Kuban Krasnodar vs Swansea City - Match preview, team news & statistics

The Match

Kuban seem to have turned things around since appointing new manager Viktor Goncharenko. Since a defeat in his first game in charge, he's turned things around and after the 1-1 draw at the Liberty a few weeks ago they've gone on to win their next two league games, the latter of which was a victory over their local rivals (Oh how we wish we could say that about the Swans) while they only lost their cup game on penalties. Expect Kuban to be even more fired up than they were in South Wales, and for them to be showing more signs of confidence than they did at the Liberty.

Swansea are still entrenched in a poor run of form which is threatening to derail their season unless it's addressed soon. The 4-0 win over Sunderland now seems a long time ago and more worryingly than the results, the level of performance simply hasn't been good enough. Hopefully Laudrup can mastermind a second away win in the group stages, which will more or less guarantee the Swans entry into the next round of the competition. A loss would see the Valencia home game becoming far more make or break, so we need to grasp this opportunity for three points with both hands if we're serious about progressing further in this competition.

Prior Form (Most recent at top)

Swansea Team News 

Swansea should have Ben Davies available after he travelled with the squad, but Jonjo Shelvey misses out due to family reasons. Michu looks like he'll be out for a month while Pablo remains out with an injury he picked up ahead of the West Ham game. 

Statistics & Trivia

• Six of Kuban's last seven games have witnessed more goals after the break.
• Kuban are one of four sides in the group stage who are debuting in European competition along with Wigan, CS Pandurii Târgu Jiu and Estoril Praia.
• Swansea took twenty four free-kicks over the first three matchdays – more than any other club in this season's group stage.
• Despite playing in English football between 2004 and 2013, Cissé’s only encounter with Swansea prior to matchday three was a humiliating 5-0 home defeat for QPR against Michael Laudrup's side on the first day of the 2012/13.
• Krasnodar kicked off their maiden European campaign with four straight wins in qualifying, eliminating Motherwell FC and Feyenoord on their way to the group stage.

Swansea City 1 - 1 Kuban Krasnodar - What a load of...

Lacklustre display from the Swans sees their Russian opponents claim a point with a late penalty

Did we deserve to win last night? I didn't think so. That was one of the worst performances I've seen from the Swans in a long while, and when Kuban were awarded a penalty (which turned out to essentially be the last kick of the game) I thought that, given our lack of effort and invention throughout the match, I thought that 1-1 was a fairer reflection on the game than 1-0.

We lined up with a much-changed team. Some were enforced (Davies having picked up an injury with Taylor replacing him) with others (Leon replaced by Canas) seemingly being a case of squad rotation, but from minute one the home side didn't look like they were particularly up for it and lethargically traipsed around the field without ever looking like they were going to create something.

With all due respect to our Russian opponents, we should have beaten them. They didn't show anything which made me think their run of one win in eleven (in all competitions) was a freak occurrence, and if we'd have played to the best of our ability we would have walked this. As it happened, a number of players underperformed and fans frustrations' were well founded.

Where to start? I thought Tiendalli was... poor. Last season I was raving about him and at times preferred to see him in the team ahead of Rangel (controversial, I know), but it appears he's forgotten how to play football. Hopefully he'll remember soon. Bony was poor too, but fans sniping at him is harsh - he has played better than a lot of fans have given him credit for up until now - however last night he lost the ball a number of times. 

In midfield, once again I felt that we failed to control the centre of the park. The ball just doesn't stick in the middle when we're in more advanced positions and I feel this is due to a combination of Michu playing at attacking midfield and other midfielders around him not possessing the discipline to get the most out of the Swans' system. Last night Canas spent a lot of the game charging around which pulled the midfield out of shape, but he was often covering for Shelvey or Michu, so I don't think he's to blame. The problem is simply a case of the sum of the parts not adding up to a number which works for the Swans. 

The opener for the Swans came midway through the second half, when a neat one two between Michu and Pozuelo resulted in the former running on to a cute flick through and getting to the ball marginally before the opposition keeper, and stabbing home. A neat bit of play, but the only other decent move I remember us putting together was Shelvey stabbing over after some good work from Bony. We simply didn't create last night and better teams would have punished us.

One positive was Jordi Amat played better last night than I've seen in previous matches, but his counterpart Chico could well be deemed at fault in the buildup to the penalty which saw Kuban equalise. It's pointless laying into the team but I do think at times this season we've flattered to deceive, with last weekend's result against Sunderland a prime example. We're relying too much on individual skill and moments of inspiration, when we should be looking to use our possession game to dominate teams and pick them apart.

So, West Ham up next and they'll definitely be a sterner test than Kuban Krasnodar. We'll have to play a lot, lot better than that if we're to get maximum points, but with a number of players expected to return to the starting line up (including, possibly, Ashley Williams) you'd imagine the team will play with a bit more fluidity than we did last night. 

Look after possession, and the calibre of our players will do the rest. We're trying to force the game too much at the moment, and a bit more patience would see us create the opportunities we spend so long looking for. Trust in possession. That should be our mantra. 

Having said that, Leon should be back in the team this weekend. With him in the team, we should be fine. Leeeeeeeeeeon!

Swansea City vs Kuban Krasnodar - Match preview, team news, statistics & analysis

The Match

Swansea got back to winning ways against Sunderland, triumphing 4-0 and consigning new Black Cat's boss Guy Poyet to defeat in his first outing. With heavy rotation likely, it's more than possible we'll see a number of changes despite Laudrup's statements about taking the opposition seriously. Whether he'll retain Bony & Michu with West Ham next in line at the Liberty is another debate to be had, but the squad could and should be confident of a win over a side who've lost their two opening Europa League group matches.

Kuban Krasnodar come into this match in quite dreadful form. They've won only once in their last nine in all competitions, and find themselves way off the European qualification spots in their domestic league. What's more, they recently sacked their manager and the new boss, Viktor Goncharenko, got off to a tough start losing 3-1 away at Dinamo Moscow. His side will be playing for pride as much as anything else, as it's already looking unlikely they'll be able to progress from the group stages of the Europa League.

Prior Form (Most recent at top)

Team News 

Swansea will be without Ben Davies after he was ruled out for around a month with a nasty twisted ankle, while Ashley Williams will probably not be risked with West Ham coming to town so soon after this fixture. Pablo Hernandez is pushing for a start after recovering from his own injury problems, while Garry Monk is fit again after picking up a knock against Birmingham in the League Cup. Roland Lamah could see a rare start in a game which could provide an opportunity for a number of fringe players.

Kuban Krasnodar look set to be without Alexei Kozlov and Charles Kabore, who missed the last outing at Dynamo Moscow and are still rated as doubts. That's all I've got...

Completely guessed lineups

In Kuban Krasnodar's case, I may or may not have just copied their lineup from their last match...

Statistics & Trivia

• Swansea have won their first two group games, scoring four goals and not conceding a single goal.
• Kuban have started rather more poorly, losing their first two games (away at St Gallen & home to Valencia) and boasting the opposite goal tally to the Swans - four against with none scored.
• Jonathan De Guzman has made more passes than any other player in the opening two group games - 145.
• Swansea have managed a mighty 90% pass completion rate thus far in the Europa League - Kuban come in much lower at 72%. 
• Kuban average 336 passes per game - less than half the 675 the Swans manage. 
• Swansea's average pass streak in the Europa League is 7.5, compared to Kuban's 3.

Straight from the horse's mouth

Michael Laudrup recalls a time when perhaps his team didn't take the opposition as seriously as was necessary:

"I remember it well, because in May 1992 I won the Champions League at Wembley with Barcelona against Sampdoria. Just after that, the following November, we had to play a play-off before going into the group stage. 

"We played CSKA and drew 1-1 away. Then we were 2-0 up after 30 minutes of the home leg and everybody thought it was done, but we lost 3-2. 

"It was a big surprise, and it could be an example for us because even though it was 2-0 after 30 minutes it showed you have to be 100 per cent focused. We had a fantastic team - better than CSKA with all respect, but they went on to the next round, we can use that tomorrow."

http://www.sportsmole.co.uk/football/swansea-city/europa-league/news/laudrup-experience-has-made-me-wary_113181.html

New Kuban boss Viktor Goncharenko is understandably positive given...well he's new in the job and he needs to be:

“I have only been here for 10 days, but we have a lot of good players in the squad and there is something to build on.You learn from every game and it’s important that you use this knowledge in the next game, but we are prepared to go for it on Thursday because we have the readiness and the willingness. We also have no points so far - and if we want to go a bit further, we need to start picking them up. 

Kuban striker Djibril Cissé believes he can use "insider knowledge" to help gain a positive result:

“I know the league very well. For me, I think it is an advantage. I’m going to try and talk to my team-mates and give them a few tips about Swansea. 

“The football is different compared to the Russian league and we need to adapt as soon as the game starts and be ready. If you give them [Swansea] time to start playing their football then we will be in trouble. 

“They have great offensive players and the philosophy is the coach to play forward all the time, but if we play good football and be confident, then we could cause them problems as well. 

“Swansea are the favourites, but we won’t be scared and we’ll be looking for a positive result.” 

http://www.swanseacity.net/news/article/kk-presser-1131234.aspx?#8055mgKxgQBS6yEy.99

Analysis

Given I know little to nothing about our opponents (as has been the case for a couple of Europa League games - it should get more interesting as/if we progress through the competition), all I can really comment on is the psychology surrounding a new manager being in charge. Much like Guy Poyet and Sunderland at the weekend, Kuban really need to turn things around - in fact they've won only three of thirteen in the league this season and things need to improve quickly.

If we give them any reason to be encouraged they could well pounce, and we'll probably have a couple of players on display who aren't 100% match fit. Against Sunderland we managed to get away with a poor first half performance, but we don't want to have to rely on luck so controlling the game from the off is a must. All the media talk is that this should be a walk in the park for the Swans, but Laudrup's comments show he'll be expecting a big performance.

A win tomorrow would surely see us as good as through to the next round of the competition - to the last 32 stage. I haven't checked the odds but after the Valencia game we were made third favourites - pretty heady stuff and a quick look through the other teams in the competition leads me to believe we could make a pretty good fist of advancing a bit further than that, too.

Hopefully we can maximise our points tally tomorrow, as that allows for youth players to be blooded and tired legs to be saved. Players like Lee Lucas, Kris Scott & Rory Donnelly - who scored the winner for the U21s this week - could and should all be hopeful of making a mark in the first team before too long, and it'd be good to see players like that get on the bench a bit more often.

Expect a big performance from Jose Canas, and I also fancy his compatriot Alex Pozuelo to shine. He's been threatening to put on a show for a while, and while I don't know much about our opponents I'm confident in the kid's ability to dance past his man when he's in the mood.

I'm feeling confident, so I'm predicting a 3-0 Swansea win, with Pozuelo running the show.

Amazing what a win does, eh?