Moras is less.....or is less Moras?

Moras is less..........or is less Moras?

Swansea City,as many fans are aware,are suffering a spate of unfortunate injuries.Brendan Rodgers,the Club's admirable young Manager,could be forgiven for thinking that the Fates were conspiring against him were it not for the fact that his approach to managing the South Walians is a little more grounded.Having given of his time and effort subsequent to the Play-Off victory by charitably ascending Mt Kilimanjaro as part of Chris Kamara's Marie Curie Cancer Care effort, his return to manage the team's first full season in the Premier League has been disrupted by genuine personal hurt and a series of footballing fitness/team building issues.

Part of Brendan's motivation for the South African trek had been the loss of his Mother to Cancer last year.Then,on the week of his club's enticing fixture against Arsenal at the Emirates he suffered the further hurt of his father Malachi's defeat to the disease.The dignified young Manager was a pall-bearer at the funeral whilst his coaches took the Swans to the London fixture.

His immediate return to the club shows the measure of the man.The injuries and absences from the squad currently are worth noting individually.

Let's start with Ferrie Bodde.For those unaware of this Dutch u-21's international talent I say get on You.Tube.Two years ago,against Birmingham,he damaged a ligament so badly that the subsequent operations to his knee have meant that he has been unable to (as yet) make a successful comeback to the team.That's both our,and the Premiership's loss.Wonderfully combative,skilful,typically Dutch maestro.I do not use the word lightly.

Secondly,in an accident you couldn't really make up, the club's long-serving and effective utility defender Alan Tate broke his leg in a Golf-buggy accident.No,I didn't make that up- google it.

Thirdly,on the weekend of the Arsenal 1-0 defeat(unlucky-again,google the goal-bizarre) Stephen Caulker,the England U-21 centre back signed on loan from Tottenham, damaged HIS ligament in a brave goal-line clearance.2 months M'lud.

Oh,and by the way,we also lost Kemy Agustien to a hamsting injury.The Dutch u-21 midfielder is a powerful,mobile footballer who has been known to play CB.That's that bust then.

All this has meant that Gary Monk,the Club captain,has been forced to play sooner than his full recovery from a foot injury that's visible to most.

Now Brendan is far from foolish,and to cope with this defensive frailty particularly at CB on deadline day signed both Darnell Situ,a French u-21 Cb coveted by many, and Rafik Halliche,a full Moroccan International.But,but....he didn;t you see- because FIFA,that august ultimate Football Authority of impeccable probity(sic) did NOT sanction either signing.Because we're Welsh,it would seem,and as these deals required International Clearance,we did not,it would further seem,get them done in time.Although we WERE inside the deadline. Work that out.I still can't.

Which brings us to this week, and our upcoming game against Stoke City.We have had,on trial,both Zoltan Liptak,a Hungarian International and Vangelis Moras,a Greek International.Both come with impressive(for us) pedigrees from Hungarian and Italian football.It's a pity that in a reserve friendly this week against Newcastle(which I saw), both played-but we lost 5-3.

Liptak seemed off the pace and has subsequently been released.But Moras,Moras.........at least he looked comfortable on the ball and I believe that there may be some light there.

And,from today's reports,we May have come to an agreement.So Stokies- bring it on I say.

Less,is indeed,Moras.

This Sunday we play Stoke City.....

This Sunday we play Stoke City, generally considered to be the second oldest club in football (after Notts County) ,and for many, myself included, the road map to "How to survive in the Prem without selling your soul". Perhaps I should explain myself.
I have this naive (I'm told,regularly) notion that on attaining Premiership status, as our club did at Wembley last May, as Stoke did in 2008(after a 23 yr gap-nearly as long as us ,eh?), then that club should not Mortgage it's future to attempt survival in said division. Anyone remember Southampton,Derby,Middlesbrough,West Ham- top 4 in the championship since you ask- or
Palace,Blackpool,Ipswich,Leicester,Leeds,Reading,Watford,Burnley,Portsmouth,Barnsley,Birmingham,Forest,Coventry(9th
to 21st since you ask).
And the point?
The point is at least some,if not all,of these clubs did exactly that. Mortgaged their futures that
is.Only problem,just like the Banks nationally,the house was reposessed on relegation.Which is what Banks do.

But Stoke didn't.They took the flak-long ball,pub team,disgrace to the prem,troglodyte football included- and stuck 2 fingers up to the pundits.Under their estimable manager,Tony Pulis,this is a club that did things in their own fashion.Which,I like to think,is how we might do it,albeit in a contrasting footballing fashion.

It is inarguable that when Stoke came up they were somewhat limited. Didn't make them less attractive to their fans,or less succesful if, as an opponent, you couldn't cope with their aerial bombardment and their commitment to run through brick walls for their manager. Arsenal anybody?? As a template it worked for them.It is also inarguable that in the subsequent seasons they have gotten a great deal more sophisticated.Witness the addition of
Pennant,Etherington,Crouch,Upson,Woodgate,Palacios in the last couple of seasons. Add to that the solidity given by Sorensen,Delap,Walters,Shawcross,Wilson,Fuller,Huth,Jones Whelan and Begovic(and that's just half the squad) and you can see that this will be no easy game.Still,that's what I expect in the Prem.

We have,I believe,thus far followed the Stoke model in outline. Our football,tactically and aesthetically,is very different. To succeed we're going to have to rely upon our passing ability,our retension of the ball, and to establish a tempo that ensures WE are in charge of the game. To that end, Danny Graham for Lita will aid us.

Whatever the outcome,I believe it's still essential that we follow the Stoke model in financial and administrative terms.But let's please follow the Swansea model tactically and technically.That way we both win.

So it's 3 pm on Sunday.Can we continue to play the successful,posession based game that Brendan favours before that troglodyte section of our own fans start not only muttering but actually booing some of OWN players. Some of us can remember when Mamady Sidibe played for us, and we,like Stoke, seemed to think that the long ball launched from
Center Back into the opposition's penalty box was de rigeur.

The Season so far.....

It is both difficult and wrong to extrapolate from our completed games thus far and pronounce a season's end result.Why is this?


Well,I would suggest that the problem lies with the resulting polarity of opinions.

People either place in the "happy clappy" camp, or the "we're all doomed" faction , neither of which adequately describes EVERY poster - although I'm happy to admit that most of us are guilty of it now and again.


Problem is,as Mick McCarthy said the other day...".opinions are like arseholes, just 'cause we've all got one doesn't mean it needs to be aired all the time".

Having said that, any GB would be ill served if the only contributions were facts, figures, PR guff and the Party Line. If that's what you want then try any PL Official Website. So we read this (and other) board/s as well.

My analysis,for what it's worth, is this then.

Having played MC, Arsenal and Chelsea as our first 3 away games the results turned out as most expected with 3 defeats. But, as has been said both here and elsewhere, all 3 games were very,very different.

Having started well at the Etihad and competed for an hour we were blown away by the quality and inventiveness of the quality attack in opposition. Aguero ,arguably, was the catalyst. Remind yourself how much he cost.

At the Emirates, the game was totally different. I would argue that with a little more luck and experience (which we will get as we play more games) we could have come away with at least a point.

At the Bridge different again. For the first time this season I felt we started for the ONLY time this season looking a little in awe of Chelsea and their array of "stars". Despite imposing ourselves for brief 10/15 minute spells (mid first half/start second half) I came away with a tinge of disappointment for the ONLY time this season.

Our 3 home games giving us a draw against both Sunderland and Wigan (creditable and explainable both) and the win against West Brom show me that the team has made an observable advance tactically (better performance), practically (better results) and emotionally (happier fans, decent crowds).

As well as seeing all of our games so far (including Shrewsbury) and our home Reserve fixtures at Parc-y-Sgarlets I read as much as I can about not only us but all football.
I'm a Sky armchair fan too.
Poor sad me.
I happen to think that thus far we've done reasonably well from what I've seen, and I think also we'll not only continue that, but do a little better.
I honestly think the next 7 games, up and until and including Villa at home (which takes us to end of November) will give us all a pretty accurate picture of our progress.

I suspect I'm not so very different from a large proportion of our fans who love the Club and it's "Alice's Adventures in Premierland."

Guess that makes me a "happy clappy" eh?