Ince looking for a Palace win in SA1
There was a point when I was convinced Tom Ince was a Swansea player. If you believe the rumours, there was possibly also a time when Swansea City thought he was their player too, but after taking a grand tour of lower-half Premier League clubs with his papa he decided Crystal Palace was the best place for him to further his career, and good luck to him. It did, however, mould some opinions of him as by the end of the protracted "will he/won't he" saga most Swansea fans were of the opinion that we should tell him to sling his hook regardless.
It seems all set up for him to score doesn't it?...
“This weekend’s game against Swansea is what we’ll be looking at to get our teeth in to. From a personal point, it’s great for my second game [the prior game against Man Utd]. I’ve still got to build for my development and learn about Premier League football.
“I enjoyed it against a top team and the standard you’ve got to reach. You have to take positives from the game and we go into Swansea looking to win.”
http://www.croydonadvertiser.co.uk/Crystal-Palace-star-Tom-Ince-needed-hold-bit/story-20697291-detail/story.html#ixzz2uKDALtDt
He might think they're coming to Swansea to win, but I'll be amazed if Pulis goes gung-ho. A point would be a good result for Palace and would help them continue their climb away from the relegation zone, so they'll almost undoubtedly be playing on the break and looking to frustrate us. If we press like we have done in the last few games, that shouldn't pose a problem for Monk's Swansea.
Leon confident of nicking one in Naples
Leon Britton isn't normally one to give a lot of interviews to the press. Happy to just be the man that gets things done in the Swansea engine-room, he seems to shy away from the limelight (though I have seen some good photos of him on nights out in Swansea) so when he does speak, generally people listen.
“We are pleased that we didn’t concede at home. The advantage we have now is that even one goal in Naples could take us through to the next round. We believe we can get through to the last sixteen of the Europa League.”
http://www.footballdirectnews.com/premier-league-news/41349-swansea-star-we-can-beat-italians.php#.UwxVPWKzETk
Damn straight. We score early, and Napoli are in big trouble - the crowd will be liable to get on their back and we can then hit them on the counter. I don't care how much of an advantage you derive from playing at home, we showed that we can dominate this team and if we match that performance level we are in with a great, great shot of another famous away victory in Europe.
What's more, get through and we'll be up against Eintracht Frankfurt (struggling at the bottom of the Bundesliga) or Porto (3rd, all but out of contention for the Portuguese League and a shadow of previous Porto sides) so progression beyond the next stage is likely to be easier than against Napoli - assuming we produce the goods of course.
For now though, all eyes are on our Italian opponents ahead of Thursday's trip to Naples. If you're making the trip I applaud the effort and I sincerely hope you have something positive to sing about on the long trip back. Fingers crossed!