Swansea waiting on Tom Ince deadline

Protracted transfer saga seems to be drawing to a close

Tom Ince likes a road trip eh? Since speaking to the Swans he's been in talks with Stoke, Hull, Sunderland and Crystal Palace, which for a player whose main priority must surely be putting himself in the shop window,seems a strange way of going about it. OK, his name has been in the press a lot of late as a result (indeed I'm writing about it now), however this drawn-out affair is getting dangerously close to the point where it's damaging his reputation. A proportion of the Blackpool fanbase have been questioning his attitude and work-rate of late, and it's also affected Swansea fan's opinions too.

Yesterday I thought it would be interesting to see what the general consensus was, so on Twitter I asked the following question:

Seems a fair proportion of the Jack army don't really want Tom Ince now. Would you like him to join on loan? RT for yes, favourite for no!
— The Swansea Way (@TheSwanseaWay) January 29, 2014

As you can see, it's split almost perfectly down the middle (albeit from a fairly small sample of the Jack Army), but personally I still think he'd be a good addition on loan. What's confusing me though is that it seems all of the clubs he's been to visit already have their maximum allocation of domestic loans - ok, Steve Bruce & Mark Hughes are both old mates of Tom's father Paul from his Man Utd days, but Sunderland and Stoke? Surely if you're looking to put yourself in the media spotlight you're better off doing it at a club still contesting European football than clubs who seem set for a relegation battle? I'm not saying we're completely clear of that potential obstacle ourselves, but still.

Rumour has it there's a 3pm deadline, but even though I do want him to come in he is stretching his luck now. With all details apparently agreed between Ince and the Swans a few days ago, he's surely testing the club's patience to the limit.

Either way, it should be a fairly interesting next 24 hours.

Tom Ince to decide future

Winger has reportedly agreed terms with the Swans but has been exercising a right to speak with other PL clubs

While I was expecting some positive news to be announced regarding Tom Ince's arrival by now, I'm still confident he'll be a Swansea player before too long. Blackpool have given permission for a loan move, and almost all of the clubs linked with him have already got their maximum amount of domestic loans (Palace, Stoke, Sunderland & Hull), so despite him going for talks with a couple of the aforementioned teams I'm confident rumours of him having reached agreement with the Swans are true. He was spotted down in the Marina after holding talks in Swansea, and was reportedly looking at accommodation:

RT"@Yanited: @TheSwanseaWay just spotted tom and Paul ince looking for a flat at the marina! pic.twitter.com/BEx1SaR4Pk"

— The Swansea Way (@TheSwanseaWay) January 27, 2014

For his part, Michael Laudrup confirmed talks had taken place and that Ince was considering his options. 

"I talked to him and his father [on Monday] and I saw on the news they have been with another club, and they will make up their minds as to what they think is best for him." 

http://www.clubcall.com/swansea-city/laudrup-waits-on-ince-1702941.html?

Hopefully sooner rather than later we'll be announcing our third signing of the window...

I did a profile of Tom Ince back in November, have a read here: link

Swansea 2 - 0 Fulham - We won in the league!

Swansea claim first clean sheet in nine league games on the way to victory

A look at Twitter this morning and you'd think Swansea fans had all been given their own personal moon on a stick. Tweets of an "I've got an extra spring in my step this morning" abound, and it shows how important last night's victory over Fulham was. If our run of poor league form had continued there was a real danger we could be dragged towards the relegation zone, but such is the serendipitous nature of the Premier League that a win over the Cottagers and three points later we're sitting in the top half of the table. 

The build up to the game was slightly distracted given the arrivals of David N'Gog and Adam King from Bolton and Hearts respectively, and the continued rumours of Tom Ince signing on loan, but when I arrived at the Liberty the sense of expectation was palpable. Fulham have been dreadful this season, and Swansea fans knew it. I overheard the same conversation countless times - that we should be beating Fulham, and there was genuinely an air of confidence around the place, even if it was laced with the trepidation that any long-term Swansea fan will always have at the back of their mind.

Laudrup named what could be considered a first-choice team given injury problems, with Vorm continuing to miss out as he recovers from knee surgery. Elsewhere, De Guzman returned for Amat in midfield with Shelvey also coming in, while Pablo came in for Lamah with the rest of the team almost picking itself. It was obvious Laudrup wanted to get at Fulham but despite lots (and I mean lots) of huffing and puffing the first half was a rather frustrated affair. Jonjo provided the biggest threat, blasting one over the bar after a pull back from Pablo when well placed, but I'll call that a sighter as his next effort was beautifully hit, sadly crashing off the bar and away with the Fulham keeper Stekelenburg beaten.

The second half kicked off and despite expecting Fuham to come out freshly rallied, nothing of the sort happened. If anything, they came out even more deflated and the Swans turned the screw. It got to the point where I was discussing how we'd take a goal off an arse, a deflection, anything...when bang! Jonjo scores via a double deflection. Nothing more than we deserved I thought, despite not fashioning a whole load of clear cut chances up until that point.

Bony had his quietest game for a while, but to be fair he wasn't aided by a disjointed set of performances from Wayne Routledge and Pablo Hernandez. Hernandez being replaced by Dyer in the 58th minute proved the catalyst, his introduction sparking Swansea into life and three minutes later it was indeed the ex-Southampton man who provided the assist for Jonjo's goal. The Swans then had their best spell of the match, with De Guzman going close from 25 yards out. Striding on to a through ball, he hit a lovely shot left-footed and it took a good stop from the Fulham keeper to stop it heading into the top corner.

It must be noted that throughout, we suffered from an almost complete inability to deal with Fulham at set pieces and crosses. Brede Hangeland is always a monster in the air, but when you pair him with another 6'6" defender (Dan Burn), the situation becomes nigh-on ridiculous. Watching Ash wrestle with either or both of them was very interesting, and occasionally amusing - Ash is a big guy but he was dwarfed by the Fulham defenders, and the best chance they had fell to Hangeland in the first half. Somehow, he was completely free in front of the Swansea goal and his bullet header rocketed just over the bar with Gerry nowhere to be seen. A massive let-off, and we had to endure many more tetchy moments with the ball in the air before the game was won. 

That being said, despite all the real/made up off-field issues of late I thought Chico was excellent overall, and probably by MOTM. He even passed it square a couple of times where traditionally he'd continue a surge upfield! He's learning. Another performer who had one of his best games for a while was Jonathan De Guzman, whose delivery was massively improved. At least three or four well-hit corners, as well as his assist and aforementioned shot, meant his end product was a lot better than of late, and hopefully it spells an upturn in form for the Dutch international.

As mentioned though, the goal provided a boost for the Swans and preceded the best spell of the match. Dyer provided pace - he's so, so good as an impact player against tiring legs. The second, and killer, goal came from a De Guzman free-kick, with Chico's flicked header being deflected by Berbatov into the Fulham net. Two deflections, but nobody cared - the Swans were winning a home game and for the first time in what seemed like a long time it felt almost comfortable. The rest of the game was played out not unlike a chess match where one player knows he's already lost. Meulensteen sent on Darren Bent, while Amat replaced Shelvey and Pozuelo came on late in the day for Pozuelo, but in truth the game was as good as won as soon as the second goal went in. 

A friend told me after the game that any time Fulham have been drawing 0-0 at half time, they've failed to score in the second half, and I can now see why. Still, you can only play what's put in front of you and the win was thoroughly deserved. Equally pleasing was the clean sheet, and with West Ham likely to put up a lot more of a fight it's the ideal way to begin preparation for Saturday.

The Jack Cast - the all new Swansea City podcast!

...well, nobody else was doing it!

One of the things that seems almost synonymous with most Premier League football clubs these days is a podcast run by fans, on which all sorts of topical discussions unfold. Up until now there hasn't been a regular podcast exclusively talking about the Swans, and it was with that in mind that Matthew Harrison (of Lost Boyos fame) decided to get in touch and ask if I'd contribute to his latest project. It's a podcast hosted by Matt, with myself and SOS Fanzine editor Steven Carroll as guests. 

We made our broadcasting debut last night, and it's available to download/listen to at www.TheJackCast.com - have a listen and make sure to leave us some positive/negative/topical feedback!

For those too lazy to click the link/check out the website (make sure to do it in future though!), here it is in all it's glory. Enjoy!

You can also find The JackCast on Twitter - @TheJackCast. Get following!

Birmingham 1 - 2 Swansea - The Wilfried Bony show!

Ivorian predator again shows his worth with two-goal rescue mission at St Andrews

Another rainy day, and by all accounts another outing which threatened to be another damp squib of an afternoon for Swansea fans. Thankfully, we seem able (for the time being at least) to rely on the goalscoring prowess of one Wilfried Bony, who's now got six in his last five games. Not bad for a player who "doesn't run enough".

It's been much commented that Ash had a bit of a tirade in the first half when he felt performance levels weren't good enough, apparently telling Alvaro (loudly) that they needed more from him, but Bony's introduction in the second half thankfully paved the way for two goals in two minutes, and all of a sudden we're in the next round of the FA Cup.

I think the less said the better about that match other than Bony's fantastic finishing, but I would like to give two players a mention. Firstly, Roland Lamah was involved in both of Bony's goals, but if you watch the first goal closely it appears to be Jordi Amat who took the ball on and drove at the defence. Given he's taken a somewhat reluctant bit of criticism for his midfield displays (with fans acknowledging it's not really his fault if he's not cut out for a midfield role), it was good to see him taking the ball on into a dangerous position, and retaining possession whilst creating an attacking opportunity which ultimately led to a goal.

I'll leave it at that for now, but keep your eyes peeled for a Fulham preview upcoming later today, and before that there'll be blogs looking at the latest transfer news as well as the all new Swansea City podcast - TheJackCast. Exciting times!

Fulham bid for Taylor rejected, N'Gog talks continue

I suppose we can't win them all...

Swansea reject bid for Neil Taylor

With both transfer stories which seem to have a semblance of truth about them being rather undesirable for your average Swansea fan, it seems there's been a bit of positive news at least - we've rejected Fulham's bid for Welsh international full-back Neil Taylor. Fulham have confirmed they're interested in Taylor, with Rene Meulensteen claiming he's been impressed by Taylor since his time at United:

“We have put a bid in. It’s on the table. It’s simmering. I rate him. I rated him when I was at United. 

"The boy was very unfortunate. He had that horrific injury at a time when he was really playing at his best and he had top four qualities.”   

http://hereisthecity.com/en-gb/2014/01/24/tmb-meulensteen-reveals-bid-for-swansea-left-back-has-been-lodge/? 

The bid is reported to be around the £4million mark, and to me that's waaaay too cheap. Given the market I'd say we should be aiming for a shade more than £6million at the least. Taylor is homegrown, has proven himself in the Premiership and could clearly operate well for almost any club in the PL. 

We stood by Taylor when he was injured and I think that, while I'd never suggest I feel he "owes us" anything, he could at the very least see out the season in SA1. It's looking more and more likely Laudrup is off to pastures new in the summer, and it's more than possible Tayls could find himself first choice left-back next season if whoever comes in prefers his full-backs to defend rather than gallivanting down the wing.

Fingers crossed his agent doesn't get his wish and spirit him away to London, no matter how much the Cottagers are craving him. See what I did there?

Bolton confirm Swansea interest in David N'Gog

Christ. Dougie Freedman has confirmed we're in for N'Gog, and some sources have quoted him as saying he "expects him to join the Swans". Given our relative superiority over Bolton, it's hard to see him turning the move down - even if he is likely to spend the rest of the season as a super-expensive bench warmer. Why, though? Why do we need him? With Michu coming back to fitness, and Alvaro Vazquez still on loan, why do we need another striker - especially one with a poor track record and who'd command wages of £20k+ a week? It really doesn't make any sense to me, especially given our history of avoiding permanent deals in the January window.

Surely there is someone out there who would fit the bill, but on a loan basis? By signing N'Gog now we're a) automatically paying over the odds given it's the January transfer window, b) filling another squad place with a "non home-grown player" and c) spending money that could be spent in the summer. To me at least, it literally makes no sense. If someone could explain to me how indeed it does make sense, it'd be much appreciated.

In other news...

The Swans have had plans to increase the capacity of the Liberty to 33,000 approved, with the work taking place in stages over the next three years (if everything goes to plan). I'll put together some information and get a blog up related to that later on...

Ki loan result of snub by Laudrup?

Comments in Korean media seem to indicate a falling out as a result of medical treatment received by Ki

A disclaimer: this blog is based around quotes from Ki's father in the Korean media and their subsequent translation on The Roker Report - a website for Sunderland fans. Whether these are all quotes or quotes interspersed with journalism, I can't say...

Without further ado, here's the translation:

The contract made by both Ki and Swansea includes a clause that the player will be guaranteed to play the least 20 games as a starter which Ki himself wanted and included. 

The Chelsea game was his 20th game playing as a starter, and this is the game he resulted in heavy injury on his thigh. Ki told Laudrup that he would like to treat his injury in the Korean National Medical Centre as he precisely judged the facilities there are much better than those at the club. 

However, Laudrup mistakenly believed that Ki was trying to make a lame excuse after his 20th game of him being starter so as to slack off as much as he can. That inconsiderate thought of Laudrup led him to him disliking Ki. 

Laudrup later approved Ki of his suggestion and let him go get treated in Korea, and Ki believed Laudrup fully understood what he told him and took it to his heart with gratitude. 

When Ki came back, Laudrup brought in new players at his position and started ignoring him and excluding him from game to game. and this continued for a while. 

Ki realised something was wrong, and he asked Laudrup why he can't play as a regular starter. Laudrup said to Ki that he isn't trustworthy as a professional footballer and avoided Ki in any direct conversations. 

The reason why Swansea didn't get Ki back [earlier this month when they had an opinion in the loan agreement to recall him] was due to Laudrup's own objection toward the plan, yet the club, unlike Laudrup, wants to keep Ki in a long run. 

Swansea offered an extension in Ki's contract with better clauses but Ki was obviously worried about Laudrup's dislike of him. So Ki is being cautious.

There've been rumours surrounding this issue for a while, and they do reflect the comments. What I'd previously heard was that Ki had demanded to start a certain amount of games, and this led to his departure on loanj. This sounds like a more plausible explanation of the issue, although whether you choose to believe the quotes is another matter.

What I would say is that with the media starting to heap praise on Ki's affect on the Sunderland squad, and our lack of midfielders, it'd be very hard to argue letting him go out on loan wasn't a short-sighted decision. I'm a big fan of the Korean and have my fingers firmly crossed that he'll still be a SCFC player come next season - whether he wants to be is now another matter for debate, as he seems to be enjoying himself on Wearside - even scoring a couple of goals!

Hopefully any issues he had with the Swans hierarchy will be resolved by the end of the season, and he'll come back with a point to prove, and welcomed with open arms. I think it's important he realises how much Swansea fans are clamouring for his return, as with Sunderland almost certain to explore the possibility of retaining him on a permanent basis anything that could swing it in our favour would be massively beneficial. 

Over to you, fellow Swansea fans!

David N'Gog? Rhys Williams? What is going on?

Swansea linked with second Championship player as off-field issues hit the headlines

Well, quite a few days we've had eh? Firstly, there was this: link, the Daily Mail reporting that in a training ground bust-up with Garry Monk, Chico Flores had picked up a brick and it resulted in the police being called. Now, there's since been statements from both players via Twitter and the official site stating that while the police were called, at no point did anyone pick up a brick, so someone's fibbing somewhere. The Mail story was based on the eyewitness account of a mysterious passer by "believed to be the mother of a youth team player". If true, why would someone with a connection to the club do something capable of causing so much instability?

Some have pondered whether the bust-up was perhaps partly fuelled by the rumours that the Swans are in for Rhys Williams, Middlesborough's club captain and an Australian international. Capable of operating anywhere across the back four and at defensive midfield, it's his preference for playing at centre-back which could have caused consternation in the ranks, and with both players reportedly involved in the clash also centre-backs it could be that while it wasn't the main factor, it had added a bit of extra pressure to the situation. No-one likes looking over their shoulder, and with Garry Monk returning to fitness the acquisition of Williams would mean we'd have five centre-backs. Too many? I'd say so, even if Monk's playing career is possibly starting to draw to a close.

Is Rhys Williams any good? Honestly - I don't know too much about him but I can't say I've ever been that impressed. I must have seen him play against the Swans at some point in the Championship but he can't have made an impression, and while Boro at one point fended off a £6million bid from Bolton for their captain his star has fallen somewhat - although he's not been helped by a couple of fairly nasty injuries which have kept him out for months at a time. 

Of late, in fairness, it seems he's playing well despite some Boro' fans comments on Twitter ("You can have him" being the gist of most of them), and last week Middlesborough manager Aitor Karanka (when did that happen?!) denied any knowledge of a Swansea approach for the defender. Make of that what you will, but the figure mooted is £1.5million. Honestly? I don't see the point in signing someone permanently in that position right now. Our defence is almost fully fit, it's defenders we need. Would Rhys Williams be a suitable replacement for any of our midfielders? I can't rule it out, but it seems unlikely.

Moving on... David N'Gog. What? Again? It was depressing enough the first time we were linked with him, so hopefully this is just the press regurgitating something on a slow news day. As @Paulleyshon said on Twitter - "N'Nspiring". Personally I'd rather have Darren Pratley back and stuff him up front than N'Gog, who's shown he's consistently average even at Championship level, and why we'd be in for him I don't know. There must be better options out there than him, and if we aren't exploring any our scouting network needs some work.

Yes we need cover, yes we don't want to break the bank, but unless the players coming in are at least as good as those currently occupying places in the squad then we should go with what we've got. Yesterday I was told we're 5-5-2 against teams in the bottom half of the league, and if true that's indicative that once the fixture list thins out and we get players back from injury, we should be just fine. 

Rhys Williams? Maybe. David N'Gog? No ta.

Swansea City...where is it going wrong?

Why is our league form so poor?

Right, welcome back and all that. This is my first blog posted on GMT since before Christmas due to my forays to the other side of the world, and if I'm honest the FA Cup win over Manchester United seems the only thing worth writing home about since my departure.

You can take your pick of the stats which indicate our league form really should be better. No win in eight, and we've got the worst record of any PL team in the last few months - picking up just three points of the last twenty-four on offer. So why is it that we've been struggling?

Firstly, you can't discount injuries. The current injury list is as legnthy as anything I've seen during my time supporting the Swans, and we're missing almost our entire midfield. With Shelvey limping off against Spurs, it seems there's another name added to that list, so hopefully we'll see some cover brought in during the transfer window. Be that on a permanent basis or a loan, well that all depends on the player in question, but it now seems likely we'll see one or two new faces at the Liberty before the window slams shut at the end of January.

Tactics, then. Fans are growing increasingly frustrated with our inability to penetrate teams. I saw some stats in the Evening Post a few weeks ago which showed that while we top the average possession and passes completed charts, we're actually rock bottom of the "% of passes completed in the final 1/3", and we also play the most sideways passes of any team in the PL. Indicative? I'd say so. For a long time I've been saying our lack of control in the centre of the park is going to come back to bite us in our derrière, and it seems that's now happening.

At present (due to injuries and a "needs must" selection policy) this argument isn't particularly valid, but our insistence on playing one holding midfielder alongside a load of attacking players simply isn't working. We're retaining the ball, sure, but unless we're capable of building solidly then what's the point? Other teams are now routinely showing that, against us at least, you don't need much of the ball to score goals. If we could only retain possession in the centre of the park - which we've shown we were capable of doing in the past - that would go a long way in solving our problems. 

At present it's going wide every time, and the amount of responsibility our fullbacks have in terms of creating attacking opportunities is too much, in my opinion. We shouldn't be relying on defenders to provide width - there are plenty of attacking players in our lineups so to rely so heavily on players whose first job is to defend is starting to look a questionable tactic. We keep getting caught out at the back, and I feel this is due to our over-reliance on Ben Davies and Angel Rangel getting forward, leaving their centre-backs exposed. 

Against Manchester United in the league we started with Leon & Canas in midfield, and I felt for the fifteen minutes we looked excellent. There was a better balance to the team, and it was only after the Spaniard left the field injured that United started to come into it.

So, I'll leave you with that for now. Just a quick one on my lunch break today, but if you agree (or disagree) get in touch using the comment section, or on Twitter @TheSwanseaWay.

Belated news roundup

An attempt to catch up with what I've missed since heading on my own tour of the Far East...

I've been lazy with the blog since jetting off on holiday. Apologies. Without further ado, here's some selected news which seemed worthy of a mention.

Tate joins Aberdeen on loan

I think this is a good move for Tatey. He clearly doesn't feature in Laudrup's plans, and he's not the type to sit around not playing first team football - despite his blatant love of all things Swansea City. With the Dons pushing for a Europa League place (made all the more achievable by the continued absence of a certain team from Glasgow), he could enjoy a very good time of it indeed, and will have a familiar face in John Rankin - who he played alongside whilst still a member of the Man Utd youth setup.

Swansea make renewed approach for Tom Ince

Huw Jenkins has confirmed to the Daily Mail (link) that the club have again made an approach for Tom Ince. I was expecting a move late on in the window, as Huw looked to once again do one of his super-duper deals, but with rumours abounding that Ince is on new Cardiff manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's list of potential acquisitions it appears his hand may have been forced, and this may well add a million or two to the transfer fee. I'd say if we get him for around £5million, it's a good bit of business.

Portsmouth sign Daniel Alfei on loan

This should be another good loan move for a Swansea defender (link). After scrambling their way through a 14-month administration period, Portsmouth are now desperate for cover in almost every position, but do have something good to contemplate as they're now in the hands of their own Supporters Trust. I'm sure Swansea fans wish them well, and hopefully young Alfei can get some valuable experience under his belt.

Ash wants Bony to get more regular game-time

Echoing what I've often banged on about, Ashley Williams has been in the press stating that if Bony is to continue to hit the heights he achieved against Man City it's important he thinks he's the no1 striker. 

"Wednesday was the best he has played, I am pleased for him and that is the main positive we can take from the game," said the Swansea skipper. Hopefully he will keep his place in the team and he can have that confidence of knowing he is needed and he is wanted and we can build our game around him.

"You could see his quality in the games he has played even if he had not hit that level yet. It's something we have lacked over the last few years, a bit more of a presence, and you saw his strength and finishing. He is a strong boy, his movement is good and he has that appetite to score goals, and I hope he gets a run now.

"My main hope with Wilfried is he gets another chance. Sometimes strikers need to know that they are going to play and they are wanted and are a big part of the team and hopefully he will stick in the team now.

"Even if he doesn't score he needs to play most of the time."

http://www.southwales-eveningpost.co.uk/Ashley-Williams-wants-Wilfried-Bony-play/story-20395407-detail/story.html#ixzz2pPPXTlrt

Wilfried Bony goes a long way in proving himself to doubters

Ivorian's two-goal haul should prove that given time, he can succeed at Swansea

 

Since his arrival at Swansea, there has been a noisy section of the Swansea support which seemed hell-bent on seeing Bony fail to live up to both his price-tag and his free-scoring reputation. "He doesn't run enough" they cried, "he doesn't get into goalscoring positions enough" they protested. Well, last night's performance should go a long way in refuting any of those statements, as he was outstanding from start to finish, and easily our best player on the day.

I can only remember him losing the ball in the first half once, when under pressure from multiple Man City defenders, and apart from that he was involved in everything good the Swans did. He went close with a long range drive,  and linked well with his midfielders, at one point flicking the ball on coyly which allowed De Guzman to be played through - though the Dutchman couldn't produce the finish the move deserved. His first goal was the result of a great ball in from De Guzman and Bony got between the centre-backs (and was lucky to not be flagged offside - even if it would have been marginal) before heading past a flat-footed Joe Hart.

The second half sadly saw Bony involved much less as Man City upped the ante. It was no surprise that without the ball making it's way to the figurehead of the Swans' attack, we looked massively less likely to break through the opposition defence - but we must remember the calibre of the opposition we were facing. Having said that, I can only remember Bony getting two opportunities in the second half - and both times he found the target. The first was a snapshot which forced a save from Joe Hart and the second was an absolutely fantastic hit which swerved away from Hart and into the bottom corner. A great finish, and hopefully that's got the camel off his back.

Personally (as any regular readers of the blog will know all too well), I believe Bony will come very good. He's now got six goals in nine starts (plus a further six sub appearances) in the league, which really isn't that bad. I know he cost £12million, and that's a grotesque figure considering where we've come from in the last ten years, but he should be judged on performances - not his price tag. We signed him for the player he is - not because of how much he was valued at.

Anyway, I'm in Thailand and it's too damn warm to keep typing - I'm off for a beer. I'll endeavour to keep the site updated but given internet access issues it's unlikely I'll be able to blog much before heading home on the 15th. Expect an inundation of blogs when I get back as no doubt there'll be plenty to discuss.