Swansea City 3-0 West Ham Utd (25/08/12)

[claretcloggy]

afraid we're gonna get mullered by swansea's pace and passing ability..hope for a draw against better judgment

[Lincolnhammer92]

afraid we're gonna get mullered by swansea's pace and passing ability..hope for a draw against better judgment

They can pass it around as much as they want but if they can't get into our third and past our defence they're not gonna score many goals.

[claretcloggy]

They can pass it around as much as they want but if they can't get into our third and past our defence they're not gonna score many goals.

true, but they have the pace to get beyond our defenders and the passing ability to create chances..we aren't exactly the quickest team in the league..how do you see us coping against them? parking the bus?

[indiehammer]

As other posters have said, I see this panning out in exactly the same way as Brighton away last season.

Under Allardyce we seem happy to let the opposition have the ball as our defensive organisation is excellent. Swansea will be a completely different side to play than Villa were, fast, skillfull, clever and their confidence will be sky high. With our squad not yet at 100% fitness and lacking wide players, Sam will take no risks in trying to win the game. We'll go there to win but we'll do that by defending and trying to hit Swansea on the break. It will be a very interesting test, especially for our full backs. Carlton is going to have to work his socks off (which he does anyway) and Vaz Te will need to be on form. I'd like to see Maiga play a bigger role, he wont start, i don't feel Sam will take that risk but 30 mins as an impact sub would be a good move.

I wouldn't be surprised to see Diarra start this one too. He's not going to sit on the bench forever, the only reason he'll sit out is because of his own fitness, when there's no problem with it, he'll start. Alou would be perfect for us in this game, he would allow Nolan to play more of a second striker role.

I can see this ending 1-1/2-2. We'll get slaughtered by the media and Swansea for sittng back all game but if we get the result who cares? Points on the board are all that matters at this point of this season, whilst fitness is raised, the squad is gelling and signings yet to be made.

Can't wait for this one! COYI!!!

[Lincolnhammer92]

Would be nice to get Johnson or Jarvis signed in time for this. EIther of those and Vaz on the counter would be vicious.

[PATISH]

Taylor needs a rest.....

[baritalia]

Aston Villa were poor but both Collins and Reid showed one of their best games. Lambert's plan was to pass it around and try to break through Ben't marker (Collins). Didn't work, there was no plan B. Swansea are a pretty good team at the moment. But bare in mind we have an amazing defender (Diarra) on the bench who is perfect for games like this.

I also think we'll sign Jarvis before Thursday and that he'll start instead of Taylor.

[Yea Why Not]

Taylor needs a rest.....

No way would I drop Taylor. We are going to be towering over this Swansea side and our best chance of a result will be from a set play

[Aceface]

Regardless of the result here we'll have to prepare ourselves for a week of lazy comparisons between the teams - our hulking great gorillas versus the free-flowing tiki-taka of the Welsh Barca, beauty and the beast etc.

Which will be a strange experience given historically it's been us on the other side of those types of comparisons

[Willtelll]

I'm proper West Ham and show passion too mate but I'm not gonna play every week for West Ham. Fact is out of the four of Nolan, Diame, Diarra and Noble our boy comes up short. Sad, but true.

Not true at all. Noble played well on Saturday and should keep his place. BFS knows better than to pick teams based on theories about which player is better.

I reckon BFS will go same again unless he has knocks or injuries to think about.

[Matt of iron]

act is out of the four of Nolan, Diame, Diarra and Noble our boy comes up short. Sad, but true.

Not true at all. Noble played well on Saturday and should keep his place. BFS knows better than to pick teams based on theories about which player is better.

I reckon BFS will go same again unless he has knocks or injuries to think about.[/quote]
What's not true at all?

Noble is the weakest player out of those three.

[djoe]

Maiga showed a lot of promise, Cole is the better impact player and I don't think Swansea has a Vlaar

Swansea have one - Ashley Williams, Cole will have to do his magic again.

Would love to see Diame and Diarra on the pitch, a little bit of power

[bubbles1966]

Swansea failed to score 15 times in 38 games last year, and only scored 44 all season.

Five 0-0's before Christmas.

They seem to be feast or famine where goals are concerned.

Noticeable that solidly set up teams like Everton and Newcastle turned them over at Swansea late last season.

[daniel]

Gameplan should be tracking their runners and closing down Michu. Not an easy task though.

[UptonHammer]

Good feeling about this one, playing nice football, solid back line and playing with more confidence. 1-2 to us COYI

[sendô]

As others have said, pace and movement is what will kill us if we let Swansea play there game. We not only need to be tight at the back, we also need to be all over them in the middle, closing them down quickly, not allowing them the acres of space QPR gave them, and their runners from midfield need to be tracked. I wouldn't be surprised to see O'Neill come in for this one, we could use his energy and tracking back.

--------------------Jussi---------------------

Demel-----Collins------Reid-----Linda

--------------------Diame---------------------
----------Noble------------Nolan-----------
O'Neil--------------------------------Taylor

------------------Overchuffed---------------

subs - Henderson, Tomkins, Vaz Te, Maiga, Diarra, O'Brien, Maynard.

A solid unit in the middle with hard working players out wide that are going to track back and help the defence, with decent attacking options on the bench should we need to change things around.

I'll be happy with a draw from this, but we're capable of the win.

[Aceface]

Swansea had a pretty good home record last season - only lost 4 games and beat the likes of Man City and Arsenal. A draw would be a decent result

[Willtelll]

afraid we're gonna get mullered by swansea's pace and passing ability..hope for a draw against better judgment

It'll be interesting to see how it works out cc. I fancy that we will beat them after a solid defensive display and hitting them on the break a couple of times.

Mind you even our manager reckons I'm "deluded."

[Willtelll]

"PATISH - Taylor needs a rest....."

No way would I drop Taylor. We are going to be towering over this Swansea side and our best chance of a result will be from a set play

Defense is paramount away for BFS and Taylor will put in a shift protecting McCartney. Not sure a new player would do that so Taylor stays for me....

[Aztec Hammer]

Taylor needs a rest.....

Taylor needs a rest every game, seemingly right at the start of it! His legs are gone...

And yet, he is still one of our biggest threats, because if we get a corner or free kick, he sure can whip them in.

What we need is someone who can replicate his dead ball prowess but also actually be able to contribute in open play, providing width, stretching the field, beating a player and putting a cross in. Jarvis, Johnson or a hidden gem would do nicely.

Who knows, maybe Gold and Sulli will pull another Marseille rabbit out of the hat and engineer Remy to the club!