Stoke City v Swansea City, 26/2/12, Match report

Taking the Heat.

The cards had been dealt such that we got a Sunday appointment with Stoke City at the Brit, and I've alluded to it being akin to being popped into a high temperature furnace, such is the Potters reputation for putting their visitors "through the mill", as it were.

They, of course, had only three days previously returned from an ultimately disappointing reverse at a Europa League tie in Valencia, where, the temperature had been turned up to maximum against them.

That second leg 1-0 reverse had put them out of the competition, and Tony Pulis had received some criticism for sending out a second-string XI, which led some to believe that today's fixture took precedence, and his long term view encompassed Premier League status-retention to be more important than Euro League progression.

To that end, Pulis made 11 changes to start, which proves his later assertion that he felt it vital to be able to rotate the players and that the Europa Cup adventure had indeed taken a lot of effort and energy from players and he felt the need to inject freshness. What can't be argued is the fact that this was their 43rd competitive game of the season.

The Swans, on the other hand, had not played since the Norwich Home defeat, and the team selected was probably the one that most of us fans had expected - with one, as it turned out crucial, difference.

Michel Vorm, our wonderful Dutch keeper, had been struck down with a virus and was replaced by Gerhard Tremmel, for his Premier League debut.

Did this make a difference? In my view, yes, and I'll explain why in due course.

The other thing I'll mention is some parts of the "Stoke City Massive" (the Neanderthal part of their fan base), of which, I know, all clubs have their share, ourselves included - and I'll come back to ours later.

Hey, listen, I don't expect to go Away to be greeted by opposing fans blowing kisses, but here's a tip for some of you Stokies - lighten up a little. The snarling nastiness evident on some message boards was carried into the Stadium and the town itself - here's a reminder guys- the Eighties ended over 20 years ago and whilst I can understand your annoyance at being labelled "just a hoof-ball team" there are 2 things you can do to stop people being so myopic - 1) Sack Pulis if you don't like him so much and stop playing hoof-ball and 2) Mellow out, and start enjoying instead of snarling.

This, of course, does not apply to the vast majority of Stoke City fans, and I met a great deal many more of this type of genuine supporter, who made us welcome and were happy to chat and chew the cud.They have as much respect for us and our style and deserve our equal returned respect, but even some of these types were disappointed with some of TP's tactics.

Anyway, to the game, and the teams lined up as follows........

Stoke City
01 Begovic, 17 Shawcross , 20 Upson, 28 Wilkinson, 30 Shotton (Palacios - 88' ), 06 Whelan, 12 Wilson, 18 Whitehead, 26 Etherington (Jerome - 68' ), 19 Walters, 25 Crouch (Delap - 87' )
Substitutes
29 Sorensen, 16 Pennant, 24 Delap, 40 Palacios, 09 Jones, 10 Fuller, 33 Jerome
Swansea City
25 Tremmel, 02 Williams, 03 Taylor, 04 Caulker, 22 Rangel, 07 Britton, 11 Sinclair (McEachran - 71' ), 12 Dyer (Moore - 71' ), 24 Allen, 42 Sigurdsson, 10 Graham
Substitutes
05 Tate, 16 Monk, 15 Routledge, 17 McEachran, 27 Gower, 18 Lita, 19 Moore

Ref: H Webb
Att: 26,678

From the kick off Swansea started brightly, if a little laboured, but the dominance of possession led to the first good chance created, within the first 5 mins.

Dyer, freed on the right, evaded Marc Wilson and got to the byline, pulling back a peach of a ball from the right to roll invitingly across the box some 8 yds out from goal and central. Sinclair had read the pass and approached the chance only to blazingly side-foot over the bar the clear cut opportunity. Unfortunately, we've seen Scott do something similar before (Aston Villa for one) and although a replay showed the ball bobbling awkwardly just before he struck it, his confidence is so shot at the moment that you feel it went on to partly explain his generally muted performance.

Whilst that may apply to SS, it does not fully explain the overall lethargy of of our team's performance going forward from there.

I felt as if Swansea were quite comfortable within themselves, confident enough in ball retention, but there was an air about us that sometimes pervades, and we're guilty of. I'd best describe it as a certain lack of tempo.

It's as if we're doing things at three-quarter pace only, and I'd argue that it always gives us problems within games. The first 25 minutes yesterday were a classic example.

Swansea had been neat, organised and skillful without at any time being overly threatening. Stoke, for their part, had done what they do well - they are always strong and settled at the back, they are always competitive, and they allied this with a high, fast press to try to successfully limit us in playing out from the back.

There are two key points to be made here, one of which concerns the illness to the missing Vorm and its effects.

We forget at our peril how key he has become- particularly with regard in this instance to distribution and control. Just like (and better) than DDV was in a previous life, Michel Vorm is able to do what Tremmel could not yesterday, that is, play the part of the extra sweeper.

He makes sure that every single roll, throw or (rare) kick, puts the recipient of the pass in both a comfortable and effective position, often the springboard for real attack.

Tremmel's distribution was never awful - it was just that it almost always could have been better.

And thus we began to stutter, which was a shame, because the possession had begun to frustrate the Home crowd, and the first grumblings and mumblings could be heard.

The first goal put an end to that.

Stoke had already tested us aerially from a corner and some throw-ins, ho-hey what's new? However, Etherington's corner on 25 m was different, because this time the delivery and pace was the key.

He swung a fast in-swinging corner left footed from the right which arrived centrally just eight yards out but which had eluded both Graham and Sigurdsson at the near post and coincided perfectly with Matthew Upson's well timed run. The England cap showed again that he scores some crucial goals from corners, and his bullet header brooked no stopping. 1-0, and we were gutted.

Again , the Swans got to keep the ball and Neil Taylor's tremendous run took him past a couple and into the box, but just as he was about to shoot, Upson proved his defensive capabilities with a brilliant sliding tackle that took the ball out for a corner.

Worse was to come for us, the visitors.

In the defensive third, wide out on the right , Joe Allen played a loose pass and the ball ran out for another inviting throw in. Shotton took it, and as with the benched Delap's best efforts, the ball in was more like a cross bulleted into the six yard box, where Crouch's height and timed run allowed him to direct it goal ward at pace.

Here, I'm afraid, was Tremmel's second litmus test, and he failed it because his dive left allowed the ball to slip through his hands and in.

2-0, and I couldn't help but think that Vorm would have saved it.

Harsh? Maybe. Unkind? Definitely. True? Possibly - we'll never know for sure, so nothing other to do but move on.

At half time we Swans chatted amongst ourselves, and I ventured the opinion, in jest, that Vorm's virus seemed to have affected the tempo and pace of our game, and you can tell how desperate we football fans are when a neighbour in the crowd gave the comment some credence. Whatever, we had not been at our best.

One of the things about trying to describe any match is that it's always easy to remember the stand out moments that sometimes make up the bulk of the text, but when I tell you that in yesterday's second half there weren't that many that easily spring to mind, it'll give you the feel that I guess most of us Swans were beginning to feel.

Again, we had the bulk of possession but were still somewhat lethargic. Again, Stoke City pressed and challenged and closed to good effect. Again, the Home crowd cheered every attacking throw in and corner conceded by us since they'd seen our vulnerability.

Dyer curled a left footed shot wide of the post, whilst at the other end, Walters headed down and wide. Rangel too got a shot in from a neat one two with Dyer, but the low drive was again deflected wide.

Stoke replaced Etherington with Cameron Jerome on 68m, the ex-Cardiff player coming on to a chorus of predictable boos from the JackArmy, who had been in good voice, and immediately after, BR sent on McEachran and Luke Moore for Dyer and Sinclair, to try to inject some urgency in the play. It was amusing to hear the Stokies chorus "you don't know what you're doing". I've even heard some of our own fans on GB's and Message Boards say much the same thing.

With respect, I beg to differ.

Sigurdsson had been more prominent in the first half, but BR's ire was reserved for Mr Webb in the second period when the Icelander was shirt tugged by Whitehead in the box, and the Ref apparently informed that he hadn't awarded a penalty because the MF'er "had not gone down".

It may have gotten us back in the game, but I'll be honest and say that from my view it was one of those incidents that sometimes you get/sometimes you don't and, we see so many slight shirt tugs in the box anyway I'm always surprised nowadays when one is penalized.

From the incident, close to goal, the outcome was that Sigurdsson's shot was poked and rolled just wide.

Although both Moore and Jerome were involved in half-chances, Swansea's best opportunity came from a later Steven Caulker header from a Sigurdsson corner, which he met perfectly, only to see the under worked Asimir Begovic instinctively turn the crashing net bound header onto the bar, and away.

Running the clock down, Delap replaced Crouch and Palacios came on for Shotton, and Stoke were home and dry.

2-0, and, on the day, merited.

The Managers after match interviews can be found here.

So what did we, and me, get out of yesterday's journey to the Potteries?

Well, I'll start from a personal point of view.

Travelling with the JackArmy is always fun in itself, and I got to meet not only a lot of Stoke City fans, but also some of our own who I've only known previously from exchanged contact on the net, on various Social Media and GB/MB Swansea City fansites. So fond greetings to Paul, Hayley, Gareth and Hayley's Mum. It was really good to meet you.

You also, of course, get to see some of our travelling "fans" and you wonder why they bother. I'm referring here to a couple of drunken louts who spent the game swearing and cursing at the opposition, and who were, unsurprisingly, ejected not long after the start by the Stewards. And a special word of shame to a father and son (about11/12yrs old) who were genuine competition for each other in the foul-mouth stakes until they,too, were dealt with by some other stewards.

I'm not being either pious or pompous here, but I really do feel sad for the boy. Shudder. As I said earlier, every club has them, unfortunately.

As for the game, the most disappointing thing for me was that perceived "air of lethargy" about us. Sadly, for once, we just didn't seem to be up to the mark we all know we can be.

And thanks to the brilliant Michael Cox, don't forget that the stats tell us that with 26% possession against Swansea's 74%, this was the lowest victorious possession figure in the PL this season- unfortunately, both we and Stoke are the lowest "shots per game" teams in the whole division, and whilst ours dropped from 11.6 per game to 9, Stoke's from 10 to 9 matched us. Ouch, and double ouch.

To complete the analogy that I made in the preview to this game, and to answer the question implied - no, we didn't emerge as some fine piece of Wedgwood. Yes, we did more resemble a piece of Earthenware. But brush off the dirt, let's dust ourselves down, and go again.

I've no intention of criticising individual players - as our Manager says, we're a Team - and that includes us fans and all on the field, so that means for me sucking up yesterday's frustrating efforts in the hope and belief we're capable of far, far better.

The chats I had with a lot of Stoke fans yesterday, of a wide demographic, tells me too that despite their success of the last 4 Premiership seasons, and a European adventure this year thrown in, there is a large percentage of their number who would sacrifice some of that concrete progress for an improvement in the style and fashion of their football.

This is not some esoteric, aesthetic even moot point. Ultimately, our teams perform to entertain us, the fans, along with advancing the business of a football club, and an ignorance of that fact is detrimental all round.

We're on the other end of this dilemma, it seems to me.

There have been times and games this season (this one included) where the frustrations with our team for wanting to seemingly "score the perfect goal" and not shoot, or put laces through the ball when it seemed appropriate to so do, when we've all beaten our breasts in despair.

But, but, we should be careful what we wish for.

Far better, surely, as BR insists, to play out from the back, and to keep doing what we know we're good at doing.

And that starts at Wigan next week.

I also said to friend yesterday that I'd have been more than happy to accept 2 draws from the fixtures at Stoke and Wigan Away, for a return of 2 pts. We lost yesterday, so I guess that a win at Wigan will have seen my team exceed my expectations.

I hope that we can do it, so,

Onward, Swansea City.

Stoke City v Swansea City, Brittania Stadium, 26/2/12, Match preview

A Visit to the Potteries

The method of making Pottery is achieved by taking a clay body, preferably previously shaped and formed, and heating it to very high temperatures in a kiln.

Stoke City, famously known as The Potters, this week welcome our Swansea City (the clay body), to their Home the Brittania Stadium (the kiln), and will be hoping they can turn the temperature up on us, such that we emerge at the very least "biscuit fired", or, better still "glost fired" with the requisite "glaze" from their particularly identifiable brand of football.

Stoke's sobriquet comes from the preponderance of a high number of pottery factories (Pot Banks) in the area, and as Stoke on Trent was one of the earliest industrial cities of the modern era, the biggest football club in the city was given that name.

The style of football they play has assumed almost mythic proportions within the game, and one could quite easily slip into the lazy cliche of branding it aerial and agricultural only, and in stark contrast to our own growing reputation as some sort of esoterically better purveyor of a culturally superior ground based pass and move game.

However, this begs the question of how it is that in their fourth consecutive Premier League season, and with a year 1 adventure in the Europa League ongoing, they don't yet seem to have been "found out" by their supposed betters.

It ignores the fact too that in each season they have continued to do more in every campaign, culminating in an FA Cup Final defeat last year to earn that European Place, and a 13th Place PL placement that if it were offered to us right now, we'd bite off the giving hand with a degree of alacrity.

They must, at the very least, be doing something right, mustn't they?

The answer, of course, is that they are, and while they're not everyone's cup of tea, the effectiveness of the approach can't be argued. That's not meant to either denigrate them, or to suggest it's necessarily right, either - and I'd argue that it's maybe reached it's limitation, but that it's also something their Gaffer knows.

That self same canny Manager, Welshman Tony Pulis, is more than bright enough to not just frustratedly argue with the perceived image of his team, which he does, but continue to demonstrably develop his outfit's personnel and style, expanding their game tactically and practically, whilst retaining that route-1 hard-edge.

This week we've got the fascination of seeing in action their Europa League tie against an acknowledged Pedigree European side of the first order- La Liga's third placed team, Valencia, and no one can deny their place on a high rung of the "Attractive Football" ladder.

Stoke City lost the Home first leg of the tie 1-0 at the Brittania on Thursday night, and by the time our meeting comes around, will have visited the Mestalla, where they would appear to have a very difficult task if they're to progress to the round of 16.

The goal that won the game for Valencia at the Brit was indeed a cracker, scored by Mahmet Topal, with an unstoppable shot, but of more relevance for us was the way the Spaniards controlled the match, their possession based game perhaps a blueprint for us, and they seemed to have done their homework too.

They were more than ready for Stoke's aerial threat, and were combative and busy in the essential tackling centrally that the Potters' game compels as a necessity.

Begovic, the keeper, had already made an excellent stop from Jonas, and Stoke's best chance came from a late Peter Crouch effort.

The key set up was Valencia's 4-2-3-1, with both full backs pushing forward,and Jonas played the No 10 role, dropping off Aduriz. A guide for Sigurdsson and Graham, maybe?

As Pulis, their Manager said, ......"It was a great occasion for everybody and we were playing a top team. We needed an early goal, we were desperate to score first, and we had a couple of good chances."

It will be key to take the sting out of the game, as Valencia did, because, as TP confirmed,...."They scored first and that took the pressure off them."

The same, undoubtedly, applies to us.

What can we expect? If you want an expression of their likely line up, have a read, and see what you make of my opinions.

Changes have been made since our home fixture at the Liberty, which, you will remember, was a comforting 2-0 victory. If your memory deserts you (as mine often does), get a reminder here.

The threat for us Swans is likely to be the same.

We can be sure that there will be as many balls thrown long from throw-ins conceded in our half as there have always been - they have, indeed, narrowed the pitch to facilitate this - and don't get me started on the sad towels and bibs, - and if Rory Delap is the main man, then Ryan Shotton has been trained in his absence. And, since it's unlikely to be Delap, bet on that aerial missile attack being little changed.

The complete squad is appended here, and I'll concentrate on just some of it this time, particularly those most likely to play, with perhaps a little more attention paid to those you might not necessarily be more conscious of.

1 Asmir Begovic GK, 4 Robert Huth DEF, 5 Danny Collins DEF, 6 Glenn Whelan MF, 9 Kenwyne Jones STR, 10 Ricardo Fuller STR, 11 Mamady Sidibe STR, 12 Marc Wilson MF, 15 Salif Diao MF, 16 Jermaine Pennant MF, 17 Ryan Shawcross DF, 18 Dean Whitehead MF, 19 Jonathan Walters STR, 20 Matthew Upson DF, 24 Rory Delap MF, 25 Peter Crouch STR, 26 Matthew Etherington MF, 27 Carlo Nash GK, 28 Andy Wilkinson DEF, 29 Thomas Sorensen GK, 30 Ryan Shotton DEF, 32 Diego Arismendi MF, 33 Cameron Jerome STR, 39 Jonathan Woodgate DEF, 40 Wilson Palacios MF, 41 Michael Clarkson MF, 44 Lucas Dawson MF

I've omitted 7 players out on loan, which tells you that the squad is deep.

The complication and competition for selection against us is also added to by their having to play an FA Cup tie against Crawley on Sunday last, won 2-0, so the team chosen there will contain at least some players perhaps rested vs Valencia on Thursday, so able to return against us.

That doesn't include Rory Delap, the long thrower Numero Uno, who was sent off and will be suspended (unless appealed successfully), but Ryan Shotton, RB, is equally adept at launching bombs.

Begovic kept goal, and the rest of the side went Shotton, Shawcross, Upson and Collins at the back, with Delap, Whelan, Whitehead across the middle, and Walters and Jerome supporting the advanced Peter Crouch, in a 4-3-2-1 layout able to morph to 4-3-3 quickly.Walters was also energetic enough to track back into MF too, so it often resembled a 4-4-2 in the game at times.

The sending off of Delap, for a recently trending but not overly fierce challenge, compelled some of this flexibility, and we know from our own experience against lower division sides that to come away with a 2-0 victory was no mean feat,

Begovic, the highly capable Bosnian No 1 was bought from Portsmouth for £3.25m, and is probably now recognized as the Club's first choice, although the Danish previous ( and still often, nowadays) incumbent Thomas Sorensen will argue that point. Both are top keepers, and further covered by the experienced Carlo Nash.

Welshman Danny Collins came from Sunderland, for £2.75m, and was a surprise inclusion, having recently returned from a loan at Ipswich. Ryan Shotton, the go-to-man Numero Due for long throws, played at RB.

The CB pairing at the cup tie was Matthew Upson and Ryan Shawcross.The left footed Upson was playing in the last World Cup for England lest it not be forgotten, and the uncompromising ex Man Utd youngster Shawcross had made an England squad too when he was involved in the contentious tackle that broke Aaron Ramsey's leg two seasons ago. Very strong in the air, and often the target of the long throws when they attack.

The goals came from a Jon Walters penalty and a Peter Crouch header. Crouch's aerial ability is well known, and Walters is a hard working, skillful, grafting forward, highly valued in the team. Jerome, ex -Cardiff and Brum, has never quite convinced perhaps, and the super skilled Ricardo Fuller is a dangerous option, and one that I'd prefer to see on the Bench, since he has a habit of scoring technically excellent goals, at vital times.

Whelan is the stand out MF'er, the ROI cap a dead ball practitioner and creator. Whitehead is primarily a wide right or central MF'er and a hard-worker-bee type.

It's when we begin to look beyond simply the team they put out on the field last Sunday that we begin to see some evidence of the type of players who have moved Stoke forward from that limited description of them as "just a hoof-ball" team.

Although when they first came into the Division TP was averse to "splashing the cash", it shouldn't be forgotten that the Ownership lies in the hands of the Stoke born and bred Peter Coates, once listed as the 25th richest man in British football, and the founder of Bet365.

From 2005, this is his second spell in charge, and over the past couple of seasons we've seen the Potters prepared to lay out increasing Transfer Fees and Wages to attract players.

Inclusive in that evolution are some of those mentioned above, coupled with some of these we'll come to.

Two immediate examples are the wingers Matthew Etherington and Jermaine Pennant. ME came from from West Ham last January, and Pennant, ex Liverpool, was acquired on loan from Real Zaragoza, where he was drifting. Both have had off-field issues of various kinds, but both talented and technical wide men have found a home in the Potteries.

Along with Peter Crouch, Wilson Palacios, the Honduran MF'er was bought for big money from Tottenham on Transfer Deadline day at the start of this season, but persistent injury issues have limited his steel and skill involvement. He tragically lost a brother some 2 years ago, to an increasingly horrendous risk for South American Footballers of kidnap and ransom of Family members.

Kenwyne Jones, the £8m Trinidadian No 9 came from Sunderland AFC, and we've all seen him display both power and skill on numerous occasions. Along with Crouch, another example of that fabled football phrase- "good feet for a big man". The big German CB, Robert Huth, is currently suspended.

Marc Wilson and Salif Diao are primarily hard working MF players, but Wilson is also able to play at the back, and has been playing successfully at LB of late. Acquired from Portsmouth, the under rated NI man is a flexible squad member, and Diao, once of Liverpool, is happy at Stoke in his 4th season.

They also took the experienced but injury unlucky Jonathan Woodgate on a free in the summer on a 1yr deal with a view to proving that if it weren't for those injuries, he would have added a great many more to his England Caps. People forget that he was the scorer of an own-goal on his debut for Real Madrid some years back, and was also sent off in the same game.

Ryan Shotton, mentioned above, and Andy Wilkinson are two defenders who have been developed from within, from Stoke City's well regarded Training Facility. Both Michael Clarkson and Lucas Dawson are youngsters at that Academy.

The squad is completed by the under used Uruguayan MF Diego Arismendi, who cost 3m Euros from Nacional, and our old friend Mamady Sidibe, but Big Mama has had an injury plagued 3 years , and is currently battling an ruptured Achilles Tendon blow. Good luck and good wishes to him.

The Brittania Stadium, built on the site of the former Hem Heath Colliery, has built a reputation over the last few years as a very difficult place to visit, and Stoke's fans are often cited as the loudest in the PL. However, SCFC North's record of W4 D4 L4 this year at least shows they can be vulnerable, although I have a feeling that the crowd will fancy their chances against us.

Incidentally, given the recent debate with regard to our very own redevelopment and extension, a read with regard to Future Developments in the article cited from the highlighted text above is worthwhile. Check out too the little piece at the bottom of the article re Stadium Ownership - does it ring any bells for us, and future plans?

They are level with us on points, and only sit 2 places below us in 13th because of an inferior goal difference, so both teams will have every incentive to go for it. I expect a blood and guts type assault, with those raucous fans attempting to drag their team ahead, so we Swansea Jacks must be ready to sing for our suppers, and our team, as well.

When I travel to the Brittania next Sunday, it'll be the fourth time I've seen our opponents in a couple of weeks, and my impression from the 2 recent viewings (the third comes vs Valencia away) is that this is nothing other than a fixture against a difficult, already established Premier League opponent.

This will not be easy. It won't even be like WBA away, where we were allowed to get it down and play. Stoke will not allow that, doing their utmost to break up the game into manageable, bite-sized chunks. Brave hearts, along with an insistence on imposing our game, will be key.

The defensive unit, as I suspect most of us expect, will benefit from Caulker's aerial ability, and it will also be important for Vorm to be as decisive as we know he can be.

Despite some whispers on GB's about Rangel's capabilities on the back foot, I don't think either Tate or Obeng are yet ready, although if Beaker has made progress, he's an option. Williams (of course) and Taylor (I think) will complete the back 4.

Up front Danny Graham, who's in imperious form and rightly earned the Manager's suggestion that he's an outside bet for an England Euro berth in the summer, plus @Nath_Dizz87 for his ability to get at the full back will surely take two of the three berths. The third is maybe in the balance between Wayne Routledge and Scott Sinclair.

Scott's confidence has not always been as high as it deserves to be, in my eyes, and Wayne has had his more impressive displays come mainly away from the Liberty. Another difficult choice.

Leon Britton is a given, since he's our heartbeat, and the ball-hog (c Barney Ronay GNM) will surely earn his corn in both getting and keeping the football.

There was a great debate about the make up of the other 2 after the Norwich defeat, and the consensus that emerged seemed to be that we can't play both Siggi and Josh McEachran as together they are both too attacking.

I agree with that line of thought, and would also suggest that Sigurdsson is continuing to develop by the week as he gains more and more fitness from playing regularly at the top flight again, so I'd stick with him.

Even BR has admitted that we missed Joey Allen in that game.

Immediately, a straight swap of JA for Josh seems logical, the only drawback being that Kemy Agustien's muscularity might seem more appropriate for this game. On that front, perm any 2 from Gylfi Sigurdsson, Joe Allen and Kemy Agustien despite what I said about Gylfi previously.

These are all options, and I'm glad they will be made by the Manager.

Personally, I'd opt for the Icelander and the Welshman - as I've said before, Joey has been battle hardened by all those Championship and Div 1 games- but, to repeat a phrase of mine - what do I know?

Whatever the make up of the side, we know we'll get 100% effort. We know, we'll get a committed performance.

It would be great to think that after the planned Spanish Training Camp the whole squad has indeed come back refreshed, and ready to go again in the Fantasy Land that is the Premier League.

Here's to emerging from this particular "kiln", maybe a little "glazed", but certainly not beaten. Perhaps a little more Wedgwood than Earthenware, eh?

Whatever.

Onward, Swansea City.

##
I'm hearing from today's Sports Radio News that Rory Delap's red card has been rescinded and he will, indeed, be free to subject us to some testing long throws.

It may make the game more difficult for us, but you have to say that it wasn't even deserved in the first place, and since they were punished for not having him for the rest of the Crawley tie, it's certainly the right decision.

The FA's, both English and Welsh, are consistently embarrassing.

A Football Diary of a Quiet Week.

Doesn't it feel strange? It surely does, for me, anyway.

I'm feeling quite left out - the Swans' next fixture is Away at Stoke City on the Sunday, 26th of Feb., and I'm at a loose end, as, I guess, will be a lot of Swansea fans.

My ticket arrived in the post, today, so I'll be nailing down the journey arrangements with some friends in the next few days. I think, for this one, I get to be a passenger rather than a driver, so that's very pleasant in itself.

In the meantime, there is, of course, a great deal of football to be played between now and then, but it's not like being involved with your own team, however much the current shenanigans within the game are almost guaranteed to keep one entertained.

So the next couple of pieces will reflect and concern themselves with the panoply of football entertainment offered for our delectation - and there's a whole lot of that.

But firstly, since we're all Swans of differing hues, we deserve an update on our Team's progress on their placement at the warm weather Training Camp in Tenerife, and there's an enlightening update on the OS, which you can find here. Brendan Rodgers gives a flavour of the serious stuff that's gone on, and it's good to read.

So here's a differing taste of the lesser known minutiae not included in that Official Communication, that might bring a smile to your face.


As some will know, I'm a participant in several different Social Media outlets, enjoying blogging, FaceBook, Twitter etc., and some of the points I'll come to later come from there.

Nowadays, many of or own players have their own accounts on these channels, and I find it fun to both read, and occasionally respond, to their comments, Tweets, whatever.

I think it's a good avenue for the modern player to at least get some sort of engagement and contact with us, the fan base, since we're highly unlikely to sit next to them on the bus, or join them for a pint, as lots of fans used to do - admittedly, some years ago.

I like the fact that it gives some sort of contact with them, and helps build a decent camaraderie and bond with these necessarily at-arms-length admired heroes of ours. Plus, maybe it's really I just like the gossip, and I'm a nosy so and so. Who knows? All I can say is, it's fun, and it's also pleasant to see so many Jacks involved, and to know we're all members of that extended family.

For instance, this week, you may have seen that several of the lads have been involved in an attempt to prove "the fastest man at the Club".

It started with Nathan Dyer claiming in a Tweet that "So @curtisobeng said he's the fastest player in the premier league!!!!!!!!".

Interestingly, or unsurprisingly, according to CO, these were "Lies lies lies liesssss ".

Anyway, with Danny Graham's involvement, a race has been arranged, 100m, with Curtis Obeng, Nathan Dyer, Scott Sinclair and Neil Taylor, set to take part.

Confirmed by Ash Williams, who says, "Ok so we have got a 100m race tomo on the track between! @NathDyer87 @curtisobeng @Scotty_Sinclair and Neil taylor! My cash is on @NathDyer87".

The race is apparently set for today,(Wednesday), but hasn't yet taken place, as CO says "LOL we havnt raced yet. And I DIDN'T say I was the fastest in world or whatever them fools said @NathDyer87 + @AshWills84."

Curtis does confess , however, that he celebrated his Birthday this week (with a fruit Juice), and that he's performed his inauguration "sing a song in front of the team","Sang my song infront of everyone over dinner,was bricking it. wasn't too bad in the end. #freshprince".

Josh McE did exactly the same thing when he came to the Club too, some weeks back. Danny G, who's a great Tweeter along with Ash, confirms too that there has been a quiz....."So @JMcEachran20 had zero input in the quiz ...our team finished last #iaintsuprisedatall" and that he didn't think much of ND's efforts in Training today...... "@NathDyer87: Good weather today hope it stays like this! Decent finishing by @JMcEachran20 in training!" Nath did u train lad??".

Anyway, enough of that. I think you can see that there's a deal of enjoyment there, and that the party is genuinely close. And that, of course, is exactly what we want.

On a more serious note, with regard to the Camp more formally, Adrian Tucker, the Goal Keeping coach, has confirmed that the facilities are top of the range, including a separate area for the 3 keepers to work at and on, with several full sized, immaculate pitches for ALL the squad. Several full contact games have taken place and were decent workouts.
##
Update from Ash= "The race didn't happen today peeps. We will have to see what tomo brings!"

You'll see from above that most of the examples I've used are lighthearted, some would say insignificant, morsels and titbits of gossip, but we know also that Twitter particularly, and Social Media generally, has a darker side.

Leaving the Training Camp there for the moment,let's for now have a look at the more nefarious aspects I'm hinting at.

You may, or may not, be an aficionado of these Net based methods of communication and contact, but more and more Sportsmen and Women, with a high percentage of Footballers, use them regularly. That in itself raises some interesting ethical, moral and legal points.

Despite the fact that the World Wide Web is virtually unregulated and consequently not policed in most people's eyes, there are always consequences to all utterances made, especially so when they're without even a modicum of self-control.

Take, for instance, one of the highest profile Football Tweeters, the estimable Joey Barton. With some 1.25 million "Followers", this serial Tweeter has been involved in some high profile and unfortunate spats with many and various personalities and authorities even.

Not having made a contribution to the Twittersphere since the 8th Feb, I have a suspicion that Mark Hughes, the new Gaffer at JB's club QPR, may have exercised a somewhat restraining influence - incidentally, QPR too are away at a a similar Continental (Portugese) TC as us.

Immediately prior to this enforced break, Joseph, as he prefers, had been involved with some contentious dialogue across the ether, between his good self and some eminent print journalists.

It came about from comments he was making in Tweets that directly concerned his participation in, and the actions he witnessed , at the infamous QPR v Chelsea fixture that saw the scenes that led to Chelsea's John Terry being charged with an alleged offence of Racial Abuse and Aggravation towards the R's Anton Ferdinand.

Don't worry, I intend to make no comment on either that particular case and incident. That's now for the Courts to decide. And that's the point, surely.

As several journalists pointed out - the comments from JB could possibly be construed to have been in Contempt of Court (since the case was and is now Sub-Judice), and indeed, the comments and situation were looked at by the Director of Public Prosecutions, Keir Starmer, who eventually decreed that in this instance, no legal offence had occurred.

Today I've heard Brian Moore, the ex England Rugby International and a qualified Solicitor with a huge knowledge of legal niceties, explain very helpfully, I thought, why the DPP had not proceeded to charge JB.

It was only because, Moore opined, that the case will eventually be heard by a Stipendiary Magistrate and not a Jury, and thus, he felt, the Magistrate was probably unlikely to be influenced by JB's utterings. Treading on very thin ice, methinks.

It does, however, beg the question that with 1.25 million followers, there's a high likelihood that at least some of them will have had their viewpoint perhaps filtered through Joey's eyes - and, I'd ask, where's the morality in that?

### Major Tweet alert ###
Joey's back, with these Tweets after 11pm Wednesday..........although he seems to have settled into less controversial topics....

1)"Arrrrrggggghhhhhh in Portugal, Mackie my roomy has this TOWIE shit on. I am fucking furious. Might have to KO him.......".
2)"Not only has the cheeky git nicked the double bed, he bossing the remote. I am gonna have to put my foot down here."
3)"Don't know who thicker @bradleyorr2 or that joey essex character.......both fucking dense."
4)"Is it just me or have them birds got worse. Some right rough ones on that since I last saw it. #faketanninghell"
5)"Happy Gilmore on the box now. Mackie has been put in a sleeper hold and tucked under table. In charge of remote now. Later people"
6)"Anyone read this wks @BigIssue ? Haven't been in UK to pick 1 up. Paul McCartney interview should be decent. My column is about tech in foot"
7)"Shaun Derry trains like Gilmore. Weirdest character in the modern game that fella......"
8)"Watched a film called Collapse before off itunes. Well worth a watch by the way. Thought engaging......."
9)"Top movie this Happy Gilmore never heard of it till today. Very humorous, if one says so oneself. Has it only just come out?"
10)"Some people are far to easy........."Just tap it in, just give it a tappy tappy tapperoo...." #steadyontwitterhelmets"

All of the above Tweets were between 11pm and Midnight.

Bloody hell, Joey, even I can't take any more. Some might say that you're behaving like a bit of an arse, but I couldn't, possibly.

Goodnight, please. Bless. We can only wish him a good night's sleep.

Co-incidentally, I'm currently listening to the Sports News, to hear that that other purported bad-boy, Ravel Morrison, recently and controversially transferred from Man Utd to West Ham Utd (maybe it's because of that bad-boy record?- Google it), has INDEED been charged by the FA for comments containing homophobic language he made on the same medium.

Both of these instances come hot on the heels of some other high profile cases of "Abuse via Social Media".

Stan Collymore, the ex-player Pundit, was subjected to vile, racist abuse as was Shola Ameobi at Newcastle Utd, and it's very recently been reported that Man City's Micah Richards has abandoned his Twitter account because of much the same. What on earth is wrong with the minds of the people who carry out these vicious, ugly attacks? Who knows? I'm afraid that's a question that's far beyond me.

I will make one comment though, and it's relevance will be familiar to most reading this, because we've all seen, in a far less serious but no less annoying way, the interference and abuse (often) of so-called Internet Trolls.

Often found on our favourite Guest Books and Message Boards, you'll recognize the fact the first thing either they or their supporters throw up when taken to task for their often bilious spleen is what I like to call their "Appeal to Free Speech" defence.

You can almost guarantee that somewhere, sometime, if you're involved in a contretemps with such a Troll or his/her supporter/s, they will make a claim that "In our Country, we have the Right to Free Speech". This means that they want to say (and, I suspect, do) whatever they like.

Whoah, buddy, whoah!

No, No. We live in a Society that has agreed, and has enshrined in Law, rights and responsibilities.They include the Laws of Defamation, both Libel and Slander, and a whole tranche of restraint in relation to Creed, Colour, Sexuality and a whole lot else. And, it applies to all walks of life, Internet included.

Okay,Okay, I know- it's time to jump off this bloody high horse :) Let's get back to some lighter topics again.

So Carlos Tevez is back, eh. What's that I hear you say? Do I detect a yawn there? Indeed, I do. What to say about this seemingly never ending saga? Only this,surely, from the unmissable Marina Hyde. As she closes, so succinctly,it provides.... "another surreal chapter to football's adventures through the looking glass."

At least on Wednesday night we saw a decent Champions League Match on the TV.

Forgive me for failing to dredge up much enthusiasm for the previous results or games, even, namely Bayer Leverkusen 1 - 3 Barcelona , and Lyon 1 - 0 Apoel Nicosia .Despite the presence and performance of the world's best player (by a street- pace CR7), I couldn't dredge up much enthusiasm for either.

And from the first results of Wednesday, neither. They went Benfica 1 - 0 Otelul Galati, and Zenit St Petersburgh 3 - 2 Benfica.

This top heavy competition contains some wonderful teams, but being an objective observer only takes you so far. At least the tie, with Arsenal away at the Stadio Guiseppe Meazza to take on AC Milan, had the feel of a genuinely top class meeting. Once the flares of the Curva Nord and Curva Sud light up, it guarantees an exciting night at San Siro.

Could Thierry Henry provide one more example of his deservedly iconic reputation?

First impressions were that Wenger had gone "narrow", to match Milan, who, in the middle, had Nocerino, Mark van Bommel (kicker) and Seedorf. For Arsenal, they were matched by Song , Ramsey, and Arteta.

For Milan, 1 + 2 set up in front of that. Boateng was the 1, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Robhino the 2 in advance.

The 7 times Winners also went with three/four at the back - Abate (flying right) plus Mexes and Thiago Silva, Antonini left. It was interesting, if limiting, I thought then, although I'd not factored in how Arsenal would respond. As it turned out, not too well.

Seedorf went off injured on 12m, to be replaced by Emanuelson. The first goal came from Kevin Prince Boateng - remember him from Pompey and Tottenham - wow- in a different world now. It was a terrific goal on 15 m, volleyed into the roof of the net.

For Arsenal, Rosicky was narrow in support for RVP, and Walcott was isolated right. Arsenal were struggling to create pressure. It all stopped at the Van Bommel level.

Another goal came on 38m. Zlatan was freed on the left, with a suspicion of O/Side, and cheekily rolled it and squared for Robinho to nod in. Ouch.
Rosicky, a decent player once, seemed destroyed by constant injury - almost like they were a man light, and it's an effort for him to run anymore.

I also wondered where was the Ox? Benched. Bad choice, I thought , from AW. Koscielny, Arsenal's best player in the game, was injured, and replaced by Djourou. It was not looking good. Boateng, with Prince on his back, nearly made it 3. At Half time, Arsene Wenger was almost duty bound to "get the
hairdryer out", and make a tactical change even. Henry came on for Walcott, but was that enough? I doubted it.

Within 3 min however, a sloppy mistake on edge of box allowed Robhino to shoot and score. Disaster at 3-0. Szczesny was rooted, disappointingly, but TR had given it away, as I saw when I had another look, later.

On 65 m, Arsenal produced their only real chance. Henry flicked, RVP volleyed, and Christian Abbiatti in the Milan goal made an excellent save to palm it wide at the left hand post.The Ox came on for Gibbs, Song going to CB, and Vermaelen to LB, but with Ambrosini replacing the Prince, AC Milan were content to suck it up, concentrating on breaks to retain or advance the status quo.

Ibrahimovic, of course, took it further, embarrassing Djourou to win a penalty, and crashed it under Szczesny. It was painful to watch, as was AW's after match interview. He seemed genuinely hurt. Btw, there's a fine full analysis of the game here, from @Zonal_Marking's brilliant Michael Cox.

So, at the end of the day, it was 4-0 to Milan, and perhaps the most damning comment I can make is that it was like watching Fulham last year in the Europa Cup - no disrespect to them certainly- but although I wanted them (Arsenal) to do well, since I've always admired the way they play, yesterday they were well and truly spanked. Painful, to say the least. Even more so when it's a team That AW has had unrewarded faith in for some years. Ah well, as the incomparable Robert Zimmerman once said, "The Times they are a' changing".

Anyway, that's enough for now, so let me wrap up for today.

I've had, and am having, like many of us, an intriguing and satisfactory week. This blog let's you see some of it, and it's reasonably typical, I guess. Whatever, it still leaves me looking onward at this fantastic, mystifying season.

Where do we go next?

In simplistic terms , the Brittania Stadium - but in a slightly more long term outlook, a little further than that. I'll be back this weekend, and we'll see where we go from there.

In the meantime,

Onward, Swansea City.

#
See you over the weekend.

Why the Canaries, after the Canaries, is a good idea.

As a correspondent reminded me recently, "C'mon then, where are you", - "let's be 'avin' you".

Delia's famous on-pitch entreaty to her recalcitrant fans seems particularly apt this week, given that we've just recently had to suffer a 3-2 reverse at the Liberty to Paul Lambert's buzzing Norwich City, and you can bet your bippy that the doom-mongers and nay-sayers will crawl out of the woodwork, and demand that our Club, far from "gallivanting" off to the Sun, should serve some penance, maybe cleaning some toilets or tossing a burger or two at some future-featured-fast-food outlet.

Hey guys, this is not some diasporic act - the break is planned, and has always featured in the long-term outlook of the club - the better to prepare for the remainder of the season.

So, here's a very personal message to anyone who thinks that way - chill out, please, and try to understand..

A Winter Break is something of a perennial in the discussion of British Football. Whilst much of the European Continent particularly takes such a calendar break, regularly, for granted, newcomers(particularly) to the Premier League are both fascinated and frustrated by our remarkable Fixture congestion and resolution, particularly over the Christmas period.

I think it's fair to say that we British fans would be loth to give up those remarkable festive fixtures that seem to spill over each other throughout the holiday period, and there's a strong argument for putting football on when it suits us fans - it may not be the norm in Europe, but I'd suggest that this is something within football where we're better enlightened.

It is, of course, dependent on our differing climates - whilst the snow and cold will continue to disrupt the Bundesliga, although less so La Liga and Serie A - we must respect the modus operandi of these differing Leagues.

However, here at home, we've all seen the more disruptive inclement weather take a (calendar year) different track in the British Isles. Surely if we we were to be "Dormant-in-December", we'd be far more likely to be "Jinxed-in-January".

Whatever, we've got what we've got, and long may it be so.

So just occasionally, as with us Swans this year, there comes a weekend in the New Year when, for myriad reasons, your Club doesn't have a fixture - and not because it's a FIFA-designated Blank Weekend - it's simply down to the fact that you're out of the relevant Cup Competitions, and your League opponents may not be.

In the nPower Championship (or CCC as was) we know from experience how hard a graft a 46 game regular season can be - and then you get to the Play-Offs!

Last year was a tough ask, and whilst we may have slipped into a slightly more nuanced fixture tempo that suits our style, the significant upgrade in quality of opponent has meant that we nowadays have to deal with differing strains and stresses, which make demands on each and every member of the squad.

So, Wow, you've got a free Saturday. What to do ? Why, watch the rest of Planet Football, of course, what else is there?

After the week we've just had, with "handshake-gate" preceding Mick McCarthy's humiliation and subsequent dismissal, it could only happen on Planet Football. Honestly, you couldn't make it up.

There is a difference here though, as we know, between us fans and our Team's players.

Most of us "normal" people will be fitting the coming week and Saturday too, alongside our everyday lives, with a partner often decreeing, particularly with regard to the weekend, that maybe "you can come shopping with me" or "look after the kids, for a change". Been there, done that, shudder.......wonderful, but served my time, thanks.

All flippancy aside, what many of our favourite Clubs have done however is to take the playing squad away, for a refreshing Training Camp on the Continent, - always, to a warmer climate, and often referred to in Tabloidese as a "Sunshine Break " or, more guiltily, "Time off in the Sun".

However much we envy that presentation, I'm here to argue that it firstly makes good sense, and secondly can be beneficial for the team. I ask you, please, to hear me out.

Much is made nowadays of the "pressure" put on modern players and Managers, playing, as they do, in the "best League in the world". Whilst most of us will take that with a pinch of salt, it can't be argued that the genuine competitiveness of their situation, and the subsequent value that retention of the status quo is the minimum requirement.

This is a League where the retention of PL status is almost the financial equivalent of a Champions League place, and we know, from bitter experience, that the social significance of our PL status is huge.

Just ask our bitter rivals up the road. Whilst we're enjoying our first year in the sun, as it were, their recent results will not only have given us Swans a sneaky satisfaction, but the growing panic on their GB's is testament to their increasingly nervous sense of "no, not again!" in the Bottling Stakes.

What can't be argued is that it is, indeed, a tougher ask than in some years previous, to, maybe, re-vivify efforts, and either continue or advance the team's success or, in some cases, perform better than they have been.

So, on that basis alone, we should wish our players "God speed, and have a nice week/end". Unfortunately, I can hear some people mutter already........"how dare they? Paid a bloody fortune and now they're off to Tenerife? Waste of money- not fair!"

Calm down, calm down. Look, the facts are these.

We've not long been a PL team, but our performances this year have seen us win plaudits not just from our own passionate support, who've seen the Club thrive and grow over the last few seasons, but from esteemed and prominent pundits and commentators, and all of those plaudits have been well deserved.

We've now hit a crucial period, where, in all likelihood, the upcoming fixtures are both more difficult and testing, and will shape the outcome of where we'll end up. This is a serious chance to meld the squad into the high-achieving unit we hope it can and will be.

On a personal basis, I don't find it hard to distinguish between any Club's pre-season planning including a spell abroad (Holland, Spain, etc) in order to get the team prepared for the coming season, and some other Clubs' participation in tours to China, the Middle East, Asia, America, Australia even, which seem to me to be more about "growing the brand" than getting the Team fit and ready for the Season.

We've all seen Arsenal, Man Utd, Chelsea, Liverpool and several other lesser giants of the game take this route, not always to their footballing benefit. However, these are also the Clubs who, if they announce that they're jetting off to Malaga for a warm-weather break at this time of year, will be deemed to be forward looking, and "taking care of the playing staff".

Now that we're a member of that self same PL group, shouldn't we at least be deemed to be equally forward thinking by doing something similar? I think so.

It's also important to stress the difference between both kinds of trip, or "jolly", as some would have it, so here goes.

When the first of these foreign jaunts were made, they were, literally, foreign jaunts. In British football, Brian Clough was a leader in this sense - he often took both his Nottm Forest and Derby Championship and European Cup winning team/s to foreign climes - usually Spain, and he would equally bizarrely insist that their their partners came too, with all on the trip encouraged to drink beer, the better to serve Club and Team bonding.

Whilst he may have been misguided on the food and fuelling aspects of such trips, he was undoubtedly a progenitor of the advantageous benefits to be gleaned from top quality, appropriate team training and cohesion. He saw, and reaped the benefits of something that his then opponents took no part in. Whilst Forest were bonding in Malaga mid-season, even Man Utd and other top flight competitors were not quite as enlightened, and their players were corralled in the British Winter.

Nowadays, things are very different. Thank goodness for that.

Fortunately, following the revolutionary change in approaches to fitness and conditioning for elite athletes in modern years, it's accepted that such situation-appropriate changes in routine can reap genuinely result-appropriate rewards. Evidence shows that Teams who have done it correctly have thrived.

Given Brendan Rodgers, our estimable Manager's attention to detail, I think we can all be reassured that this week's transposition of the Playing Squad and Staffs' routine to the Canaries, will be both a reward for the achievements thus far, and an incentive to double our efforts in pursuit of his stated aim - namely that of progression into a stable, sustainable Premiership Club.

This will not be a "jolly" of any sort. Nor will it be some sort of acknowledgment of satisfactory progress - think of it more as a staging post on the way to securing an end result that the whole Club is pursuing - a second, and subsequent season/s in the Premier League sun.

Of course, the arguments against such practice will gather greater vocal prominence particularly as a result of our 3-2 loss at Home to Norwich City last week. God forbid that it should have been the result of NCFC's greater tactical acumen on the day, coupled with their willingness to engage in a high-tempo, physically dominant performance that was pertinent and successful on the day. No- we lost because these reprobates of ours are about to jet off to better climactic conditions. How dare they?

I offer, to adherents of that mind-set a prominent middle finger, and a suggestion that they're mistaken

The psychology of success is interesting, to say the least.

The early part of the New Year has long been recognized by successful Managers as being where the Title is won or lost. Forget SAF's oft-repeated phrase that it's all about March/April- just ask AVB or Arsene if they can come back then - or, even more relevant in our case, that same dismissal of McCarthy at Wolves saw Steve Morgan, their owner, not prepared to wait and see.

The chance to cement and re-group is key.

As Gary Monk, our top class Club Captain intimated this week, there would have been a time when this sort of mid-season break would have sent the Squad to Fairwood Common rather than the Canaries, and who can doubt that the latter will prove a better, effective choice.

This follows the Steve Jobs model at Apple, where the wonderful entrepreneur is often lauded for creating an environment where success can more easily follow - much better to train and play on a pristine pitch in Spanish sunshine than some squally weather and bumpy turf on the Gower where you've had to carry the Training cones out, oh, and btw, you have to wash your own kit afterwards.

Nothing wrong with that, of course, at the Amateur level we've all had to do it.

But do we want our team to do it now? Really? I think not.

We can be assured, as I've said above, of our Gaffer's commitment to the cause, and the news that BR has now signed an ongoing three and a half year contract that means he can continue his fantastic work on our behalf. Hopefully it means that this is the sort of modern and pertinent planning that continues our long term aims.

So, when you read about our players "jetting out to the sun" this week, by all means feel jealous ( I think we all do), but don't, please, begrudge them it.

It is, after all, just a part of their daily work routine. It may be a lot more pleasurable and comfortable than ours - but hey, it's just something that they have to do. On our behalf.

We all wish we could be there, but I can honestly say "Do it for us, guys". And, btw, enjoy.

Onward, Swansea City.


##
What else is happening in Football.

A great deal. No sooner does 'Arry get cleared in court of any Tax-evasion than Fabio Capello resigns over the "John Terry affair". You couldn't make it up, really. It's like some really well written Soap/cum/Footy reality show.
Wow.
As I've said above, this has been followed by the Suarez handshake-gate controversy, and Wolves' sacking their gaffer. This is, indeed, the Premier League.

Where else?

Swansea City v Norwich City, PL, Liberty Stadium, 11/2/12

Tactically, physically, Norwich win the day.

For a lot of us Swans, this fixture had been one we were really not looking forward to. Not, I hasten to add because Norwich City are an unattractive team - far from it - no, it was because we Swans all know that we tend to play up to our capabilities in Match-ups where we're the underdog (Tottenham, Arsenal, Chelsea anyone...), and struggle to impose ourselves on our supposed "equals".

But hey, if you're a SCFC fan, it was ever thus.

We've experienced many, many occasions, over the years, where a successful and thriving period is interrupted by a blind-sided home hiccup. This was nothing different. As it was, it remains so - so chill out brethren, we'll be back.

It's easy to say this in hindsight,of course, because one can realize a more objective and philosophical take on the game. But, let's not be mistaken, this was a savage, temporary one hopes, blow to the pride, particularly after the euphoria of the previous week's win at WBA. I'll come back to that.

McEachran came in for his first full start, replacing the injured Joe Allen, and in the Norwich side, Elliot Ward and Russell Martin were the key central defenders, and the influential Grant Holt edged out Steve Morrison up front.

The Teams lined up as follows;-

Swansea City
01 Vorm, 02 Williams, 03 Taylor, 04 Caulker, 22 Rangel, 07 Britton, 11 Sinclair (Routledge - 73'), 12 Dyer (Lita - 73'), 17 McEachran (Gower - 64' ), 42 Sigurdsson, 10 Graham
Substitutes
25 Tremmel,16 Monk,15 Routledge,27 Gower,29 Richards,18 Lita,19 Moore

Norwich City
01 Ruddy, 02 R Martin, 03 Drury (Barnett - 57' ), 22 Ward, 25 Naughton, 11 Surman, 12 Pilkington, 15 Fox, 17 Bennett (Hoolahan - 76' ), 09 Holt , 10 Jackson (Morison - 83' )
Substitutes
31 Steer, 20 Barnett, 04 Johnson, 07 Crofts, 14 Hoolahan, 05 Morison, 21 Wilbraham

Ref: Atkinson
Att: 19,927

Why, I hear you ask immediately, wasn't this a record crowd given that it was a Home sell-out. It's exactly that, really, - whilst we sold out the home allocation, the Away fans didn't, unsurprisingly, since it's a damn long way to come. So it was easy to see the canopy-covered lower areas at the away end.

Perhaps the most noticeable thing from the off was Norwich's willingness to press at our defenders right from the start. As we all know, Swansea's possession based game is based upon distributing from the very back, with Michel Vorm almost always rolling it to either Ash Williams or Steven Caulker, who will have spread left and right .

With Holt and Pilkington pressing hard, this avenue was always blocked, and even when McEachran or Britton dropped centrally to collect from Vorm, they would find, Surman particularly, equally keen to engage this hard fast press. Subsequently, Vorm did more kicking than at any other game that I've seen (and that's ALL of them).

First tactical mark to Norwich.

Despite the genuinely competitive element this introduced to the game, the Canaries coupled it with a robust physical presence, that however much it borderlined on the limits of what is and isn't a foul, the often red-card fond Martin Atkinson deemed acceptable.

Thus, since the linespersons/Asst refs nowadays all seem content to be the Ref's cypher/familiar and no more by simply always deferring to his viewpoint, Swansea found themselves involved in a helter skelter game of pinball, where their technical advancement was being challenged by the hyper fast openness
of the match.

McEachran had shown skill aplenty, as had Sigurdsson, with Britton grafting to knit it together. Promising set ups from them all were being countered by the endeavor of Fox, Surman and Pilkington & Bennett wide. It was real competition.

I think it's probable that Swansea were just shading the half, but it was far from comfortable, and my old friend the "butterflies-in-the-stomach" feel absent last week had payed me a return visit in Spades. I was as skittish and nervous as the Anfield Cat had been some days earlier, twitching and nodding and metaphorically kicking every ball, like some sort of West Stand Martin O'Neill.

Thank goodness that after some 23m, the Swans took a decisive step that both excited us all, and calmed me down for the half, by constructing and scoring an excellent goal.

Sigurdsson picked up in the inside left channel and whilst taking the ball across field toward the right slipped Nathan Dyer forward down the centre toward the box. Dyer cleverly fooled two defenders and sneaked a killer ball to Danny Graham on the edge of the box toward the left. Graham's confidence is sky high, and after one touch with his left to control, he steered a right foot side footed finish into the net past Ruddy's left hand.

1-0, and the Liberty sang.

Given both sides determination, the game remained dangerously open, and from a left wing cross, Andrew Surman had gotten between Caulker and Williams and perhaps really should have scored, although Vorm had done well to read the trajectory of the header, and grasped it on the line.

Swansea too had another great chance to go further ahead when Scott Sinclair was freed on the left cutting in to the box. SS's confidence, conversely, is not at it's highest and rather than shoot himself where Danny G only had a tap-in, he was frustrated by Elliot Ward's goal saving tackle sliding the ball off his toe for a corner instead.

We groaned collectively because it felt like something that would come back to bite us. It was, and did.

The remainder of the period was fought on an even keel, with Swansea's MF battling hard to keep abreast of Norwich's equivalent. Bennett and the powerful Pilkington predominantly wide, gave as much to the visitors as Dyer and Sinclair did for the Swans. One notable exception was the booking of Drury for another foul on Dyer, and this contributed to another key tactical change in the second half.

Britton, McEachran and Sigurdsson were all individually decent, but not maybe as cohesive as our Middle has been with Joe Allen in the side, but that's
another lesson learned for us I'd suggest.Whilst the Swansea 3 were all technically more than capable, their very newness as a threesome led to some realistic competition from their NCFC opponents.

A word about that.

I've heard some moans and groans with regard to McEachran's performance. So it's only fair to comment thus.

I'm a McEachran fan. The youngster is a stellar talent who will go on to have an excellent career. Think about our own Joe Allen. He is, nowadays, battle hardened by all those starts in Div 1 , the Championship, and now the PL.

Josh is not, - yet. He will be, and I also believe it was both right to start him yesterday since JA was unfit, and, that he will contribute importantly for us this year. He took a fearsome blow to the head yesterday from a clash with the ubiquitous Grant Holt. It may not quite have clicked into place for him yet with us, but it will.

Patience, brothers, a little patience. And Joe Allen will be fit too. That's good choice.

It's very easy in the Swansea City family to criticize anything "new", which doesn't instantly become some sort of hit. Resist the temptation, lest you embarrass yourselves, if you think that way.

So, at the end of this first half, Surman and Fox for Norwich were shifting the ball decently, and the balance at the close of the period felt just about right, but not at all comfortable - Swansea 1-0 ahead - but only just.

The Second half was to show that those self same butterflies were justified.

I've seen BR post match interview - they can both Managers be found here - and he identified immediately what we all saw : that Swans' indeed had had a "sloppy period" and it came very early on the restart.

Within 3m, Norwich City were level, and within 6m they were ahead.

For the visitor's first goal, Swansea carelessly gave the ball away on their right, midway in their own half. From the free kick conceded the ball was headed out to the right, and from a ballooned volley, it went high and wide beyond the far post. Lots of us, and the team too evidentially, thought the ball was going out on the full in the air - all but Norwich's Elliot Ward.

He hadn't given it up, and he cushioned a skilled volley back into the six yard box, where the ever present Grant Holt leaped with Ash Williams and planted a looped header over all the Swansea rearguard and into the net. 1-1, disastrously, and in somewhat bizarre circumstances.

At 1-1 , Swansea had been unlucky when from an outswinging Sigurdsson corner, a thumping Steven Caulker header had crashed against the outside of the post and wide.

Similarly, McEachran produced a defence splitting pass, but Danny Graham, in attempting to round Ruddy was forced wide, and his finish deflected for a corner instead.

Worse was to come for us Swans, because the men in yellow's second goal was shabbier still.

Dyer gave the ball away again, weakly, which is unusual for ND, and from much the same position. Norwich moved it confidently forward through Bennett's advance, and he cut diagonally and then sideways across the Swansea box to roll an inviting pass to the fast approaching Pilkington. He slightly mis-hit his shot, and thus it was heading either wide of the post or into Vorm's hands at his dive toward the post, but Neil Taylor, in attempting a block, diverted it across and into the opposite side of the goal.

2-1 to Norwich, and a sloppy, clumsy concession on our part, fully exploited by the fast breaking visiting players.

The Swans had been knocked completely out of their stride, and it was to get worse before it got any sort of better.

At this point, Lambert pulled another effective tactical switch. Drury, who had already been booked and was vulnerable to Dyer and Rangel marauding down the right in a Swansea attempt to get back into the game, was replaced by Barnett, who went to CB, releasing Russell Martin to go to RB, and with Naughton coming to LB to counter the insurgency on the Swansea right.

The switch was effective, giving Norwich greater flexibility to defend, and to break forward in counter-attack, given that the Swans were compulsorily committed to seek something from the game.

In the 63rd minute, the nadir was reached.

From a move that broke down with Swansea trying to get forward, the Canaries moved it centrally to Elliot Bennett, driving down the middle at the Swans. To his right, with Neil Taylor stranded forward, Grant Holt was in acres of space, wide and free. Bennett, to his credit, drew the challenging defence and put Holt in on goal, and his near post low drive skidded past Vorm and in.

3-1, oh, Woe is me.

With 25m still to play, the game wasn't necessarily over, but it's nature thus forward guaranteed a harum-scarum affair where Swansea threw caution to the winds, and Norwich attempted to pick them off from the break.

This was further aided tactically when Lambert replaced Bennett with Hoolahan on 76m, the Irishman's quick feet and ball retention key in creating further chances and enhancing control.

Vorm, for Swansea, was forced into two further world class saves.

The one from Kyle Naughton's fantastic screaming drive where he feathered it onto the crossbar and then wide was a full length MoTD feature moment, but the second, from a Norwich City attack, six yards out and crashed goalward by Hoolahan, was even better as he turned it over the top.

From concomitant Swansea attacks, Scott Sinclair headed wastefully over when he might have done better, and Caulker, the Swansea CB, won a free kick from a rampage forward that allowed Sigurdsson to arrow the shot toward the top corner only to see Ruddy magnificently turn it over.

At last, from a corner, the Swans got one back.

They had been denied a penalty when a Routledge cross drew howls of anguish for a handball, which Mr Atkinson denied, but from that subsequent corner, things got better.

The incoming kick was headed up into the air, and as the ball dropped, Holt and Ash Williams tussled for it, and even though later TV footage seemed to show Holt's head grappled and gripped by Williams, when the ball slipped free it was obvious that Holt's tug on AW's shirt would be seen by the Ref.

Unsurprisingly, it was. A clear penalty, and the only puzzle was who would take it?

Sinclair had been replaced by Routledge, with Gower on for McEachran, so up stepped the confident Danny Graham. Despite a tremor-inducing stuttering run up, Graham rolled it securely wide of Ruddy's right side, and the Swans had a toe-hold.

3-2, but with only 3 mins +extras to go.

Even in that short time, Swansea created 2 guilt edged chances that might well have given them a share of the spoils.

One came from a burst down the right, and from Sigurdsson's cross, his pull back found Graham free in a packed six yard box, but his first time shot at goal rolled agonizingly 6 ins wide with Ruddy for once beaten.

The other saw Caulker match his earlier header from a Sigurdsson corner, only this time it was on target and speeding into the roof of the net only for the excellent Ruddy to parry and push it over the bar.

So there it was - despite a truly nerve-stretching, mind-bending last 10 mins, that spell from half time till that point had seen Norwich, both tactically and physically, exploit their created advantage, and hold out for a (just) merited win. What we can honestly say is that this had been a cracking Premier League fixture, which had shown both teams confirm that they're certainly good enough for this division.

So, time for reflection. What do we make of the game ?

Let's look at the visitors first.

They are a more than competent, tactically innovative side that today , just, deserved their win, since they were able to exploit our limitations (which they had obviously planned for), and they gave a demonstration of the pertinent use of specific players, which suited this particular fixture.

I've got genuine admiration for them, and whilst they may not suit my aesthetic tastes in terms of style, I have no doubt that they're in advance of more limited Clubs (Stoke etc), and will certainly survive and maybe thrive in this division. Be realistic enough to give Norwich City the credit for yesterday "doing a number" on us, and move on.

From our own viewpoint, the most disappointing thing was to lose to a Club at our level - we have been delighted to see our outstanding performances against our so-called betters (Arsenal, Tottenham, Chelsea), so to get caught out by a fellow "newcomer" was hugely frustrating.

The reason I mentioned earlier the WBA game was that if we'd been asked a couple of weeks ago what we expected from those two games (WBA away and Norwich home), many, I suggest, would have opted for 2 pts from 2 draws being satisfactory, if not as good as possible. As it happened, we got 3 pts from 6.

So, a sense of perspective please.

Still, no matter. We will learn from it - we all know that the Manager and Staff will sit down and analyze with the team what went right, and what went wrong.

What we, as supporters, can do is this.

We can give our boys both the space and trust to get it right. That includes the upcoming trip to the Canaries, about which I'll write later this week.

What they don't need is people going off the deep end and portending doom and gloom as a result of this admittedly horrible defeat. The team has given us so much more than that, already, this year.

They've made us delighted, proud, and wise enough to say, at the end of a bad day.........

Onward, Swansea City.

##
So here we are are on Sunday evening, and my watching today has seen me witness WBA, who we beat on their own patch last week, go to Wolves, and tear them apart for a 5-1 victory. Concurrently, Citeh, the champions-elect, had to work hard to come away from Villa Park with a 1-0 victory. You will remember we got our first away victory there, by a 2-0 scoreline.

This means nothing other than to confirm that there's still a long way to go before the season's end.

Don't get too cocky - and don't get too down. This week's break (more to come this week) will see us, hopefully, re-group, and come back refreshed, ready to go again. Keep the faith. STID.

Swansea City v Norwich City, Premier League,Liberty Stadium, 11/2/12, Match preview

Birds of a feather.

This week's meeting of two from three of last year's "newcomers" to the Premier League may see the last of Television and Radio punditry finally abandon that hoary old cliched approach that sees some still use, even at this stage of the season, the almost inevitable reminder that both Clubs are novices in the Wonderland that is the Barclays Premier League.

Just how old in terms of service do either of us have to be to stop being casually belittled by another small but constant reminder of "lazy journalism"?

I know I really should stop being so precious, but it would be nice to see and hear a piece that started by praising the performances of both teams without alluding to the relative inexperience and "newness" of the teams, as if both were some sort of affront to the status quo and the stasis of member clubs, rather than what genuinely is the case - namely, that both have performed really well and deserve to be where they are.

As another old saw insists - the Table doesn't lie.

I guess it will only cease when next year's promoted trio either join or replace either of us, and I accept that that's the reality of things. We will by then, of course, have finally given concrete proof that we both belong - or not, as the case may be.

So when these exotic birds meet, The Swans will be seeking to cement their Home capability, whilst the Canaries will want to put a dent in that by adding to their 13pts on the road from 3 wins and 4 draws out of 12 games as visitors. East Anglia's Premier club will pose a testing threat to Wales's No 1 Team given the quality of their performances thus far, with added spice included by the fact that they sit one place and 2pts above us in 9th.

Can we get the win that would reverse the placings? Or will Paul Lambert's tactical acumen frustrate our own innovative BR 's ambitions? At another sold out Liberty Stadium, the game promises to be yet another cracker from two of the division's better footballing sides.

Lambert's appointment as their Manager came in turbulent circumstances.

Just 2 years ago, on the opening day of the 2009/10 season, his then Colchester Utd side inflicted a 7-1 defeat on Norwich City, at that time in Division 1, having been relegated from the Championship the previous year, despite being guided by a favourite past player, the ex -Goalkeeper Bryan Gunn. He (Gunn) had only been appointed the previous January, but had been unable to keep the club up.

This 7-1 drubbing from a near neighbour lower league club (pace, CUFC fans) was a major humiliation, and the Board painfully decided to part company with Gunn, and the job was offered to Lambert, the architect of that embarrassing defeat.

He was appointed in August 2009, and in the remaining 9 months of the football calendar, he led Norwich City back to the Championship by winning that latest single season as Division 1 champions.

As we know, he followed up and bettered that by last year leading the side to the runners up spot in the Championship, and whilst we Swans took in that heart rending Play Off final win at Wembley to secure our spot, Norwich became the first team to get back to back promotions from Div 1 to the Premier League since Citeh did it in 2000.

His Managerial career had started at Livingstone, and went via Wycombe Wanderers to Colchester and thus Norwich City, and followed a stellar playing career, where the Scottish International had spells at Celtic and Borussia Dortmund. He was an integral member of the German Champions, who were the 1997 European Cup Final winners, successfully subduing the incomparable Zinedine Zidane and his Juventus side.

His subsequent Coaching qualifications were done in Germany, and the (again) multi lingual Scot is often nowadays bracketed with our own BR as another young, upcoming modern Gaffer in the evolving Managerial hierarchy.

He is certainly tactically innovative, and as I've said before, is not afraid to change formations, personnel and systems- even in the course of a single game, and demonstrably to influential and winning effect.

The playing squad itself, which I'll append below, contains a predominance of first-time-in-the -Premier League players, much like our own, but the quality is surprising only to those fans who've never seen Football outside the PL recently.

Both we and Norwich City fans know from our recent experiences, that mind-set is cruelly mistaken. Good players are good players, and this group is enjoying proving the dinosaurs wrong.

This is the squad......

1 John Ruddy GK, 2 Russell Martin DEF, 3 Adam Drury DEF, 4 Bradley Johnson MF, 5 Steve Morison STR, 6 Zak Whitbread DEF, 7 Andrew Crofts MF, 8 James Vaughan STR, 9 Grant Holt STR, 10 Simeon Jackson STR, 11 Andrew Surman MF, 12 Anthony Pilkington MF, 13 Declan Rudd GK, 14 Wesley Hoolahan MF, 15 David Fox MF, 17 Elliott Bennett MF, 19 Simon Lappin MF, 20 Leon Barnett DEF, 21 Aaron Wilbraham STR, 22 Elliott Ward DEF, 23 Marc Tierney DEF, 24 Jonathan Howson MF, 25 Kyle Naughton(on loan from Spurs ) DEF, 26 Daniel Ayala DEF, 29 Josh Dawkin STR, 30Matthew Ball MF, 31 Jed Steer GK,

Not included above, but part of the squad are the players out on loan - they are Chris Martin STR, George Francomb MF, Tom Adeyemi MF, Korey Smith MF, and the recently purchased Ryan Bennett DEF, snaffled in the Transfer Window from under our nose, and loaned back to his previous club.

The first choice GK is John Ruddy, who, having spent some years as Everton's back up on the bench prior to his move to Norwich, is having an excellent season. Strong, capable, and a good shot stopper, he, like our own Michel Vorm, has opened people's eyes. His back ups are youngsters Declan Rudd and Jed Steer. Rudd is an England U19 cap and Steer an England Youth International.

The RB's engaged are Kyle Naughton, on loan from Tottenham, and Russell Martin, the talented utility defender who plays centrally to equal effect. Naughton is the England U-21 flier who has the capacity to rampage forward, with silky attacking skills. Behind the other Kyle (Walker) in the Tottenham queue, like Steven Caulker with us, he is developing his game perfectly at an equally forward looking club. Spurs must be pleased. Martin has also filled in at CB when need be, and has featured in some remarkable goal line clearances. Another epitome of the "honest pro", people forget how good these types are. Dogged, resilient, good marker, and a committed competitor.

On the left side of defence, they have several options. Marc Tierney is probably first in line at LB, and followed Lambert from Colchester having gained the Manager's trust there. The alternative is Adam Drury, the longest serving player at NCFC. A former captain of the club, both he and Tierney are left footed specialists in this hard to fill slot in any team, and thus, like our own Neil Taylor, bring natural balance to the side.

The CB's present a great deal of interest and a vague familiarity. Primary choices last week were Zak Whitbread, and Daniel Ayala, but when both defenders succumbed to leg muscle problems and had to be replaced, Martin and Naughton went to the middle, and Elliot Bennet, the winger, did an excellent job at RB.

This is a prime example of what I mean by the flexibility of personnel, and the Manager's willingness to use that. Whitbread, the ex-Millwall man, and Ayala, the ex-Liverpool youngster, were both reputedly on our radar before plumping for life in the East, and both are talented, competent footballers - strong in the air and good markers.

The other two prominent CB's used are Elliot Ward and Leon Barnett . Both signed in 2010, Ward from Coventry and Barnett from WBA, they together show the Boss's skill in selecting decent supposedly lower rung players who can step upward. They have further strengthened, as we saw recently, with that foresighted signing of Ryan Bennett.

They have a wealth of options in MF.

Wes Hoolahan and Bradley Johnson, ex Blackpool and Leeds respectively , although left footed can play anywhere in the middle that suits the game. Hoolahan is a technically advanced player and schemer, and Johnson fills several roles. Both finish well,too, Johnson moreover from dead balls. Andrew Crofts we've seen enough of in the Welsh International team to know that he is a more than useful grafter and tackler, and will engage our combative MF press.

Andrew Surman, a graduate of the Southampton Academy that's produced so many recently, has, since joining from Wolves, shown that again he's a very useful PL player.Very skilled, a scorer of key goals to, he complements another "graduate from below", Anthony Pilkington, in giving the finger to that blindsided mindset. Acquired from Huddersfield, Pilkington continues to shine in an advanced MF berth/support STR persona , that shows his primarily wide positioning to be but one string to his bow. He has already, this season, scored some worthy and outstanding goals.

David Fox is another creator who followed Lambert from Colchester. Elliot Bennett is predominantly a right winger, but filled in at RB last week, successfully.

They have reinforced further by signing Johnathan Howson, the ex DirtyLeeds skipper, a box to box MF'er, who has always been deservedly admired. Ken Bates loss is NCFC's gain. Simon Lappin is another left sided MF'r, signed in 2007 from St Mirren. Mathew Ball is a young, internal Club development player, yet to make his debut.

The striking options are varied and various.They include Steve Morrison,James Vaughan,Grant Holt,Simeon Jackson, Aaron Wilbraham, and Josh Dawkin.

Wales' own Steve Morrison came from Milwall, and it is pleasing to see this late developer continue to advance his career with Premiership goals and performances. Moreover, Grant Holt, having played in all four divisions, has equally confounded the naysayers by adapting and thriving at the elite level. Both of these strikers could be said to be of the "British" type Centre Forward mould, however, what both have shown is the limitation of that viewpoint, as both have demonstrated that there's a lot more to their game than just that. They are key linkers, and contribute more than just goals, but remain able to be sufficiently strong as to challenge any opposing line up.

Simeon Jackson is a neat and tricky forward, given to buzz-flying around defenders and linking admirably with the bigger Morrison or Hoult. James Vaughan was a young Evertonian prodigy of the Rooney generation on Merseyside, and although the scorer of the youngest ever PL goal (v Palace,April 2005), has never quite fulfilled his early promise, maybe as the result of a series of appalling unfortunate injuries.

Aaron Wilbraham came from the MK Dons in 2011, but he has not featured as much this season as last. Finally the Wales U 19 striker Josh Dawkin is continuing to progress, being used on 9 occasions in the League, and twice in the Cup this year.

All in all, a decent and rounded squad that contains as little as 5 players with previous PL experience - but - as both we and Norwich have seen, the case remains that this means little.

What both clubs have is an abundance of players who are proving that they are good enough (and more) to play at this level. After all, even Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes etc once made their debut. How do you get PL experience? Why, goodness me, you get to play in it. That's what we're both proving.

A couple of further facts about our worthy opponents.

The Ownership and Management of a Club is something that is always interesting. With a Board Chaired by the delectable Delia, (Delia Smith, a National Treasure) and a Board that has the equally revered fellow National Treasure too, the ubiquitous Stephen Fry, it is hard not to like the set-up.

The fans deserve a big up, too. This is a club that regularly attracted over 20,000 whilst resident in the third tier of English football, with a huge proportion of that being ST Holders. Respect.

Another thing to mention is the geographical isolation of both clubs. Whilst we thrive on the rivalry with Kerdiff Shittee, Norwich are ahead of Ipswich Ground Down, and the struggles of the two Championship Clubs are the source of equal and compelling mirth. We can laugh at Manky's Bluebirds, whilst Norwich take great comfort from Jewell's Jessies. Long may it be so.

So there's no doubt that this week's game will be another stern and serious test, although after last week's win at WBA, it will not be one that we should approach with any degree of trepidation.

Brendan Rodgers has shown in his last couple of team selections a hint maybe that a pecking order has been established, and with a weekend off after this fixture, it's maybe not unrealistic to nominate a same-again steady-as -she-goes selection.

And, I hear, the plan is to take the Swans away for a refreshing, sunshiney break to a Spanish location. The rest will do them good, as training notwithstanding, it certainly beats the ice and snow! See below for details.

But as you know I'm fond of saying - what do I know?

What we can confidently state is this - we can look forward to another cracking fixture at the bouncing Liberty Stadium, where we bellow and sing.........

Onward, Swansea City.

##
After the Canaries, the Canaries.
Details of the Swans plans for that refreshing break can be found here.