Vorm says Arsenal are scared of the Swans...

Brave, and possibly foolhardy words from the Swansea keeper

Arsenal bowed out of the Champions League despite an
impressive 2-0 away win at Bayern Munich.

Before Arsenal travelled to Munich to play Bayern, Arsene Wenger hinted that the upcoming match against Swansea is actually the bigger game. Whether he'd have said that if they hadn't failed so dramatically first time around against the Germans is another matter, however the fact remains he clearly had one eye on the Swansea match as he rotated his squad heavily for the second leg of the Champions League game with a view to keeping players fresh for their trip to South Wales. One thing to note is that in 2013 Bayern had only conceded four goals in ten matches prior to the Gunners' arrival, so a 2-0 win, only losing on away goals, was impressive from an Arsenal team which has been heavily criticised of late.. 

Arsene Wenger “Swansea is a massive game this weekend and qualifying for the Champions League is massive. We want to be in there and I don’t envisage anything else. That’s why it was so difficult for us to lose at Tottenham.  

“It means more because it was Tottenham, but it was the impact for us in the league which was the worry for me. Every player wants to play in the Champions League. You want to play at the top level and the Champions League is the top.”

If Arsenal fail to secure Champions League football for next season then the growing unease within the Arsenal camp will surely rise to previously unseen levels. The constant departure of the club's best players cannot be ignored if the players brought in to replace them fail to at least maintain the standard of the squad. In recent years Song, Fabregas, Van Persie, Flamini, Ashley Cole *shudder*, Thierry Henry and Samir Nasri have all moved on, and other than the emergence of Song, and Van Persie's breakthough [read: managed to stay fit] season, the players that have been brought in to replace them haven't improved the squad. Fans must hope that with Walcott starting to look a very decent finisher, and Jack Wilshire clearly an outstanding talent, a few good signings and Arsenal will once again have a squad capable of challenging for major honours.

One Swans player clearly not in awe of the current Arsenal squad is keeper Michel Vorm. Whether Vorm thought he'd try a bit of the old mind games is up for debate, however I don't really like players coming out with this stuff before matches. Why bother? There's massive potential for egg on your face and in my opinion it's completely unnecessary. Every team in the Premier League now knows that Swansea are, on their day, capable of competing with anyone and Swansea's performances against Arsenal, in particular, emphasise that point.

Michel Vorm: “A lot of teams are fighting for those top four places – but I don’t think Arsenal are going to make it this time around. They don’t like to play against us because they know what we are capable of. If we play to our best we can beat anybody. 

“Arsenal is a game that suits us as we aren’t afraid of anybody. It’s more that they are afraid of us because they know how well we can play. And they also know they can’t lose games now as there are a lot of good teams around them.”

Now, I know Vorm was probably baited by a journalist in order to get that quote ["Are Swansea afraid of Arsenal?"] however with the media the way it is they were always going to have a field day with that. Just give it the old "They're a good team, we'll treat this game like any other" and get back to the training field!

Michu wants to find the Loch Ness Monster!

Really. 

“I want to visit Scotland. I want to be the one to find the Loch Ness Monster. I can do it.” 

“I have no time at the moment - but I want to know Wales and Manchester and London. And Loch Ness.”  Michu

As long as he keeps banging goals in, he can do whatever he wants...

Swans trio called up to Wales squad

Ben Davies, Ashley Williams and Jazz Richards have been called up to the Wales squad, and all will have been fairly automatic choices for Chris Coleman's side, having performed superbly over the last couple of weeks. Hopefully Jazz will get a game, as he's been doing well for Crystal Palace whilst on loan (see my report on his loan so far here) and it'll add further confidence to a player who could be useful for the Swans in the future. Ash recovered almost immediately from a couple of errors in his very first few games and has gone on to have an outstanding season, receiving praise from all quarters to the extent where he's now being linked with Arsenal and Liverpool. It seems like he wants to stay, so here's hoping. 

Ben Davies has been the surprise package this season and he goes from strength to strength. Still only nineteen, Davies has adapted remarkably well to life in the Premier League and (until Neil Taylor is fit at least) he can surely consider himself Wales' first choice left back. Quite a debut season, and it's not over yet. Good luck to all the Wales players involved in the upcoming World Cup Qualifiers against Scotland and Croatia, but more importantly just don't get injured!

Jazz Richards: Loan Report

Swansea youth product Richards has been on loan at Crystal Palace since January - how's he doing?

Jazz Richards being presented as a Crystal Palace player

Ever since Ian Holloway (he really does like Swansea doesn't he?) announced his intention to take Ashley Richards to South East London, we haven't really heard much from the former Wales u-21 Captain, so I thought I'd do a bit of digging around on the internet, Palace forums and the like to see how he's been faring. Originally the rumour was of a £750k transfer, but I have to say I was pleased when it turned out to be a loan, as I do like Jazz Richards, and think given more game time he can develop into a handy squad player - one capable of challenging players like Dwight Tiendalli, for example. Given both his youth relative to Tiendalli and Rangel, and the fact that Richards is from Swansea, there's good reason to believe he might be with us for some time yet.

At first glance, things weren't good. The first forum I found contained a thread announcing his arrival, however I had to trawl through 6 pages of "Jazz" puns before finally people started discussing the player himself (lots of pleasing mentions such as "he's from Swansea so you know he can play" though). Understandably, most Palace fans hadn't seen much of him so it was interesting to read through all the posts, feedback and comments seeing their opinions on him develop. One thing to note is that Palace are really pushing on in the table, and currently lie third - so it's not like he's playing for a side scrapping it out at the foot of the table. Holloway has Palace playing some great football and most of the fans seem to respect Jazz's ability on the ball, and willingness to get forward in attack.

Surely the only international captain
ever to call himself "Jazz"?

He made his debut away at Huddersfield, and reading about this game is funny given how the season has unfolded. The Eagles went down 1-0, and all the talk was of how "the season was unravelling" and "there's nothing to play for" - hindsight is a wonderful thing. Ashley Richards, however, came out with credit, with several fans posting comments to the effect of "everyone else was pants, but Richards did ok". Next up was a home debut against Charlton, and he proceeded to make an instant impact. With the game at 1-1, Stephen Dobbie's (Holloway's Swansea crush at work again) cross was deflected away, and Jazz nipped in to provide a pass for Glenn Murray, who steered the ball home for the winner; a nice way to endear yourself to the home crowd. Next up were high-flying Watford - and this was a game of two halves for Richards. At fault for the opener, he scuffed a clearance to allow Almen Abdi to steal in and prod the ball home. Young Jazz wasn't done though. With Palace trailing 2-1, he broke down the line and provided a delicious cross for Kevin Phillips to turn home. Did the Palace fans like that? Judge for yourself here.


So, two assists in his first three games - from full-back. Not bad at all! Next up were Middlesbrough, themselves occupying a play-off berth - but they were duly dispatched 4-1. Some fans seemed to think he struggled with the Boro wingers, however this is surely picking holes in a performance which was overall, very impressive. He featured again in Palace's 2-1 win over Bristol City, and at about this point fans started coming back to the forums to comment on his performances so far - and most of them are pretty effusive if I'm honest. Some think he's slightly shaky in defence, but I'd say given how much football he's played in the last few years it'd take at least six or seven games until any player was fully "up to speed" as it were. Next up were Sheffield Wednesday away, and football can be very strange in how it brings people together. Palace lost 1-0, with the winner coming from Leroy Lita - himself on loan from Swansea until the end of the season. Who are Sheffield Wednesday managed by? Dave Jones no less.

One cause for concern, despite Palace's charge up the table, was their away form - with no win coming in their last 10 outings away from Selhurst Park. This was put to bed in their next game though; a 1-0 win at Derby, where they had keeper Speroni to thank for an 88th minute penalty save - tipping Connor Sammon's effort onto the crossbar. Does anyone else think it's impressive Jazz has gone straight from playing reserve football (or "development side football" as it's probably now known), to playing every game for a team towards the top of the Championship? Ok, first choice right back Joel Ward has been out injured, but this is still an impressive effort from the Swansea youth product.

Sadly, he picked up a toe injury which forced him off at Derby, and he's missed the last two games - however he was on the bench for Palace's last match, facing Leeds at Elland Road. All of the sounds coming out of the Palace camp seem to indicate he'll go straight back into the team once fit, and it seems Jazz's arrival (along with Stephen Dobbie's from Brighton) has coincided with Crystal Palace's surge up the table. Palace fans have, tentatively, drawn comparisons between Richards and Nathaniel Clyne, and let's be honest, they'd know. It remains to be seen how the rest of the season works out for Crystal Palace, and whether they decide they want to make a move for Richards may well depend on whether they manage to secure promotion this season - however with Richards' contract set to expire in the summer it would seem prudent for them to make a nominal offer.

The Swans have been quick to secure contracts for first team players, however the fact Jazz's has run down to this extent does make me wonder whether he'll be free to move on in the summer. As far as I'm aware, for the Swans to be eligible for compensation (due to the fact that he's under 23), we'd have to offer him a renewed contract? All in all, I wouldn't blame him if he wanted to move on, as his playing time has been limited, however I would like to see him have another go at breaking into the Swansea first team. There are much-heralded players in our squad against whom the accusation "they can't make the step up" was levelled (before promotion to the Premiership), and I think this may be a similar situation. Jazz is mobile, good on the ball, has an eye for a pass and likes a tackle, and I think surely, given game time, Richards could develop into a useful utility back - a sort of "South Walian Phil Neville", if you will...

Sorry Jazz.

Jazz Richards - the Phil Neville of South Wales?