Monk: "Michu great but it's teamwork that'll keep us up"

Swansea boss glad to reintroduce Spaniard, but acknowledges team effort is required to halt slide

There are various theories as to why we've fallen apart in the second half of the last two league games. I think against Palace there's only so much analysis to be done as we were at the tail end of a crazy run of games, but against WBA the manner in which we surrendered control of the game was alarming. 

Jon Trew did a very interesting piece yesterday (link) where he suggested that in order to regain possession the Swans should actually have dropped deeper, and opened the pitch up. In the first half, Ash spent a large amount of time in the deepest section of the pitch, but in the second half he was active much further forward. It was then pointed out on Twitter that after Michu came on for Jose Canas Ash didn't spend ANY time in the deepest section of the pitch for the remainder of the match. 

I'm not saying Michu was at fault - he's clearly not going to be match fit and it was the way the whole team was trying to operate. We lost our cohesion in midfield and our pass completion dropped ten percent compared to the first half - a dramatic dropoff and must unlike what we've come to expect from the Swans.

Given his prolonged absence, it's understandable that a large section of the support are hoping Michu can fire us to safety now that he's back in contention for a place in the lineup, but Garry Monk is a bit more pragmatic about things:

"A few of the other boys have been chipping in with goals while Michu has been out, and of course that has to continue. If he can come in and add his quality and get a few goals then great, but it's a team effort. 

"They were difficult circumstances — ideally it would have been nice to bring him on in a better situation. Maybe if we'd been controlling the game, Michu could have had more of an influence, but it's great to see him back fit and those minutes on the pitch will help him."  

http://www.southwales-eveningpost.co.uk/Swansea-City-expect-Michu-says-Garry-Monk/story-20822351-detail/story.html#ixzz2wIu4LRom

It's totally understandable why Monk brought Michu on against the Baggies. With the Swans suffering from extreme opposition pressure, bringing Pablo on for Jose would have been a ballsy move, given West Brom had been harrying our central midfield all game. Michu offers a much more physical threat, but sadly he wasn't able to affect proceedings that greatly.

The problem we face now is that Bony & Michu haven't actually played together on the field that much. Bony was introduced slowly after missing a large portion of pre-season, and by the time he was regularly included Michu had succumbed to injury. I don't think we've got time for them to build a partnership, as using both in the starting eleven would drastically alter the dynamic of a typical Swansea team.

I think given Bony has shown over the last few months he's more than capable of leading the line for us, for now Michu should still be reintroduced slowly. I think since Monk's come in one of the big positives is how much more of the pitch we're using, and by replacing Bony with Michu - or even putting Michu behind the Ivorian - I think it would result in our possession game being played more towards our own goal. With Bony (despite a couple of iffy performances) being able to hold up possession that much further up the field it stretches the game in Swansea's favour, and that gives our midfielders room to run into.

For now we should stick with three proper central midfielders and Bony up top, and if you're looking for an impact player off the bench to replace Bony I don't think you could do much better than Miguel Perez Cuesta. He could do with building up his match fitness slowly (much has recently been made of shortened recovery periods leading to recurring injuries) and I think by taking Bony off on sixty-five/seventy minutes you could arguably get the best out of what both strikers can offer you at the moment.

Firstly, Bony can run that much harder knowing he doesn't have to make the full ninety minutes. Considering how much of a handful he is for centre-halves anyway, that really is an intriguing concept. Secondly, the same can be said of Michu - if he's only got a shorter time period to play then he can charge around like a bull in a china shop (I tried to think of a toreador pun for ages but sadly failed) and cause chaos in the ranks of tiring opposition defences.

This idea is probably going to be met with dismay from a large section of the support who'd favour Michu returning to the starting lineup as soon as he's physically up to it, but I do think we've looked a more balanced team in the last few months. Ok, results haven't improved but we're just a lucky break away from a good result. Against Palace & WBA Bony had chances which on any other day could well have gone in, and those goals would probably have seen us pick up an extra five points - which would be absolutely massive right about now.

So, Michu super-sub then? For now, at least...

Monk: "Michu has a chance of being ready for WBA"

Spanish forward could finally return from a protracted injury layoff

Since seemingly injuring himself against Cardiff in November it's been a hard slog to get back to fitness for Michu. At first he was out for just a few games, but after missing four games he only managed ninety minutes against Hull and seventy-four against Norwich before he again had to receive treatment on persistent knee and ankle problems. It seems he'd been playing through injury for a while, and we've seen with Ashley Williams in the past that as much as we love the idea of a player wanting to play through injury, it's possibly not in the best interests of the club in the long term, given how likely it is that doing so could exacerbate the existing injury.

For his part, Michu has retweeted a post from the official Swansea Twitter feed showing him in training, and Garry Monk seemed fairly positive when asked about the possibility of the Spaniard featuring on the weekend:

"I would say at this stage that Michu has a chance. He trained both days over the weekend and then had a rest on Monday, but he will be working from now on, and if he trains well over the next few days, he has definitely got a chance of being involved. He won't be starting I wouldn't have thought, but you never know. 

"We will have to see how he is in training. In this situation, a lot of it comes down to how the player feel as well. He said the pain he has been feeling has gone now, but we have to make sure we don't rush him.

"I will speak to Michu over the next few days and we will go from there." 

http://www.southwales-eveningpost.co.uk/Swansea-City-boss-Garry-Monk-optimistic-Michu/story-20791180-detail/story.html#ixzz2vds9Bu3z

.@Michuoviedo ready to give #Swans a major boost ahead of weekend clash with @WBAFCofficial >> http://t.co/Pw5zaNOhnw pic.twitter.com/eAj7N49Zrl

— Swansea City FC (@SwansOfficial) March 10, 2014

I very much doubt that he'd come straight back into the team, but I'm really excited about the potential partnership of Michu & Bony. If we can get those two working together on top of playing crisp passing football there won't be many teams who can live with us, and for Monk the challenge is now trying to fit all his best players into an eleven man side whilst still ensuring his side can produce the passing football which has served us (and will continue to serve us) in such good stead.

I think part of the problem we've had in recent times is the team had become too attacking-midfielder-centric, as it were. Since Jason Scotland we haven't had a striker who, in my opinion, was as good in his role within our system as everyone else in the team. Danny Graham did very well for a spell, and I think given more time he could have worked even better, but obviously we didn't get to find out - in the meantime though we firstly signed Gylfi Sigurdsson, before Michu came in and occupied roughly the same role in the team.

I'm not against a goalscoring attacking midfielder - far from it! I feel though that at times it became harder for our centre-forward to be involved in build-up play, as so often the ball didn't get past the attacking midfielder. Graham's goals dropped off after Gylfi came in, and obviously last season Michu was our main outlet, so when Bony came in I think it was completely natural it took us a while to figure out how to use him. We haven't operated with an effective "sticking point" that far up the field in a long time, and now that it's finally starting to work it'd be a shame if we reverted to isolating the striker. 

That's why it's crucial when Michu is bedded back into the team he pays close attention to how Monk is setting the team up. There were things that clearly weren't working for most of the season (as well as things that were, granted), but if Michu can figure out how to play off Bony we will have absolutely no problem scoring goals for the foreseeable future.

Fingers crossed Michu is back sooner rather than later, as he's an excellent option and with Bony currently without a worthy understudy if the Ivorian was to get injured Michu would undoubtedly deputise in his absence. You can bet your house on him doing a better job than Vazquez, that's for sure.

Win a free Michu T-shirt!

Courtesy of Art Of Football, you could be the winner of a fantastic "Outclassing Chelski" t-shirt!

Something to take our mind away from all the off-field stuff, then! Few will forget our League Cup semi-final win over Chelsea, where goals from Michu & Danny Graham went a long way in seeing us through to the final against Bradford. That victory will live long in the memory of anyone who witnessed it, and thanks to the lovely folk at Art Of Football, we've got a brilliant "Outclassing Chelski" t-shirt to give away!

To be in with your chance of winning, simply tweet @TheSwanseaWay with the hashtag #MichuComp in the tweet, by posting on The Swansea Way's Facebook page, or by commenting on this article. Give a good reason why you should get the t-shirt and it could be yours! It's a men's large, if you're interested. I figured that was the best shout for a "one size fits all" effect. 

Good luck!

Michu wants Aspas to come in, but should he be saying such things to the press?

Swansea forward has followed up on "I dream of a move to a big club" quotes by stating publicly he (and others) want Aspas to move to SA1 on a loan deal

Last week, we had to deal with various articles published in the mainstream media based around comments made by Michu regarding how he "dreams of a move to a big club". These comments were tempered (although how much depends on what newspaper you read it in) by his assertion that he is happy for now at Swansea, and that he's not thinking of a move elsewhere. Despite that though, there does seem to be a bit of a consensus view that something's not quite right. His body language has been strange for a while and his form hasn't been amazing - even before the injury which kept him out for a few weeks.

The latest quotes to come from the floppy haired Spaniard came as something of a surprise, given that there hadn't been any talk about Aspas in recent weeks. Normally there'd be some smoke before the fire raged into full view, but it's hard to view the below comments as anything other than a "Please come join us" plea:

"We [Swansea's Spanish players] are hoping he can come here on loan. It would be a pleasure to play with him. Iago has had injuries, but he has quality. He deserves to play in the Premier League. He has been unlucky. 

"At Liverpool, they have Luis Suarez and Sturridge, who have scored a lot of goals. Suarez is, along with Diego Costa and others, one of the best strikers in Europe." Michu  

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/25452182?

Do we need Aspas? If I was Bony, I'd find it hard to look at those comments and not take them as some kind of snub, and considering Michu's hardly been setting the world alight this season (and he often plays in a similar position to the one coveted by Aspas) it seems a bit strange to come out with comments of this nature.

Obviously Aspas can play out wide as well as through the middle, though how effective he is in an "inside forward" position I can't say, having not seen him play all the much. All I know is I've seen a video of him headbutting someone on the floor, and that he has (understandably) struggled to break into Liverpool's team due to the good form of Sturridge & Suarez. I'm not going to use that as a way of judging him, but I do wonder what kind of wages he'd be on - we could do with a number of additions to the squad now, but I think centre-forward isn't necessarily an area we need bulking out in. With Bony, Michu & Vazquez already rotating in one position, do we need anyone else?

I asked fans on Twitter what they made of the comments, and whether Aspas would be a good signing, and it brought a mixed reaction:

@TheSwanseaWay yes it doesn't say much about his confidence in Bony does it!!
— Martin Jones (@TycochJack) December 19, 2013

@TheSwanseaWay i agree with him as he can also play on the wing and he offers something different to Bony and Michu
— Michael Fletcher (@MiniFletch14) December 19, 2013

@TheSwanseaWay Aspas has got pace & could arguably play wide, especially as our wingers play fairly narrow anyway. Cover for Dyer?
— Rhys Padarn (@lordpad) December 19, 2013

@TheSwanseaWay Aspas is a mate of his, hardly surprising he'd want him here. Nothing wrong with more strike options imo!
— Phil Bettany (@philbettany) December 19, 2013

@TheSwanseaWaywe only got one loan and we need a keeper , and he turned us down in the summer
— geraint batetr (@gizz1988) December 19, 2013

@TheSwanseaWay He's getting a bit noisy is Michu. Head turned?
— colin lewis (@ligarius) December 19, 2013

@TheSwanseaWay aspas is on different level to vasquez mate, simple as that!
— julianmallows (@Napperjack18) December 19, 2013

@TheSwanseaWay makes sense to me more options and creativity is a good thing, bring back Ki and send J De Guz the other way too! #Swans
— Ryan Sturdy (@sturdy_3004) December 19, 2013

@TheSwanseaWay Very different player. I'd like to see him here.
— Gareth Baglow (@GarethBaglow) December 19, 2013

What do you think of Michu's comments? Would you like to see Aspas brought in? Get involved in the comment section below!

Improvement needed, but lay off the histrionics

Swansea need to improve, but we're still better than a good few teams in the Premiership

Over the last few weeks I've commented on an increasingly frustrating level of performance from the Swans. We know that the players who now pull on the coveted white shirt are capable of putting on spectacular displays of football, however so far this season we've flattered to deceive and I feel the 4-0 victory over Sunderland helped mask the underlying issue. 

We're simply not operating anywhere near the limits of our abilities. To me, we've been playing at around 60%, and of late it's almost started to resemble the football we were playing under Paolo Sousa, such is the lack of invention in the final third of the field. With the players we have at our disposal it's clearly not a case of lacking quality, and I believe it's entirely down to team selection.

This summer we signed Wilfried Bony for £12million. We also retained Michu, who'd been heavily linked with a move away from the Swans, and given his performances last season it would take a brave, brave man to bench him in favour of anyone - no matter if they were signed for a club record fee which doubled the previous figure. So it's been that Michu is, in my eyes, still regarded as the focal point of our attack, and I feel that's largely the reason we've been misfiring so far this season. I've likened trying to fit Bony & Michu into the team at the same time to trying to fit two round pegs into one square hole. Frustrating.

Towards the tail end of last season - in fact, since we won the Capital One Cup, we haven't played anywhere near as well as we did in the first half of last season. Thankfully, we'd managed to rack up a healthy points total which saw us retain a top-half finish, and despite some committed performances which gained decent results early on this season we still haven't reached the heights I, and most fans, feel we're capable of.

The main issue I see is we're drifting away from the team-focused football which has stood us in such good stead for such a long time now. I'm a massive fan of Laudrup and not for a minute do I want to see anyone else in charge in SA1, however I'm starting to feel his tactics seem more suited to Manchester United than Swansea City. It seems he expects his players to be able to replicate the individual feats of brilliance he himself was (and still is) capable of, which is all well and good. It's important though that these flicks, tricks and more come on top of our structured passing game - not instead of it.

Ok, we still retain possession at will. There's no doubting that, and we're adept at swinging the ball from left to right to evade opposition clutches, however the intricate passing which previously saw us undoing opposition defences simply isn't there, and I can't remember any of our midfielders presenting Wilfried Bony OR Michu with a clear-cut chance which it would then be up to them to mess up. Strikers at other clubs with far inferior players are given much better service, and it's something we need to improve on. 

With Michu at attacking midfield, the issue is exacerbated. The Swansea way is based on having three midfielders who can pass their way through any opposition midfield and while the players we're selecting in the three central positions are no doubt capable of that style of play Michu's natural game is to wander all over the park, which then leaves the other two midfielders short of an option to relieve pressure with a forward pass. Instead, we go backwards and sideways every time, and we're not able to build play in close enough proximity to our centre-forward to be able to provide him with any kind of meaningful service.

With Michu having picked up an injury against Cardiff, it seems we may finally see three "specialised" central midfielders playing behind a traditional centre-forward. I've argued for a long time that doing just that will bring a balance to the team which allows every player to play his natural game, and see a swift return to attractive, penetrative football - if not winning ways. Who knows, maybe we'll even see Leon & Jose Canas line up alongside each other.

For me, the problem is deeper-rooted than results. We need to start playing the Swansea way again, because as soon as we do, we'll start taking teams apart. If we were managing to outplay "Champions League level" midfields with Mark Gower, Leon Britton & Joey Allen in the middle, we should damn sure be able to do it with Leon, Jose Canas & Jonathan De Guzman in their place, and you can interchange Jonjo Shelvey & Alex Pozuelo with any of those three in my opinion. We have the players we need to succeed, it's just a case of figuring out which eleven players in which system is best suited to getting us results.

With Bony sure to get a few games up front without Michu behind him, this could be where Swansea's season turns around. Let's get back to what we know boys - pass, pass, and pass some more, and the rest will come. With Stoke visiting the Liberty in our next league fixture (after a cheeky Thursday-night jaunt to Russia for the Europa League), it's the perfect opportunity to put this theory to the test.

Come on boys, you're better than you've shown of late. Show everyone what you can do.

Bony hoping to complete clean sweep for Swansea's internationals

With Michu, Vorm & Neil Taylor all involved in wins in their internationals last night, Bony will be hoping to send Ivory Coast one step closer to the World Cup

I thought I'd do something of an "international watch", seeing as we've got very little to talk about this weekend and a few of our players have been involved in their countries respective international exploits. Pleasingly, the three players who played last night were all involved in wins which should help instil some confidence ahead of their return to the squad, although there is still another round of fixtures to come. 

Wilfried Bony looks likely to be involved in Ivory Coast's World Cup qualifier against Senegal today, and he'll be looking to get back into the goalscoring habit after a quiet couple of weeks. Strikers live on confidence, and scoring at international level would no doubt help a player who Michel Vorm this week called "a monster". 

With three different countries already having utilised players plying their trade in SA1 however, let's have a look at how they got on. 

Wales

Neil Taylor 

Wales had suffered what must surely be a record number of withdrawals from the squad, but in fairness they produced their best performance for quite some time. Inspired by Aaron Ramsey throughout, they triumphed one-nil over Macedonia thanks to a well worked goal finished by Simon Church, although it should have been 2-0 as Ramsey failed to convert a penalty he'd earned himself.

Neil Taylor played 90 minutes at right-back, and seeing as he's been struggling for minutes on the pitch this stands him in good stead for two reasons. Firstly, and obviously, any ninety minute runout obtained by a player not currently nailed on for a first-team berth is undoubtedly good news, as match fitness is crucial at the top level, and secondly it's further evidence that, if needed, Tayls can operate on the opposite side of defence to where we're used to seeing him play, despite being predominantly left-footed. 

With Dwight Tiendalli receiving criticism for his recent performances in the absence of Angel Rangel, and fellow Wales international Jazz Richards on loan at Huddersfield (Jazz didn't make it off the bench last night, sadly) Taylor has a real chance of featuring at right-back for the Swans before the season is out, even if Laudrup has so far seemed reluctant to deploy him on the right-hand side. Hopefully Wales can put on a good showing against Belgium (gulp!), which will give Taylor & Richards some confidence before they head back to club duty.

Holland

Michel Vorm

This is the game I didn't manage to watch any of last night, and it seems it's probably one I should have! It finished 8-1 to the men in orange, and rarely will you see a more lopsided scoreline in international football between two sides who are both supposed to take this kind of thing seriously. San Marino, Faroe Islands, Luxembourg...these are all sides you'd expect to be on the end of a schooling, but given Hungary's illustrious football past (which relied heavily on Puskas, granted) this will be a result which is hard to swallow.

It's a shame that Vorm couldn't collect a clean sheet to add to his team's eight goals, but seeing as the only goal they conceded was from a penalty conceded by Jeffrey Bruma for handball, the Dutch management won't be concerned. It seems as far as easy runouts go for goalkeepers, this was a particularly unchallenging one. Still, another win and hopefully Vorm can start to cement his place as Holland's no1.

Spain

Miguel Michu

When it was announced Michu was starting, I was very excited indeed. As someone on Twitter pointed out, that meant the Swans had supplied Holland with their goalkeeper as well as current World & European Champions Spain with their centre-forward. Mental.

They were up against a Belarus side who parked the bus spectacularly. Until Xavi's opener in the 61st minute Spain had struggled to create anything and if I'm honest Michu's debut was quite underwhelming - that being said though I think anyone asked to play his position in Spain's system would have had a frustrating night. Belarus had, for large swathes of the game, two banks of defenders which included pretty much their entire team, and it surprised me Spain didn't drop deeper in order to stretch the game. They seemed intent on ploughing through the mêlée but never looked liked doing so in the first half.

Sadly for Michu, he was replaced in the 57th minute by Alvaro Negredo, so it could well be that it's viewed that Negredo's arrival changed the game in Spain's favour. Whether that was the case I wouldn't like to say, however I did feel that as Belarus tired the game would open up, and Negredo's goal (Spain's second) was exactly the type Michu loves gobbling up. Hopefully he'll get another chance to show what he can do, and with Georgia up next you'd imagine he'll get some minutes off the bench at the very least.

That being said, do we want him to score? I got thinking about this last night. First of all, I wanted him to bang in a hat-trick, but then I thought "What would happen if he did?". Big clubs would come in for him, that's what. Playing for Spain puts you in an elite class which clubs look to for new signings when things aren't going their way, and with his goalscoring exploits in the Premier League already going far from unnoticed, further success at international level could well prove a catalyst for big club interest. So it was that sad as it was for Michu I wasn't too nonplussed to see him leave the field without a goal. 

Call me selfish if you want. I'm a Swans fan not a Spaniard. 

It would have been nice to hear the Spanish commentators screaming "MICHUUUUUUUUUU!!!!", mind...

Michu "price tag" stories show ridiculous nature of media speculation

Did Huw say he was for sale, or that clubs were interested?...No. 

In the last few days we've had to deal with all kinds of stories resurfacing, most of which concern Arsenal and Liverpool "having to pay £30million to secure Swansea's star asset". What a load of horse...poopy.

Ok, so given the conversation Huw had with the media some speculation would be expected, but insinuating we've "told Liverpool and Arsenal how much they have to pay" (as intimated by various newspapers) is just sheer fabrication. Let's have a look at what Huw actually said when interviewed by the Daily Mail:

"We've seen with Tottenham and Gareth Bale that every player has a price. We are not in that bracket with Tottenham but they sold a top player. We are realistic about that side of things. I would say Michael was about right with his valuation of Michu [when he said he was worth around £30million] if you look at the current market, but this call-up enhances that further. 

"We know we have a very talented player and naturally we want to keep him. As a club we are delighted he has got the call-up for Spain. It is fantastic that he has been included in the Spanish squad because of his performances with Swansea in the Premier League. 

"It is a massive compliment and achievement for Michu and Swansea City that he has been called up by the current European and world champions. It is not an easy squad to break into, but his commitment, work-rate and level of performance since he joined us has been first class. 

"He enjoyed a successful first year with us and he has continued his form into this season, which is great to see. We are looking forward to seeing him continue his success here at Swansea in the Premier League and hopefully with Spain at international level. 

Huw Jenkins  http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11095/8963237/?

Thankfully, I didn't have to actually enter the Daily Mail website to find those quotes. Phew.

Anyone who knows how the media generally operate won't be surprised he ended up talking about Michu's worth. It's highly unlikely he brought the topic up himself, and it's probable he was specifically drawn on the subject. Nevertheless, if you were a responsible media outlet why wouldn't you take this opportunity to create some speculation? 

I mean, he did kind of mention a price-tag, even if he wasn't specific, however most of the articles we've seen relating to his comments have been, in my opinion, complete tosh. Why write about Michu possibly making his first appearance for Spain when you could just invent some transfer speculation? Much more longevity in those stories, I guess. I mean, it's not like Rodgers and Wenger have, as yet, failed to even mention Michu as a possible target. Oh, wait...

Huw's comments clearly show we're not interested in selling the man from Oviedo. Why would we?! The guy has excelled so far this season and looks like he may yet find another gear - if he does Premiership defences better watch out. If and when his form dictates a big-money bid arriving, we'll deal with that then, but until that time I think it'd be a lot better if everyone associated with the club avoids being drawn on potential values of our players. It only serves to fuel further media speculation which can often unsettle players liable to have their head turned by a "bigger club", and I for one am fairly sick of the press speculation that comes following any comments from someone in a position of power. 

Just take a look at Roy Hodgson and Adnan Januzaj. This weekend just past, Hodgson became the first current England manager to appear on BBC's flagship football programme Match Of The Day. Presenter Gary Lineker clearly wanted to get a quote out of his guest relating to Januzaj, who'd scored twice on his debut for Manchester United and just about qualifies for England, and you could see Hodgson squirming and trying to avoid saying anything in particular. In the end, he said something like "we're aware of him and are monitoring the situation" - something he'd probably say about any player of that age who could go on to qualify for England. 

What was the main headline on the BBC site the next day? Let's have a look...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/24416142

The article from which this image and headline is taken actually had the headline "England keen on Januzaj" on the BBC site, which, if you'd watched MOTD, you'd know to be far from the gist of the conversation between Lineker and Hodgson. I thought Hodgson clearly didn't want to talk about the issue and was being baited for a quote. It certainly worked.

This is particularly indicative of how the press in this country work. Until they learn, or are made to talk about tactics and things which actually matter it's unlikely the status quo will change. To sum up how I feel about this issue, I'll use a quote from Napoli manager Rafael Benitez not long after taking charge of his new club:

"I have received more questions about tactics in twenty minutes here, than in one year in England"    

https://twitter.com/tancredipalmeri/status/360150092990251014 

Says it all really. Hopefully in time we'll see more pundits like Gary Neville and less like Jamie Redknapp. 

Fingers crossed.

Michu called up to Spanish squad: "I found out on the bus!"

Spaniard's hard work pays off with selection for arguably the greatest national side of all time

Miguel Michu, take a bow. Actually, do one of those little flamenco jigs you've done on occasion as a goalscoring celebration, because it's probably slightly more in-keeping with the national team you've been selected for.

Since joining for £2million ahead of last season, Michu has continued to confound critics who must surely have been expecting his performance level to drop off. I'll be honest, I was among those who were seriously dubious about his ability to maintain the blistering standard he set himself in the first few weeks of last season, but apart from a bit of a lull (which he wasn't alone in experiencing - the same could be said of the whole team) between winning the League Cup and the end of last season he's easily been our stand out performer since joining the club.

What's more, this season I'd argue he looks a much improved player. His appreciation of his role behind the striker seems to have increased dramatically and the midfield aspect to his game really is so, so much better than last year. Ball retention, key passes and other stats back this up, showing that his all-round game rivals that of almost any top-flight striker.

For his part, Michu admits to being both surprised and elated when he found out he'd been selected to replace injury victim David Villa, who's gone down with an ankle injury picked up this weekend:

"It's the best a footballer can hope for. The selection is the best team in the world, it's a privilege. 

"We were on the bus because we played in the morning and I started receiving many messages, which is not normal. Then some Spanish colleagues told me, I'm very happy." 

"Every Spanish footballer dreams of this and it's so difficult. Few people can wear the shirt of the best team in the world.

"There are a lot of players missing, but there are great players in the squad. Let's see if fortune is with me and I can play, although I'm already grateful to be called up.

"It's the maximum to which a footballer can aspire. The national team is the best in the world, it's a privilege.

"I'm enjoying it like a kid, these are the best players in the world and it will be complicated, but I'll try to take advantage of the opportunity." 

Miguel Michu

http://sportwitness.ning.com/forum/topics/michu-says-he-s-very-happy-found-out-on-the-bus-and-is-excited-li 
http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11731/8961982?

That quote is taken from Spanish footie paper Marca (why don't we have a decent football newspaper?!), and it's not just them who are interested in this particular story. The broadsheet El Confidencial recalled that Valencia were interested in signing the forward, however baulked at the £2million asking price. Ha! How does that feel, chaps? The paper also goes on to touch on how Michu has never been afraid to ask for advice from coaches and teammates in a bid to be the best player possible, and also that he's worked his cojones off so far in his career. 

No-one can argue he doesn't deserve this, and considering the two games he's been called up for are qualifiers against Belarus & Georgia it seems there's a good chance he'll feature. It really is an accolade for both the player and his parent club that he's been selected for Spain - if someone had said ten years ago we'd have a player called up by the World Cup and European Cup champions...well, you'd be questioning that person's sanity, at the very least.

Hopefully the English hierarchy can learn a thing or two from this. Roberto Soldado and Fernando Llorente have both been overlooked despite playing for "bigger teams", and the continued English refusal to acknowledge players plying their trade at clubs outside the boy's-club-esque top six shows the difference between the two outlooks. One is progressive, and has resulted in unheralded success, and one is archaic and hasn't achieved anything in fourty-seven years. Work out which one is which.

Hopefully Michu will be rewarded for all his hard work so far with some time on the pitch alongside some of the world's best players. Next up, Leon for England...

Michu: Has he changed his game from last season? A statistical comparison

Do the stats back up what we've been witnessing?

Last season, I felt that at times with the inclusion of our floppy-haired flamenco-loving virtuoso at the head of a midfield three we actually lost something in terms of playing "The Swansea Way". I felt his ability to link play was somewhat limited, and although his goals obviously led us to a League Cup win as well as another improved league finish, there was sometimes a bit of a disjointed feel to our attack as Michu, Pablo, Dyer & Routledge all tried to adjust to each other's games. 

This year, we've been witnessing a much improved, more team focused Michu, and I've been wondering if the stats back up what I've been thinking in that he's become a much more effective link between midfield and attack. Luckily, I compiled a load of statistical data from last season so I can put together a fairly accurate comparison - although obviously it's early days yet in terms of how his "average per game" statistics pan out this season.

In the entirety of last season, Michu managed two assists in the league (and 18 goals, in case you'd forgotten). So far this season, whoscored.com are crediting him with one in the league, and when you consider he managed three further assists in the Europa League to date it seems he's definitely looking to play his team-mates in more often. Whether that's indicative of him receiving more support in the final third is up for debate, but to me it looks like he's been taking some advice from Laudrup, who made a career of unpicking defences with cute and/or outrageous passes. Evidence of this can be found in the match against Crystal Palace, where an exquisite turn was proceeded by a lovely through ball for Alvaro Vazquez, before he squared for Dyer to slot home.

He's playing the same amount of passes per game (32), while his pass completion is also slightly up on last season (79.7% - exactly 1% better than last year), and his shots per game has also remained at around the same level (3.0 as opposed to 3.1 last year). He is making less headers, though, winning two aerial duels per game as opposed to 3.3 per game last year. Defensively, they've got him listed as having made 1.2 tackles per game (1.3 last year) and 0.5 interceptions (0.9) this year, but it's not quite that clear cut as he's made 2.3 clearances a game so far this campaign, compared with only 1.1 last year. Those contrasting statistics tally nicely with how I see Michu's defensive game - a bit erratic, full of effort, but not always successful. 

His ball retention has also seen an improvement. Last year he gave the ball away on average 1.1 times per game, and that's marginally down to a nice round 1.0 now, but he's only been dispossessed 0.3 times per game this season as opposed to 0.9 times per game last season - considering we've played United, Liverpool & Arsenal at home, as well as Spurs away, that's not a bad average! He's also having a cheeky dribble more, averaging one per game as opposed to his meagre 0.2 per game average last season. 

I started putting this blog together confident that the stats would back up what I've been seeing with my own eyes, but I had started to become dubious it would indeed turn out like that. That is, until I found the "key passes" statistic. Last year he averaged one per game, but so far this season he's managed a whopping 2.5 - quite a marked improvement and seeing as last year's stat is an average based on a season's data, it's fair to take that as an indication of a change in how he's operating. Often, team's over-zealous marking of Michu allows others to find space, and it seems he's becoming increasingly aware of this and using it to Swansea's advantage. The slightly weird "through ball" statistic is up on last year too, with 0.5 per game showing a rise from 0.1 last year. That can't be right...

It seems that after a slightly shaky start the stats do indeed seem to indicate that Michu is operating in a much more creative manner, and that his fulfilment of the link-man role is vastly improved on last season. Long may it continue, as with a hectic schedule over the next few months we'll need the goals to be coming from other areas of the team, not just from the wizardly left-food of Miguel Michu. 

Michu: "We're speaking Spanish in the changing rooms..."

Spaniard shows his grasp of English is coming on with interview on official site

In what is surely his longest interview in English so far, our floppy haired maestro spoke to SwansTV.com about his form, new signings and the team's performance so far this season.

The headline of the blog today shouldn't be taken too seriously as the video attests - Michu is clearly joking when he refers to the players "speaking Spanish in the changing room" and while that is obviously the case, I think it's also true that in the past Spanish players have made an effort to acclimatise quickly, and I imagine that'll also be the case with our newer signings too.

It raises an interesting point that was discussed on yesterday's EPL Roundtable Podcast - are there too many foreign players in the Premier League/UK Football? Personally, I think while it would be nice to see a continued stream of young talent making their way from the youth teams to the first team at present it's very much a case of building for the future. I think the Swans are putting measures, and facilities, in place to rival those of all but the biggest clubs, and if we're patient and allow the club time to develop their academy it will ultimately pay dividends. The signatures of Jernade Meade, Kristian Scott, Gregor Zabret, Kenji Gorre & Alex Gogic show the club is serious about youth, and I'm hopeful that over the next year or two we'll see some local talent emerge through the ranks too.

The impact Ben Davies' meteoric rise to fame will have had on other youngsters at the club won't have gone amiss either. He's shown that firstly if you're good enough you'll get your chance in the first team, and secondly that if you impress you aren't necessarily going to go straight back into the development squad.. Players like Henry Jones, Daniel Alfei & Kyle Copp will be watching developments with keen interest as they hope to make their own breakthroughs.

Back to Michu, and it seems he's set to see a lot of game time in his preferred attacking midfield position. I've got everything crossed that Jose Canas finds someone with whom he can successfully control the midfield, because despite everything we gain by having Michu behind the striker we're still struggling to retain possession as we've become accustomed to. It's early days, and Canas has looked very good, so hopefully I'm worrying over nothing.

The bookies clearly fancy Michu to score goals - he's only 5-1 to score 16 and given his performances so far this season you wouldn't bet against him matching last season's tally. I just hope it doesn't come at the expense of midfield domination. If nothing else it's going to be interesting to see how our midfield develops over the course of the season, as Laudrup gets to know his new signings and which players work well together. The proof is in the pudding, as they say.

The case for three midfielders

Swansea need to revert to type to get league campaign up and running

Against Spurs the Swans once again struggled to impose their passing game on their opponents, and if we're being honest since beating Bradford for the Capital One Cup in February there hasn't been much to shout about in terms of league form - we've only won two in our last thirteen. That's not to say there's no reason to be positive - with new signings looking like they're settling in already and Europa League form markedly better it seems it's just a little bit of tinkering is needed in order to secure a first league win of the season.

It would be all too easy to write off the first two games of the season and say simply "Oh, it was Man Utd and Spurs - we were never going to get anything from those games" but the reality is we should be approaching every game hopeful of getting some form of result, as if we're serious about pushing on from a 9th place finish we can't afford to have a proportion of games that we're not expecting to get points from. We showed last year we can beat anyone on our day, and with an improved squad there's no reason to approach any game with trepidation. 

Tactics then. Last season, I started to think that with Michu at attacking midfield we lose something in terms of ball retention, and it's something I still believe is happening. The reason we are where we are as a club, the sole reason, is our ability to retain possession and play as a team. Traditionally, this has involved three dedicated central midfielders who all know their role explicitly, and this allows us to keep possession ticking over and more importantly starve the opposition of the ball. 

Key to this style of play is Leon Britton. The Swansea stalwart is integral to how we play, and his absence against Spurs was notable. Even when Britton has a slight "off day" he'll still ensure we operate how we know best, and any time he's not in the starting XI I have my doubts as to how well we'll control the midfield. An ideal midfield for me (from the current squad) would be Britton and Canas deep, with Shelvey or De Guzman ahead of them. This would give our midfield a good sense of balance and I'd wager with a midfield like that we'd look a much more efficient footballing unit than we did at White Hart Lane last weekend. 

Don't get me wrong - I love Michu. If you have a player who doesn't necessarily fit your team 100%, but what you gain from having him in the team outweighs what you lose in terms of ball retention, then obviously it makes sense to stick with what you're doing, but given results towards the tail end of last season I am starting to wonder whether we'd be better off going with three "proper" midfielders as opposed to two, Michu ahead of them, and then Bony up top. 

Granted, we started with three midfielders against Spurs, but I think the manner of the performance only serves to highlight how important Leon (or someone capable of mimicking his role - Ki?) is to the team. I think of all the new signings Canas is the one I'm currently most excited about (not including Bony) - I love the idea of him alongside Britton, and I think he'd prove a perfect foil for the diminutive midfielder. Whether they'll get the chance to forge a partnership remains to be seen.

With Europa League football likely to be on the agenda for a long time yet, we're likely to see a great deal of squad rotation, and the makeup of the midfield is likely to change significantly from match to match. Leon played 90 minutes against Petrolul but then missed out against Spurs - given the result on the weekend I'm now hoping he's rested for Thursday's second leg so that he can feature against West Brom a few days later. 

The argument against this would be that, once Michu & Bony forge their own partnership, we'll be less reliant on possession and more capable of scoring goals. I'm all for that! Until then, however, let's stick to what we know best...

Michu & Ash rumoured to be on Wenger's radar

Swans' skipper and Spanish striker expected to be the subject of a desperate bid from Arsenal, but will we or should we sell?

Cometh the hour, cometh the panic emanating from the Emirates. Arsene Wenger's continued reluctance to spend what most clubs would consider a fair transfer fee seems set to see the Swans resolve tested, as all signs point to a serious, serious bid for one or both of Ashley Williams or Michu, but regardless of any inflated transfer fee we'd receive is there any benefit to selling players this close to the end of the transfer window? 

Given the Swans are continuing to prove their reputation as canny negotiators in the transfer market is more than justifiable, it's hard not to have doubts that selling players this late in the day could leave us in something of a sticky situation. Take Michu for example; Laudrup has been on record for weeks, as has Huw, stating that even though we spent £12million on Wilfried Bony we're still in the market for another striker, so the idea of selling a player who is likely to play a fair amount of games at centre-forward this season really doesn't seem to make sense.

That being said, every player has their price and rumour has it £25million is the price needed before the Swans would accept a bid for a player who only cost £2million barely 12 months ago. That would represent, by my maths, a profit of 1250%. Given the Swans pride in how they operate a financially responsible football club, it's hard to look at that and argue it doesn't make sense. For me, £25million is the kind of fee which I would have to accept as sufficient to prise any of our players away - it's a stupendous sum which could, for example, be put to good use on stadium expansion, improved training facilities or any other number of off-field projects, as well as obviously having a fair whack left over with which to seek a replacement. After all, we've already signed a £12million striker this summer so any replacement would, I'd imagine, be likely to fall more in the "up to £5million" bracket.

As for Ashley Williams, that's a prospect I'm more concerned about. The Swans' skipper is, to me, integral at the moment, and with Chico Flores I think we could see a partnership develop which would rival any in the Premier League. Finding a solid centre-half who would slot into a Premiership team which play the way Swansea do is surely a bigger ask than finding a young eager centre-forward, and in selling Ash we'd be relying more on the quality of our existing centre-backs Jordi Amat and Garry Monk (along with the aforementioned Flores) than on the likelihood of finding a quality first-team replacement. Never say never - you don't know who the Swans have been tapping up, but finding a player to replace Ash is a massive, massive task. 

It remains to be seen if and when a bid arrives for either or both of the Swansea players, and I've got fingers, toes and everything else crossed that nothing ever comes of this, but with Wenger reported to have made a £10million bid for Yohan Cabaye it seems his transfer scramble is starting in earnest. Prior to the Villa defeat he'd tried to appease fans (and journalists) by saying "Don't worry - we will be signing players" and The Mirror have gone as far as to suggest that a deal is in place for Ashley Williams which Wenger simply has to rubber-stamp, but as yet he's been reluctant given the transfer fee involved. Then again, an article in the same publication from four days ago states that Arsenal have so far offered only £6million - around half what the Swans would expect - but this doesn't tally with what Huw Jenkins said yesterday; that the Swans have "received no phone calls about any of their players". 

It remains to be seen what the Swans would do if presented with a mega-money bid, but you can bet they'll maximise any fee whenever they're letting a player leave who, ideally, would be sticking around for some time yet. Michu and Ash fall firmly in that category, and I can't help but shake the feeling that the Swans' resolve will be seriously tested in the next few days. 

A profile of Swansea target Jordi Amat

Young Spanish centre-back seems to fit the bill for the Swans

The latest player to be linked with a move to SA1, Amat is a 21-year old centre-back who spent this season on loan at Rayo Vallecano (from whom we signed Michu), playing 28 games in all competitions. He only scored once, but it's worth mentioning and here's why:

Wowzers. Sign him up? Let's see. 

A product of the Espanyol youth system (where he signed on as a seven year old), and after appearing for the "C" and "B" teams he made his debut in La Liga aged 17. He's gone on to make fourty-one appearances for Los Blanquiblaus but they decided a loan spell would aid his development, and so at the beginning of the season he moved from a Catalan club in the shadow of Barca, to a Madrid club in the shadow of both Real & Atletico - Rayo Vallecano.

One thing to note is that Amat picked up 12 yellows in his 28 games this season - that's almost Cheick Tioté standard! Hopefully added experience will see him mature and stop picking up so many, as it's frustrating watching a player consistently miss games through suspension. His pass accuracy this year was 81.1%(825/1017 completed) and if you compare that to Chico's 89.3% or Ash's 86.3% it's clear there's a bit of a disparity, however 21 is young for a centre-back to be a first team regular. I'd also say that any player who signs for the Swans would almost automatically see their pass success rate increase dramatically as they adjust to the style of football we play.

In action for Espanyol

The Espanyol man won 1.4 aerial duels per game (38 in total) and again this pales in significance to Chico & Ash, both of whom had around double that figure. He makes 2.3 tackles per game (Chico has 3.3 while Ash has 1.2), and 2 interceptions to boot (Chico 3.5 & Ash 3), both pretty impressive figures, and also makes a pretty tasty 5.6 clearances per game (although again this is far from the 8.7 & 10.3 managed by Chico & Ash respectively). It seems that we have two particularly tasty centre-back's at present and using them as a yardstick is making Amat look bad, so I'll try to desist from now on. 

He only gets dribbled past once every 0.6 games, and that's a very encouraging statistic for a young centre-back, while he makes on average 37.7 passes per game - about 20 less per game than the Swans centre-backs average but again, any player who joins will see their statistics (in terms of passes at least) improve. One interesting stat is that he plays 6.6 accurate long balls per game - double Chico's average and a little more than the 5.7 Ash averages. It seems he's adept at picking out a man up top or out wide, and with the Swans preferences for outlying wingers it could be that we'd see him pinging the ball out to the wing Ashley Williams stylee.

Here's some funny stats. Spot the Spaniards. Ash averages 0.1 dribbles per game, Chico 0.3 & Amat 0.6. In turn, that would account for the fact that Ash is only dispossessed once every 0.1 games too, whereas Chico & Amat both average once every other game (0.5). Amat matches the Swans' boys in turns of turnovers too (giving the ball away through poor control) - his 0.2 per game is equal to Ash's, and better than Chico's (although only slightly at 0.3). 

It seems he's a pretty tidy footballer, and if he's available for the £2million asking price that's rumoured then it would be a very prudent signature. He's likely to hold his value at the very least for that money, but I'd say if he's performing well in La Liga at 21, a move to a possession-based footballing team in a different league could well benefit him. Huw Jenkins has reportedly been meeting agents this week in a bid to get Swansea's summer shopping underway, so it shouldn't be too long until we learn of some firm targets. Until then we're all left to speculate on what may be, but I'd say he seems a very decent prospect. 

I'm still sold by the goal. How about you?

Huw insists Arsenal have made no contact over Ash, while Michu (unsurprisingly) wants us to sign a striker

Huw: "No Arsenal bid for Ash"

Ashley Williams. "You what??"

With the increasing speculation surrounding Ashley Williams's future, it seems it's now only a matter of time before a bid is made. Huw confirmed yesterday that there had been no contact from Arsenal regarding a transfer, so if they do want to speak with him they had better put some money on the table first. As mentioned before, the Swans are likely to value their captain at around £12million, but Arsenal are likely to start a lot lower than that, and it may well be that £10mil ends up being enough.

I'm still unconvinced that we'll be able to replace such a vital component in the team without suffering a loss of form. Ash has been here so long now, and made such an impact during games, that it's almost impossible to replicate what he does for the Swans - and his statistics bear testament to this; he made the most interceptions and clearances of any player in the PL this season. That kind of impact on a game is very hard to replicate, although Chico seems to be doing his best, so it's possible if Ash does leave we could sign someone more "Monk-esque" and go back to having one organiser and one bruiser.

One motivating factor for Arsenal may be that in recent times Thomas Vermaelen has found himself on the bench at the expense of Per Mertesacker and Laurent Koscielny - the Belgian needs to be playing first team football so unless he's given assurances about his role in the squad he may well be off, at which point the signing of Williams becomes even more important...and may add a little onto the price tag.

Liverpool were reported as being interested, however with Kolo Toure set to complete a move to Anfield that seems to rule out Ash teaming up with Rodgers again, so it looks like it's Arsenal or bust. Whether a bid materialises we'll have to wait and see, but a friend has pointed out this bears more than a passing resemblance to Gary Cahill's proposed move to Arsenal. Wenger didn't stump up then, and ended up missing out. Will he this time? I wouldn't bet on it.

Michu wants a strike partner for next year

This is the (old) news that Michu prefers playing in a "second-striker" position, as opposed to up front on his own. Why he feels the need to keep reiterating this I don't know, as everyone is more than aware he prefers playing in a deeper role (even if some of us think he's more effective up front), however it does seem likely he'll get his wish with a number of potential candidates mooted. Romelu Lukaku, Iago Aspas, Arouna Kone & Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang have all been linked with the Swans of late, so it seems we've now moved on from shopping at the footballing equivalent of Lidl to the reduced section at Waitrose. Why pay top dollar when if you sniff around you can pick up top quality goods at a knock down price? Wigan in particular have a number of players worth looking at, and you'd better believe we'll have scouts knocking around the North-West seeing who's worth a cheeky bid during the close season.

"I don't know if I will score more than 22 goals next season. You never know but I hope so. It's difficult to score that many goals but I think the club will sign new strikers in the summer. 

"My team-mates next year will score, so there won't be too much pressure. I prefer to play behind the striker but, if the gaffer asks me to play anywhere, I'll play there." Miguel Michu

There is a tactical consideration regarding the signing of a new striker, however. For large swathes of this season, Michu has led the line, with three midfielders behind him (be it two CM's and a winger, or three CM's), but on occasion he has dropped back to play in the advanced midfield role. Now, while I do think Michu is effective in attack in this position I think the overall effect he has on the midfield is a disruptive one - disturbing the normal crisp rhythm the Swans engine room operates with. I think this is largely due to the lack of a physical element to the Swans' central midfield options - with Michu at the head of a midfield three any two of Ki, Leon and JDG always seemed a bit lightweight to me and liable to be over-run by a physical, organised midfield, and this is in exacerbated by Michu's tendency to wander.

The Swans' system is based on the players adhering to positional guidelines strictly, and if one player drifts it then throws the whole midfield out of whack, which has happened on numerous occasions this season. Hopefully, with the signing of a dedicated defensive midfielder it'll mean we can play with a striker and Michu, in what is starting to become something more akin to a 4-4-1-1 formation. I'm not averse to this at all, it's just I feel with the players currently at our disposal there were numerous occasions we'd have been better off playing three central midfielders in an attempt to maintain midfield supremacy. 

Who we'll bring in remains to be seen, but the names mentioned are exciting in that they seem to indicate the level of player that we'll be looking at. It doesn't make sense to jump into the market too soon as players may yet become available, but Laudrup no doubt already has a long list of targets which the board will be vetting and inquiring about. With the Swans' boss stating that, if all current players were retained, he'd like to bring in 6 or 7 players, it looks like we're in for a busy summer in South Wales. Get your bargaining hat on Huw, you're up!

Michu vs Lukaku - A statistical comparison

With Swansea rumoured to be looking to bring the Belgian striker to South Wales, how did he compare with Michu this season?

Romelu Lukaku. Age:20 Height: 6'3"

I'm still very skeptical regarding our prospects of landing Romelu Lukaku on loan next season. Ok, so certain things do add up; Lukaku himself has stated that he'd like to go out on loan next season again if he's not going to be regularly included in the Chelsea squad, but for the life of me I can't figure out why he wouldn't be. Europe's highest scoring teenager this term, it's remarkable to me that more attention isn't being paid to a player who finished the season by scoring a hat-trick against Manchester United.

It's possible that as the summer unfolds more clubs may come in for him, but with Chelsea looking set to appoint Jose Mourinho it's likely he'll fancy bringing in his own striker from elsewhere, so it may well be that Lukaku finds himself looking at another loan move. While West Brom do play a slightly more direct style of football than the Swans, looking at his performance this season against Michu's isn't that much of a squiff comparison as, for the second season running, the Swans finished the season in very close proximity to the Baggies. When you consider that Michu hit 18 goals to Lukaku's 17, it would seem to indicate that the team's around them also fared similarly.

Miguel Michu. Age: 27 Height: 6'1"

Michu made 35 starts in the league, and while Lukaku made the same number of appearances 15 of those were off the bench, so he's starting to look good already.  His pass completion is 72.1% (averaging 16.3 successful passes per game) to Michu's 78.7% (32 PPG), but in fairness to the Belgian he plays the same amount of key passes per game as Michu (1) and has four assists - double that of the Spaniard. They both average around three shots a game (Lukaku has 2.8 and Michu 3.1), but when you look at dribbles again the former Anderlecht man comes out on top, successfully going past his man 0.9 times a game to Michu's 0.2. In fairness to Michu, no-one is expecting him to go on a mazy dribble and beat five men...

Interestingly, when you look at defensive stats it seems Michu puts a shift in. The Spaniard makes 1.3 tackles per game to Lukaku's 0.2, and 0.9 interceptions per game to the Belgian's 0.1. That does result, however in Michu fouling his man more than twice as often - 1.4 times per game as opposed to Lukaku's 0.6, but a foul a game isn't that bad a thing. Keeps the defenders on their toes and all that. Michu also makes 1.1 clearances per game - again a much bigger number than the 0.3 managed by Lukaku - but to be honest I'm not that fussed on our striker tracking back and putting himself about. When you look at goals scored v minutes played, Lukaku has 17 goals in 2146 minutes while Michu has 18 in 3171 - the Spaniard has played around 50% more football so for the young Chelsea striker to have got 17 goals in a mid-table side is truly an impressive achievement. It works out that Lukaku has a goal every 126 minutes, while Michu has one every 176. 

It seems in every department (apart from defense, but we don't want him doing that) Lukaku really is a class act, and seeing as he only turned 20 ten days ago there is a whole load of room for improvement too. As has been stated, Europa League football could be the clincher but that's assuming no other club who've qualified for Europe come in for him, which seems a stretch of the imagination. That being said, the only other suitor being mooted at the moment is West Ham, which, as I mentioned yesterday, I don't think we have to worry about. Big Sam? Ha. 

All in all, a very impressive set of numbers from the Belgian. Obviously, you have to watch him play to know whether he'll fit the team but from everything I've seen of him he seems a class act, and what's more I've also heard he's tee-total and very much a good egg. Only Van Persie, Berbatov and Benteke had better "chance conversion rates" than Lukaku this season, who converted 21% of opportunities presented to him, and it's likely with increased game time and experience his level of performance will kick on again, and I for one would have no objection to that happening in South Wales.

Michu & Lukaku up front? Yes please. Sign him up!

Swansea braced for offers, but at least Michu is happy where he is...

Over the last few days Goal.com again led the way with the "news" that Arsenal representatives have met with those of Ashley Williams, for a second round of talks regarding the possibility of the burly centre-back switching South Wales for North London. Aside from the fact that meeting with representatives of another club would be a breach of Ashley's contract, without any proof I'm choosing to file this in the folder marked "yet more rubbish from Goal.com".

Ashley Williams in action against Arsenal

That's not to say the Swans aren't going to receive an offer. When stories refuse to go away there's generally
something in them, and despite the prospect of European football in SA1 next year it is nigh on impossible for a player like Ashley Williams to turn down a move to such a big club. When I say "player like Ashley Williams", I don't simply mean a player at a "smaller" club, I mean a player who's done it the hard way and played his way up from non-league football. Unlike so many young players these days who play for a big club before being discarded, Ash has never had the chance to play for one of football's giants, and few would begrudge him a move if he so desired.

Arsenal are notoriously stingy, but they'll have met their match in Huw. Losing an essential first-team player like Ash will cost Arsenal, and if they want to take him Huw will definitely play hardball. It seems Arsenal value him at £8mil but the Swans will definitely look to get significantly more than that. I'd say £12mil is a fair fee given current inflated market values. If Arsenal are buying a centre-back, they're buying a centre-back to compete in the Champions League, so I don't see why they shouldn't be paying more than £10mil...

Alan Curtis thinks a number of Swansea players may be the subject of bids from Premier League rivals, as the team's increased level of performance enhances the reputations of the players within it:

"I guess the vultures are going to be lurking above us. The fact that the players have done so well means they are attracting the interest of some of the bigger clubs. It's just a fact of life now. 

"Irrespective of where we're going to finish, we're still perceived as a small club in terms of the Premiership. We've lost managers, we've lost players - we obviously want them to stay but if it happens then we'll just have to deal with it as we normally do. 

"There are obviously bigger clubs than us. If it was up to the players they would stay because they enjoy their football, they love the way we play the game, but, obviously, if you get some of the real big clubs, then obviously it's going to be difficult for the player to turn it down and for the club to refuse them the right to play for those clubs."  Alan Curtis

One player who it seems we don't have to worry about is top-scorer Michu. The Spaniard clearly enjoys playing for the Swans, and came out recently to say that he's very happy in South Wales:

"I've seen articles on the internet, but I'm very happy here. I only think about playing next Sunday against Fulham. I'm happy on the pitch and in this team.   

"Swansea fans do not need to worry. I'm very interested [in having the opportunity] to play in Europe. I am very happy at the club and I want to say thank you to everyone at the club because we have all enjoyed this season." Miguel Michu

Another player who's been heavily linked with a move is goalkeeper Michel Vorm. After injury earlier in the season he saw Gerhard Tremmel come in and perform admirably, but after a few indifferent performances when he made his return he's now back to his best, and has put in some good displays lately. That being said, if the Swans were to receive an offer in the region of £8-10million I'm sure they'd consider it. One factor could be a rumoured sell-on clause in Vorm's contract, which would see a chunk of any transfer fee go to his previous club Utrecht. If he were to move on Tremmel is a capable replacement, and the funds received should allow us to find a seriously tidy replacement.

All  this speculation is superfluous however, as before any transfer wheelings and dealings there's the small matter of Fulham at home. I thankfully managed to get a ticket from the batch released by the Swans yesterday, so I'll be in the North Stand by the away fans for the first time. I'm hoping Ki gets a start, but I also really hope Rory Donnelly gets a cheeky 20 minutes at the end. He's scored a lot of goals for the U21's in the last few months and a little run-out in front of the home fans would do wonders for his confidence going into the close season.

Wait and see I guess, and at least until Saturday we don't have to worry about any of our players leaving...

Michu can't wait for Europe: Who could we be facing?

As season draws to a close Spanish ace is looking forward to Swans' European adventure

After enjoying a dream first season in the Premier League, Michu could be forgiven if he was dreaming of putting his feet up on an Iberian beach somewhere, reflecting on his plundery of defences up and down our little island. It seems that's far from the case, and as anyone who witnessed the ferocity of his celebration at WBA will be able to confirm, Michu is a fierce competitor, and one who is, it seems, already thinking about who the Swans may face in next year's competition. Speaking to the club's official website, Michu had this to say;

“The Champions League and Europa League have been very exciting this season, and I can’t wait to play in Europe next season.  

“We could be going to some big stadiums and play against some big teams, but obviously we have to get to the group stages to be featuring regularly in the competition.  

“The Europa League is a great competition – you can see from this season’s Europa League that it is filled with very exciting matches and top teams.  

“It is what we want to be a part of. It will be great for this club to be playing in European competition.” Michu

A quick look through Europe's top leagues, and there are some big clubs who could be featuring in next year's Europa League. In Holland it looks likely at least one of Feyenoord or PSV will feature, while in France Marseille & Lyon could both end up qualifying. In Spain it's up in the air but Valencia & Atletico could both still end up in the competition, and in Italy, amazingly, any one of Inter, Lazio, Roma or Fiorentina  could realistically make the cut. As a fan who missed out on the "glory years" last time around, and never saw the Swans qualify for Europe via the Welsh Cup, the prospect of seeing Swansea City line up against teams of this calibre really serves to underline how far the team have come.

With teams entering from the Champions League at a later stage, there are other big names who may yet enter the fray, but until then Michu, like me, will simply have to bide his time until we find out who our first European opponent will be.

Barry Town away, anyone?

Norwich City 2 - 2 Swansea City - A fair result

Both sides pay for the price for missed chances as spoils are shared at Carrow Road

At three PM yesterday I was standing on my friends decking, doing my best barbecue chef impression, whilst also mulling over whether my 1-0 prediction was particularly foolhardy. The stats showed on average there'd been five goals every time these two clubs have met in the Premier League, and the closer kick-off became the more I doubted whether the Swans would be able to keep a clean sheet. 

As it turned out, there I was, flipping some lamb and mint burgers, when it sounded like I'd missed the first goal. A quick dash inside left me watching replays of Michu burying a low drive into the bottom right corner of Mark Bunn's goal, only for it to be disallowed for a foul by Luke Moore on a defender in the buildup to the goal. The Swans wouldn't have long to wait for their goal though, in an excellent first half hour where they retained possession in a manner we haven't seen for a couple of weeks. Impressively, they did so without the inclusion of midfield metronome Leon Britton (absent as his partner was giving birth to twin baby boys - congratulations to both!) who would have been making his 400th league appearance. 

The Swans lined up with De Guzman, Ki, and Michu as a midfield three, with Routledge and Dyer out wide and Luke Moore up front. While I still prefer seeing Michu playing in front of Ki, Leon & JDG, yesterday I thought Michu's link play was excellent, and the stats show he managed nine efforts on goal, so playing in a deeper role clearly didn't stop him getting shots off. While yesterday he only managed to convert one, more often than not you'd back him to bury a couple, and so it was that after 35 minutes some good work from Chico and Dyer played in De Guzman, who let the ball run to the byline before cutting it back for Michu, arriving late, who lashed it into the roof of the net with his right foot. 1-0 Swansea. I've been critical of De Guzman recently but I thought he was excellent yesterday, possibly as the result of playing in more of a traditional three-man midfield.

Robert Snodgrass celebrates opening
the scoring with Wes Hoolahan.

The Swans didn't hold on to their lead long though - and Dyer missed a great chance after Michu played him through, dragging a shot wide with men in support. Norwich proceeded to go straight up the other end, and after Kamara put Elliott Bennett away down the right his cross seemed to completely beat Vorm, and Robert Snodgrass was there to head into an empty net. How he had quite so much space is another story, and until full highlights are up on Swans player it's hard to say, but it appeared Tiendalli lost his man spectacularly.

So, 1-1 going into halftime, and back to the barbecue. Some grillsteak and square sausage baps later, I returned to the TV to find it occupied by the bloody Grand National. We all watched it, although I'm sure none of us really cared who won (aside from the few of us with bets on), and subsequently missed Michael Turner putting the Canaries in front after 60 minutes. After seeing replays it's clear that again the marking at the back post left a lot to be desired, and to be honest it's another one you'd have to watch a few times as I couldn't even work out who was supposed to be marking the tall centre-back. As it happened, the ball dropped to his feet and he smashed a half-volley first time which Vorm had no hope of keeping out, and Norwich had their noses in front (Grand National pun intended). 

Luke Moore: time for him to have
an extended run in the team?

Laudrup made a couple of changes; Pablo and Lamah coming on for Routledge and Dyer, and Rangel replaced Ben Davies with Tiendalli shifting over to left back. Davies had earned himself a caution in the first half for a cheeky bit of rugby tackling, and it's possible Laudrup saw this as a chance to rest him, as he wasn't having his finest day in a Swansea shirt. The fresh legs seemed to benefit Swansea, who I felt looked the more likely to score throughout. Both Norwich goals seemed to come against the run of play, so it was a relief when after 75 minutes a deep ball found Angel Rangel, who headed the ball back across the box for Luke Moore to tuck it home. You can't argue with results, and Moore has scored some important goals in recent weeks with limited gametime; it would be interesting to see how he does with a proper run of games under his belt as the last time he enjoyed such prolonged inclusion in the first team must be back when we first signed him in the Championship?

Grant Holt came off the bench and made an immediate impact (literally). He'd been on the field a matter of seconds when Chico beat him to a bouncing ball, and Holt's studs came down on Chico's shin; leaving a massive hole in the Spaniard's sock showing exactly how bad the challenge was. The MOTD pundits thought it was a red card, but amazingly the referee saw fit not to punish Holt. There was still time for one last real chance, and it came as the 90th minute arrived. Good work down the right from Pablo saw him cut the ball back for Michu, once again arriving late in the box, but he couldn't repeat the trick from the first half. His right-footed snap shot was high, wide, and not at all handsome, and not long afterwards the referee blew the whistle to draw to a close the latest in a line of excellent matches between these two sides. 

All in all both managers will have been satisfied with a point, as both teams allowed chances for the opposition to clinch the winner which ultimately weren't taken. Dyer's miss at 1-0 was a turning point; 2-0 there and Norwich would have struggled to get back into it, but the Swans really do need to work on set pieces. We had the worst defensive record in this area going into the game, and a goal from a free-kick and a cross to the back post won't have done the statistics any good, so there really is a lot of work to be done. Still, the first point for the Swans in four games and and the best performance for a while, there were lots of positives to take from this match. Southampton at home next, and with the game not coming for two weeks the Swans have plenty of time to work on set-pieces in training. Let's hope it works!

Swans boss Michael Laudrup:

 

"Ending the run of losses is good, but it’s harder for me to answer whether I’m satisfied with one point.”  

“We dominated completely the first 30 minutes, we were 1-0 up and maybe should have been 2-0 up. We allowed them into the game out of nothing, but showed character to come back and score the second goal. Michu had a few chances, including the one at the end that could have been the third goal. 

“Am I pleased with one point? We could have won, but we could have lost too.”

Norwich boss Chris Hughton:

“We didn’t start the game too well – Swansea are a very good footballing side and we found it quite difficult. I thought the response of the players was excellent because you could sense a little bit of anxiety, and I think that’s normal – it’s a home game – but I think we coped with that really well.  

“We got into the lead 2-1, and at that stage – even though a good Swansea team had good possession of the ball, I was very comfortable that we were going to go on and win the game. For a team like ourselves who have found it a little more difficult to score goals, I thought we looked a threat but I was disappointed with the goals we conceded.

“You prepare the team and you’re desperate to win the game. If that ball’s not bouncing well enough for you – you can’t accuse the team of not putting in that effort because they are, but sometimes things don’t go as well as you want. The timing of the goals was good and the effort of the players was excellent.  

“That’s another thing – when you get that disruption early in the game [losing goalkeeper Mark Bunn to injury], it’s a bit of a blow for you. It also affects what you’re able to do with your substitutes, but I thought Campy (Lee Camp) came in and did really well.”