Swansea v Southampton

keith margam · Jan 14, 2024

Swans v Saints Saturday 20 January 12:30

Lambs to the slaughter coming up next in the big mismatch.

A weak Swansea side were hammered 5-0 by this lot on Boxing Day and we face another rout as we take on the form side of the division, 20 games unbeaten, and the triumphant return of our ex-manager, who will be out to rub our noses in it.

He has justified his much maligned style of possession football, which he tried unsuccessfully to implement here over two seasons, by moving on to a club with better players who have proved it works, albeit with two ex-Swans in the side.

The only hope, and it’s a slim one, is that our players have enough pride left in them to show their ex-boss that they can compete and play football and not submit with just a whimper.

Luke Williams will have a big part to play in motivating the players this week. He clashes with his mentor on an equal footing for the first time and will want to impress.

keith margam · Jan 20, 2024

Swans: Carl Rushworth, Jay Fulton, Harry Darling, Matt Grimes (c), Jamal Lowe, Jamie Paterson, Josh Tymon, Liam Cullen, Nathan Wood, Harrison Ashby, Bashir Humphreys

Subs: Andy Fisher, Kristian Pedersen, Joe Allen, Jerry Yates, Nathanael Ogbeta, Yannick Bolasie, Charlie Patino, Kyle Naughton, Ollie Cooper

Saints: Gavin Bazunu, Kyle Walker-Peters, Ryan Manning, Flynn Downes, Adam Armstrong (c), Che Adams, Will Smallbone, Stuart Armstrong, Taylor Harwood-Bellis, Ryan Fraser, Jan Bednarek

Subs: Joe Lumley, Jack Stephens, Mason Holgate, Sekou Mara, Joe Rothwell, Carlos Alcaraz, Shea Charles, Sam Amo-Ameyaw, Tyler Dibling

keith margam · Jan 20, 2024

Swansea 1 (Paterson 40’)

Southampton 3 (Adams 6’, Smallbone 20’, Downes 45’

Starting line up no change from previous managers, what has Williams brought to the table, nothing judging by his team selection.

We let Saints dictate the game from the off as we stood off like frightened rabbits in the headlights. We were leaderless as the silent captain watched on afraid to tackle, like the rest of them, so embarrassing.

Conceded three, could have been six by half-time, our one attack leading to our goal.

We all said he’s got to change something for the second-half surely, or it’ll be a cricket score, no, same players.

We did improve though and last 25 minutes or so we finally decided to play, big thanks to the substitutions on both sides, positive for us, negative for them.

But oh those misses, three good chances where we could have turned the score around and given us some respect at least.

We are a million miles away from being a decent Championship side capable of competing at the top end of the table on this showing.

We know why. We sell anybody that’s any good and bring in cheap replacements from the lower leagues. With this policy we will eventually be relegated.