The seemingly imminent arrival of Bafetimbi Gomis sees us having a potentially monster strike force - are we set to see less tika-taka and more "thumpy-smashy"?
What's in a formation? Well, quite a lot if you're Swansea City - notably the League One title in 2008, the promotion to the Premier League in 2010/11 and most of our subsequent success at football's top table. That's not to say there's only one way to skin a cat though (that's a horrible phrase isn't it?), and we've already seen a few dramatic tactical changes from Monk since he was appointed ahead of the Cardiff game last season.
Firstly we reverted straight back to 4-2-3-1 and Leon was installed in the engine-room once again. This had tika-taka lovers delighting and the thought of Wilfried Bony scoring goals like Jason Scotland did in League One and the Championship was both very appealing, and very real. He seems perfect for that system, but it's now debatable whether we'll be operating in that manner at all.
With Gomis coming in at six foot, the possibility of him and Bony up top means our strike-force is absolutely huge. Despite our bids for Gomis last year I don't think the club view him as a replacement for an immediately departing Wilf, and the Monk has already made noises about playing with both together as opposed to Gomis being understudy to our Ivorian wrecking ball, and with Michu the subject of more and more rumours about his future I think we could well see him depart this summer. He's on around £34kpw, so him leaving could well essentially cancel out the undoubtedly biiiig wages offered to Gomis.
Back to the formation, and it seems almost certain that - if Gomis does sign - we'll be operating with two up top next season. The obvious choice is then Garry Monk's Midfield Diamond. As long as we can vaguely keep the ball and give our forwards some decent service I think a bit of variety is good. Assuming we don't forget how to do the keep-ball stuff...