The Match
Swansea need to win this game. NEED to win this game. With Laudrup's sacking fresh in the minds of most football fans, there'll be added scrutiny on this fixture and if Garry Monk is to win over any doubters amongst the Swansea camp it's imperative that at the very least we avoid defeat. Hopefully lessons will have been learned from the capitulation at West Ham, and the home side will put up a better fist of things - Wilfried Bony will no doubt be keen to get on the scoresheet given he was somehow benched in favour of Alvaro Vazquez in the counterpart fixture, and I for one fancy him to do some damage against a side who've been pretty catastrophically bad on the road. So far the RedbirdTanDragons have picked up six points from thirty-six on offer on their travels, so fingers crossed that form continues at the Liberty tomorrow.
Cardiff have their own new manager and I haven't seen a massive upturn in form which makes me think they're clear of trouble just yet. A win against the Swans would massively aid their bid to climb clear of the relegation zone, however a defeat leaves them mired deep in the midst of what could well turn out to be the most intriguing relegation battle of all time. Despite claiming victory over Norwich last time out, I don't think they've been playing well and they managed to allow Norwich 27 shots - TWENTY SEVEN! Give us that many shots, and we'll be sure to score.
Well, thinking about it we had twenty against West Ham and didn't manage to get even one of them on target. Moving swiftly on...
Well, thinking about it we had twenty against West Ham and didn't manage to get even one of them on target. Moving swiftly on...
Prior Form (Most recent at top)
Team News
Provided by resident fitness guru @BenDinnery - make sure to follow him on Twitter for the latest injury news and views
Tomorrow nights’ SkySports cameras head over to Swansea for the South Wales Derby in the early evening kick-off as The Jacks prepare for a showdown with fierce rivals Cardiff City.
In reality this fixture probably comes a week or so too soon for Swansea as a number of key players approach full fitness but their injury situation has improved greatly within the last month with the return of influential midfielder Nathan Dyer, Jonathan de Guzman, Roland Lamah and Dwight Tiendalli. Saturday may see the return of Dutch goal-keeper Michel Vorm who has been absent from first team duties since mid-December with Spanish team-mates Jose Canas and Michu also pushing for a recall; although the latter is only expected to take a place on the bench after almost eight weeks out. The one major concern is midfielder Jonjo Shelvey who is doubtful due to an on-going hamstring issue.
For Cardiff City manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has the luxury of almost fully fit squad with club captain Mark Hudson (hamstring) and full-back Andrew Taylor (club) the only players expected to miss out. On-loan winger Wilfried Zaha should make his full debut after an impressive cameo against Norwich while it remains to be seen if the manager will keep faith in Peter Whittingham after his early withdrawal last weekend. New signing Kenwyne Jones could spearhead the Bluebirds attack with fellow January window recruit Fabio starting at right-back. Magnus Wolff Eikrem, Mats Moller Daehli and Jo Inge Berget are all expected to be amongst the substitutes.
Completely guessed lineups
Statistics & Trivia
- Swansea City scored at least one goal in 92% of their home matches.
- Swansea City have scored 72% of their goals at home, while 76% of their goals have come in the second half.
- Cardiff City have lost 67% of their away matches.
- Cardiff City have lost their last 5 away matches, and haven't won in their last 9 away from home.
- Cardiff City have won the last 2 Welsh Derbies with a 1-0 scoreline.
- In the all time standings, Swansea have 20 league wins to Cardiff's 19 (with 16 draws).
- Cardiff are leading the overall standings though, with 44 wins to 34. 21 of those wins came in the FAW Cup, mind.
- A win for Cardiff would mean Cardiff become the first side to do "the double" in the derby, winning both fixtures of any given season. It would also be the first time either team has won three consecutive derbies.
- Swansea’s only red card in the Premier League this season came in the reverse fixture against Cardiff (Michel Vorm).
- Craig Bellamy’s goal against Norwich last weekend saw him become the first player to score for seven different clubs in the Barclays Premier League.
- Cardiff City are the only Premier League team not to win a penalty this season.
- Former Swans defender Steven Caulker has made more blocks (36) than any other Premier League player this season.
- If Premier League games ended at half-time so far this season, Cardiff would be bottom by seven points, Swansea would be 19th.
- Swansea have the lowest saves to shots ratio in the division (63 per cent) this season.
- All seven of Wilfried Bony’s Premier League goals have come in Wales.
Straight from the horse's mouth
Garry Monk is sure to bring a bit more passion to the bench than we'd have seen had Laudrup been in charge this weekend...:
"They have been fantastic [since I was appointed] — and that is every player.As for whether he'd done anything special in preparation for Cardiff, Monk remained coy...
"The whole group is together. One of the things I said to them that no matter what your feelings are when you lose a manager, you have a duty to represent the club you are employed by with respect.
"That is the message I sent and I think everyone understood that. That is the whole point of what I want to present. In all my time here there has always been a tight group, no bad eggs. That doesn't change.
"It becomes more international and you have different characters. You have to adapt — all of us, including the British players."
"There are a lot of different elements that come into it — you do analysis, work on the opposition, all different stuff — and it tends to drag on but it is what it is and I'm under no illusions."
http://www.southwales-eveningpost.co.uk/New-Swansea-City-boss-Garry-Monk-Michael-Laudrup/story-20579687-detail/story.html#ixzz2se5Qv3je
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was pragmatic in his comments prior to his first South Wales derby:
“We are burning to create history and, to be fair, repeat history. We can create history tomorrow and repeat what happened last time. Craig [Bellamy] scored the winner there three years ago. We can create history and repeat history at the same time.
“I don’t think you can foresee which way it’s going to go for a team that gets a new manager. I’ve just got to concentrate on our side of things and I’m sure Garry will do the same.”
http://www.southwales-eveningpost.co.uk/Ole-Gunnar-Solskjaer-burning-desire-Cardiff-City/story-20582987-detail/story.html#ixzz2se6H35Uw
Analysis
Massive. Just massive. The build up to this weekend's derby has been frenetic, with Garry Monk and Alan Curtis replacing Laudrup's coaching team, and hopefully they'll be able to instigate some kind of upturn in form as we look to pull away from the relegation spots. First up are the old enemy, and Monk will surely be giving the mother of all teamtalks in the buildup to kickoff - of that you can be sure.
As for what kind of match this is going to be, it's nigh-on unpredictable. All I'm sure of is that we'll be putting in a better showing than we did at the Cardiff City Stadium, as on that occasion we were absolutely atrocious. Gary Medel ran the show and in truth we didn't come anywhere near him, such was the lackadaisical nature of our performance. Monk and Curtis won't stand for that though, so you can rest safe in the knowledge that if someone isn't putting in 110%, they'll likely be hauled off.
Some will be surprised I've included Ben Davies in the midfield of my predicted lineups, but I fancy Monk to go with a heavily British feel to the side. If Shelvey makes it through a fitness test he may well figure, and I'd imagine he'd go in at attacking midfield with Routledge moving out wide, and Davies stealing Taylor's LB slot. Personally, I think Davies could easily be a winger given how he loves gallivanting down the left, and by giving him a midfield berth you can guarantee an extra level of intensity from the Swansea midfield. Just what we need, in my opinion.
Cardiff could select one of a few options up front, but it's likely to be Kenwyne Jones flanked by Craig Bellamy and Wilfried Zaha. Both impressed with (respectively) a goal and an impressive cameo against Norwic, and they'll likely be retained as experience and electric pace are surely to be viewed fondly given the magnitude of this fixture. Zaha in particular will need to be watched carefully, and if he's up against Rangel there'll be a bit of a mismatch in terms of pace off the mark, so whoever is playing at right-wing will have to get back to help double up on the Man Utd loanee.
A loss at home to Cardiff is almost unthinkable. Bony needs to have a massive game, as do Ash and Chico, but if we're being honest we need eleven heroes to take to the field on Saturday. Garry Monk will do his utmost to make sure that happens, and at this point I'm more confident than I think I'd have been had Laudrup been in charge for this, arguably the most important South Wales derby of all time. It's not just down to the players though.
As Keith Haynes emotively pleaded earlier this week - your club needs you. I have absolutely no doubt that the Liberty Stadium will be a cauldron of boiling emotions come kickoff, but we need to get behind the team from minute one and scream them to victory. Expend your energy at the stadium, leave nothing behind, and we'll secure the result.
Garry Monk's first game in charge couldn't be a more emotionally-fuelled, make or break affair however I'm confident he can lead us to all three points - three points which will put us six points clear of Cardiff and (depending on how other results go) leave them deep in the relegation quagmire.
Wouldn't that be nice?