-has-made-me-wary_113181.html

New Kuban boss Viktor Goncharenko is understandably positive given...well he's new in the job and he needs to be:

“I have only been here for 10 days, but we have a lot of good players in the squad and there is something to build on.You learn from every game and it’s important that you use this knowledge in the next game, but we are prepared to go for it on Thursday because we have the readiness and the willingness. We also have no points so far - and if we want to go a bit further, we need to start picking them up. 

Kuban striker Djibril Cissé believes he can use "insider knowledge" to help gain a positive result:

“I know the league very well. For me, I think it is an advantage. I’m going to try and talk to my team-mates and give them a few tips about Swansea. 

“The football is different compared to the Russian league and we need to adapt as soon as the game starts and be ready. If you give them [Swansea] time to start playing their football then we will be in trouble. 

“They have great offensive players and the philosophy is the coach to play forward all the time, but if we play good football and be confident, then we could cause them problems as well. 

“Swansea are the favourites, but we won’t be scared and we’ll be looking for a positive result.” 

http://www.swanseacity.net/news/article/kk-presser-1131234.aspx?#8055mgKxgQBS6yEy.99

Analysis

Given I know little to nothing about our opponents (as has been the case for a couple of Europa League games - it should get more interesting as/if we progress through the competition), all I can really comment on is the psychology surrounding a new manager being in charge. Much like Guy Poyet and Sunderland at the weekend, Kuban really need to turn things around - in fact they've won only three of thirteen in the league this season and things need to improve quickly.

If we give them any reason to be encouraged they could well pounce, and we'll probably have a couple of players on display who aren't 100% match fit. Against Sunderland we managed to get away with a poor first half performance, but we don't want to have to rely on luck so controlling the game from the off is a must. All the media talk is that this should be a walk in the park for the Swans, but Laudrup's comments show he'll be expecting a big performance.

A win tomorrow would surely see us as good as through to the next round of the competition - to the last 32 stage. I haven't checked the odds but after the Valencia game we were made third favourites - pretty heady stuff and a quick look through the other teams in the competition leads me to believe we could make a pretty good fist of advancing a bit further than that, too.

Hopefully we can maximise our points tally tomorrow, as that allows for youth players to be blooded and tired legs to be saved. Players like Lee Lucas, Kris Scott & Rory Donnelly - who scored the winner for the U21s this week - could and should all be hopeful of making a mark in the first team before too long, and it'd be good to see players like that get on the bench a bit more often.

Expect a big performance from Jose Canas, and I also fancy his compatriot Alex Pozuelo to shine. He's been threatening to put on a show for a while, and while I don't know much about our opponents I'm confident in the kid's ability to dance past his man when he's in the mood.

I'm feeling confident, so I'm predicting a 3-0 Swansea win, with Pozuelo running the show.

Amazing what a win does, eh?