A profile of Swansea target Franco Di Santo

With a move heavily rumoured, how did the ex-Wigan frontman perform last season?

"Franco Di Santo? Him by 'ere"

Following on from yesterday's blog where I had a look at Di Santo's performance in general over the last few seasons, let's now look a little closer at the Argentinian striker's game. With Lita and Moore both seemingly free to find another club, the Swans would be left with Bony, Michu and Rory Donnelly as the only registered forwards (and Michu's inclusion in that list would no doubt gall the Spaniard), so you'd hope that if he is to come in, he'd improve the overall calibre of our front-line.

Last season he played 35 games in the league (24 starts), scoring 5 goals and nabbing two assists. Not the most auspicious start for a striker, so let's move on. When I've been discussing the merits of Di Santo coming in with other Swansea fans, the general consensus has actually been more positive than I'd have imagined; he's clearly not your "out and out striker" and his ability to hold up play has been cited more than once as something which could be useful to the Swans - but do the stats support this? His pass completion is 72.8% (averaging 17.2 passes per game) which when compared with Luke Moore (79.9% completion and 10.2 passes per game) doesn't actually hold up that well. Pun not intended.

Furthermore, from 4 starts and 11 sub appearances Moore managed to grab 3 goals and 2 assists - is Di Santo really any better? The former Chelsea man is dispossessed 1.3 times per game and gives the ball away another 1.6 - Moore weighs in with 0.3 and 0.4 respectively so it would seem that the ball retention argument isn't actually that sound. Ok, Moore has a smaller amount of average game time but it shouldn't produce a disparity as marked as that displayed so far. He averages 1.9 shots per game, with his 5 goals coming from a total of 65 shots - far from clinical and that gives him a conversion rate of 13%. 

He does manage 0.9 key passes per game, which is more than all but 5 Swansea players averaged last term (Ki, Pablo, Routledge, Michu & JDG), so he's clearly got an eye for a pass, but the problem seems to be holding on to the ball long enough to do anything with it, and when you consider he only attempts a dribble once every other game it doesn't seem he's even trying to do anything particularly spectacular. Defensively, 0.6 tackles per game dwarfs the 0.1 managed by Moore, but when you put it alongside the 1.3 managed by Michu it doesn't look that great. I remember Alan Shearer talking about goalscorers once, and he said "Scoring goals hurts", implying that you don't magically appear for tap-ins; you produce your own luck by busting a gut for 90 minutes every time you take the field. 

All in all, not that encouraging really. As has often been the case with the Swans, however, judging a player based on performances at another club could well be fool-hardy. We're seeing more and more cases of "if the shoe fits" and Swansea seems to be turning into somewhere technical footballers can legitimately hope to revitalise their careers if they've seen them stutter elsewhere. Let's hope that, if he does make a switch to SA1, we'll be saying exactly that about Di Santo in a year's time. 

Tate, Augustien, Obeng, Lita & Moore transfer listed as Swans look to make room in squad

Quintet likely to be heading to pastures new as Laudrup looks to streamline the roster of players available to him

In what could probably be viewed as the first wave of departures from the Liberty since promotion to the Premiership (the odd player sale excluded), it seems we're set to say goodbye to one player in particular who's worn his heart on his sleeve for the entire of his spell in SA1.

Still aged only 30, there's a distinct possibility that Alan Tate will continue to play football at, at least, Championship level. He equipped himself well during our rise through the divisions and despite some (overly) harsh words from fans at times I thought he was excellent - and I include his performances at left-back into that. Ok, when up against certain tricky wingers he struggled, but what right-footed emergency left back wouldn't?

Sadly, it seems the time has come where Laudrup thinks we need to be looking above and beyond players of Tate's standing, and we can only hope he'll still receive a testimonial at some point. Laudrup indicated his decision to transfer-list certain players won't necessarily have been a shock to them:

“Some of them were spoken to in April; Tate and Bartley knew we wanted to bring in a different type of centre-back. We want someone who can play a little higher with more speed and they both said they didn’t want to be fourth or fifth choice here.

“With the forwards [Moore & Lita], even if we went into pre-season without new strikers, I wouldn’t have brought them. I wanted them to have the time to find another club instead of coming here just to wait before we signed someone.”

In what can only be described as a wonderfully subtle soundbite, Laudrup also indicated it wasn't necessarily just footballing reasons which have led to Kemy Augustien being shown the door:

“There were a lot of things with Kemy last season and it’s best for him that he finds a new environment and tries to play a little more regularly.”

That's being kind. 36 (I think?) points on his driving license for a series of offences, and going out on the piss with the club's arch-rivals less than 48 hours before he could realistically have been expecting to play a Premier League game? Not the conduct you'd expect from someone being paid many thousands of pounds a week to play football.

In regards to ongoing speculation as to the club's remaining transfer targets (Huddersfield's Jack Hunt in particular), the Dane was typically coy:

“You could ask a lot of names. So many players are linked and when they go to another place it’s because they turned us down when we never wanted them. If I signed just half of those linked we would have a squad of 36.” Michael Laudrup

While we don't want to become overloaded, these are exceptionally exciting times. It seems we're in the market for more or less anyone who'd improve the overall calibre of the squad, and why not? Assuming (and why wouldn't you?) that we can easily afford all of these transfers, it's really pleasing to see the club pursuing transfer targets with a vengeance. Who knows, we may yet see another quality acquision or two before the end of the summer.

West Brom v Swansea City - Swansea score three goals, and lose 2-1

Swansea count the cost of poor officiating.

Garry Monk is beaten to the ball by Romelu Lukaku
for West Brom's first goal.

As the dust settles on this encounter, it's sad that the biggest talking point will remain a decision made by two Lee's. With the score 2-1 to WBA, there were five minutes remaining when Roland Lamah received the ball on the right wing. He jinked his way into the penalty area, beating his man and attempting a cross which cannoned back to him off defender and goalkeeper, before proceeding to tuck the ball in with his left foot to cue wild celebrations. The goal appeared to come on the back of a spell of Swansea pressure (arguably their best spell in the second half), and to say that it would have changed the game is stating the obvious given how late in the day it came. Alas, it was not to be. Between them, Lee Mason and Lee Betts decided the goal shouldn't stand, presumably, because of some purported offside. Replays have clearly shown the ball struck no Swansea player after leaving Lamah's foot, and the goal should have stood. Swansea's players were furious, and Laudrup, in his post-match interview, was infuriated in a way we were previously yet to see. 

“What happened in the disallowed goal is against the rules. How can you disallow when ball comes from opponent? It’s like being offside from a throw-in. It’s come off two opponents – the goalkeeper and the defender. 

“How can you disallow that goal? You don’t know the rules or you have not seen it. He is a linesman so he must know the rules. 

“If you see a linesman flag for offside from a throw-in, you would laugh. I can assure you I did not laugh after this one.” A clearly unimpressed Michael Laudrup

The game started brightly for the Swans. Moving the ball around well, they weren't quite at their free-flowing best, however you did get a small sense of just why the Swans have been so successful in overcoming West Brom. There were times when the intricate passing threatened to undo the Baggies, but they held firm with McAuley and Olsson in proving particularly imperious. Without Leon Britton (suffering with a minor hip injury) the Swans went with a reshuffled lineup, with Ki & De Guzman anchoring the midfield, and Michu ahead of them. Luke Moore was rewarded for his goal-scoring cameo with his first start for a good while, and only took 30-odd minutes to repay his manager's faith.  

Swansea earned a corner, and despite the Swans' usual profligacy at set pieces Luke Moore managed to rise highest to meet Jonathan De Guzman's delivery. It really was an excellent header from Moore, twisting and stooping to eventually head it virtually backwards towards goal. The direction was, however, perfect, and Ben Foster was unable to prevent the ball travelling across him into the far corner. 

The Swans' lead was short-lived however - Chris Brunt rose highest to flick the ball on to Graham Dorrans, whose low cross was aimed towards the imperious Lukaku (who has the tag of "highest scoring teenager in Europe" - despite looking like a seasoned heavyweight boxer), and Lukaku got in front of Garry Monk to turn home Graham Dorrans' low cross first time. It has to be said that the Belgian centre-forward enjoyed a very good day at the office - by going with Monk ahead of Bartley, the Swans did run the risk of the frontman getting the better of us for most of the game, and his physicality seemed to be something the Swans struggled with. Lukaku's goal was the last real incident in the first half, however there was just time for Billy Jones to pick up a caution for a challenge on Michu before the half drew to a close. 

The second half kicked off and WBA seemed a rejuvenated side. Their passing and pressing had a renewed vigour to it, and it was with no real surprise that the Swans found themselves being pushed further and further back towards their own goal. A succession of West Brom shots, and Swansea fouls, culminated in Wayne Routledge giving away a penalty. Another strange call, when you look at it. I've only seen limited replays, but it seemed there were two potential "fouls" - the first outside the area and the second inside. When I first saw the replay, my initial reaction was that the second challenge (on James Morrison) definitely seemed to involve Routledge getting to the ball first. Either way, Lee Mason felt it prudent to award a penalty and Lukaku picked the ball up confidently, as we'd expect from a player who has been wreaking havoc with more celebrated defences than the Swans'. 

Vorm saves Lukaku's spot-kick

He hadn't, however, done his homework. If he had, he'd have known that Michel Vorm has a reputation for saving spot-kicks - earning himself the nickname "The Penalty Killer" no less. Granted, decent penalties are fairly impossible to save, however Lukaku's effort was, in truth, rather weak. He hit it low to Vorm's right, but when Vorm made the save he was no more than halfway between his starting position in the centre of the goal and his right-hand upright. The striker will have gone away knowing he should have done better. WBA, though, didn't have too long to wait for what seems, now that I'm writing about it, like another in a series of lucky breaks. 

With Swansea defending a corner, Gareth McAuley rose highest to power a header towards goal. It was, in fairness, heading towards goal but Angel Rangel, positioned well, was in the right place at the right time to head the ball clear. One man who most definitely wasn't in the right place at the right time was Jonathan De Guzman. The Dutch international found himself directly in front of the Swansea right-back - and (completely unwittingly) the ball struck the back of his head before deflecting back into the Swansea net. Most unlucky, but that's why organisation is important at set-pieces. 

A fairly unmemorable twenty-five minutes of football then passed, with the Swans taking more control as time went on. The substitution of Lukaku left WBA with no outlet to relieve pressure, and the Swans found themselves pressing higher and higher, and able to retain more and more possession. At the height of this pressure, as mentioned, Lamah burst through to score a perfectly legitimate goal from close range - but the officials deemed fit to disallow it. Water under the bridge now, but there can surely only be so many of these incidents in a multi-billion pound industry before enough is enough and technology gets involved. In his post-match interview, Steve Clarke only acknowledges one piece of luck, although deep-down he'll know that winning a game in which you've missed a penalty, conceded two legitimate goals, and had the help of an own-goal means that you've had more than one lucky break.

"We got a lucky break. It should have been given. It was a goal. I think it came off Ben Foster last so that is fortuitous. But sometimes when you put in the effort, energy and quality we did into that game... I think we earned that little break. 

"We deserved to win the game. Don't be writing down that we didn't deserve to win the game. I'm delighted because we came from behind. We don't do it very often and in the Premier League there are not too many teams that can do it." Steve Clarke 

One final note, is that I predicted it 2-2. With both sides scoring two legitimate goals each, I'm claiming that as a moral victory. It's not my fault the Premier League can't get any decent officials...

Luke Moore may have shown Kyle Bartley that sometimes saying nothing is the best option...

Swansea striker has had to bide his time this season. 

Following Swansea's win over Newcastle, where Luke Moore snatched victory in a match which seemed to be heading for a stalemate, there have been lots of quotes from Luke which, whilst oft-repeated by others in their nature, are satisfying nonetheless.

Interestingly, the Evening Post deemed fit to miss out a sentence of Luke Moore's interview (highlighted in bold):

"It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that I've been frustrated this season.When you're not playing, it can be a lonely place. But I haven't asked for a meeting with Michael because I don't think it's the right time. 

"I love playing for Swansea. To my mind there are no more knowledgeable fans. I'm not the sort of player who plays up to the crowd. I just get on with my job but I definitely appreciate the fans and it's a great place to play football — if you're playing. On a Saturday there are not many better places to play your football than in front of the fans here. You pass it backwards and they don't mind, they understand football and for me as a player I am very appreciative of that."  

"I'm happy because there is not a nicer bunch of lads in the league. They are all down to earth and there are no big-time players so I'm happy. I haven't asked for a meeting because I don't think it's the time. I'm a good professional and I just get on with things. There's no point moping about. I need to finish the season as best as I can, and that's all I can do. 

"I've got another year left so we'll see. I just want to concentrate on the latter part of the season and hopefully I can kick on. Like everything in football things can change from one club to the next so we'll see. As a professional footballer that's what it's about — you want to try to do your best and kick on. 

"You want to be as professional as you can and not let the side down. That's the most important thing." Luke Moore

Firstly - does anyone else see the fabulous irony in the sentence "I'm not the sort of player who plays up to the crowd" being preceded by "there are no more knowledgeable fans [than Swansea's]"? Nice bit of PR there Luke, subtle that. In fairness it can't be easy sitting on the sidelines - especially when Itay Shechter has been playing ahead of you. Surely Shechter has now produced one blunt display too many, with even hardened optimists admitting he doesn't have the strength or quality to lead the Swansea line. Luke Moore comes across as a very unassuming type, and always has a seemingly surprised expression on his face, and it will have been as much of a shock to him as to anyone else that he found himself grabbing the headlines. As the quotes show, he hasn't rocked the boat or even nagged Laudrup, just got on with his job and he may yet do enough to warrant a contract extension. Personally, I would like to see us sign at least one, possibly two strikers ahead of next season - although I'm aware the Swans aren't suddenly going to start splashing the cash. Iago Aspas has been touted around but his club are reluctant to sell and the fee involved is likely a little rich for Huw. It remains to be seen who we'll bring in but I wouldn't bet against messrs Jenkins & Laudrup springing a rabbit (or two) from a hat between them.

Another player who has watched from the sidelines this season is Kyle Bartley. When Garry Monk came off the bench at Wembley I did feel for Kyle, although I did wonder if perhaps the fact he'd given an interview to local media in the aftermath of the Liverpool game, where he stated he'd be disappointed to miss out, worked against him. In the interview he also stated that he didn't think making seven changes had helped the Swans, which, while probably true, is surely something Michael Laudrup won't want to hear. Bartley did concede that his own performance, along with others, had been below par, but whether that worked for or against him it's hard to say. Either way, he missed out on playing at Wembley and can realistically feel hard done by, but football is cruel at times. The complete domination enjoyed by Swansea means it's impossible to criticise team selection, even if a large section of the Swansea support, myself included, were not convinced of Ki's defensive credentials.

Bartley could learn a thing or two from Moore's apparent handling of the media. All he's talked about is how it's frustrating - which you want from a professional footballer having to watch from the sidelines - and how he likes playing here - whereas Bartley was stating his case and saying that he'd be disappointed if he didn't play. I'm sure between now and the end of the season Kyle will have opportunities to impress, so it'll be interesting to see if he gives any interviews in the build up to, and fall out from, matches, and if so what he talks about.

Laudrup: "Barca played with 19 senior players and some youth players, played every three days and it was fine"

Well, ok Michael but football is different to when you played, and British football is slightly more hot on the "charging around like a headless chicken for 90 minutes". I'm not saying I know more about any aspect of football than Laudrup, however I do know from watching a lot of La Liga that the British game is most definitely played at a faster pace and with a higher intensity. Maybe it's simply the weather, who knows, but I'd say to have only 19 senior players would be a massive risk, given the unpredictable nature of football. Players requesting transfers, as well as injuries, can throw a spanner into the works, and we've been incredibly lucky this season that Ben Davies has stepped up to the plate so well - as Neil Taylor was one of the Swans more consistent performers. Davies has filled in without anyone batting an eyelid and some, myself included, are starting to think Taylor will have to learn a secondary position once fit, such has been Davies continued improvement. 

"You won't have 27 players who are at the same level, so you will still have five or six who never play.I think if you take all the games this season, even the two-and-a-half months when we played every three days and had injuries, we always had a competitive team. 

"I don't recall us ever having only 15 or 16 players to choose from. I felt in that period everyone had an importance in the team. I think two players for each position is more than enough, just about 22 players. That way you can still have some young players, someone with talent and potential... 

"That means everyone feels important and the young players get the feeling that they are not so far away from playing." Michael Laudrup

Laudrup's point is, rightly, that the Swans squad is too big at present. A quick check of the official site tells me we've currently got 31 squad players - which is too many for a club the size of Swansea City - even given our wage restrictions. Players like Kemy Augustien, Mark Gower, Luke Moore & Darnel Situ need to stick their hand in the air if they want to save their place in the Swansea team - as I expect a (excuse the crudity of the word) cull this summer. Laudrup will likely have no qualms about clearing space in his squad if he feels he can improve the overall calibre of the players at his disposal, and with prospective European football, and improved funds for player acquisition, it's possible we could see a raft of new faces in South Wales this summer. There are ten games remaining, but it remains to be seen who stands up to be counted.