http://swanjackal.welshblogs.co.uk/ A bird's eye view of the Swans en Copyright 2006 Mon, 04 Sep 2006 11:01:09 +0000 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/ http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss I did not start this to be a moaner.....but it seems that with the way we are playing thats all I can do. Lets recap a week of shock transfer activity.....Tevez and Mascherano to Wham......Gallas and Cole swap places.......The Beast arrives and sulky Reyes gets his way. And finally a moody scouser (no not rooney) saunters off further down south to the land of the white stilletos. That is Mr McLeod.......the heavy drinking, volatile, troublemaker (wait a sec could be any scouser......or even essex lad) has finally been shown the door after three thousand warnings about his application and behaviour. To read this you would think I was glad to see the back of him, and in a way I am, but I also have my reservations. This could be a classic case of leaving the Swans and Wind Street and kicking on a career that promised so much and delivered so little so far. Any Swans fan will tell you he has amazing talent and on his day can be unplayable, but his days seem to be stuck between bottles, birds and street fighting. I hope for his sake he can get his head down and prove alot of people wrong, but I fear another player to the scrapheap of talent due to outside influences. Oh well he's gone and our small squad got smaller. But good news on transfer deadline day an amazing story unfolded........at west ham though. Bugger all in South Wales. Even the free spending arab down the road kept his cheque book ( or is that a bank loan request) away. Koumas kissed ass and stayed with the Baggies, and the only bizarre occurences were in the prem.....oh and Cotterill for £2m. So with a weaker squad we moved on from a good if not fortunate 3 points from the Orient, without Knight, to play a run of the mill Yeovil side. And again, a performance this season seems to be churning up. 60 minutes of nothing until we fall behind, a few changes then a panic stricken purge on the opposition to nick a point. In all fairness to Yeovil, they had the better chances up until they netted. Hardly a vintage performance by them, but compared to our attacking prowess was enough to clamber them into a lead. Cue the current setting of going a goal behind to spark a change to get the team playing properly, quick attacking football. The last 30 mins we started looking like the team we can be pressurising defence and constantly bombarding the wing backs with runs. The goal came, albeit a penalty (clear cut in my eyes...sorry Mr Slade), and a man who done nothing for the majority of the game took the plaudits for a good penalty......although if the keeper stood still would have saved it even if it probably would have broke his wrist. As you can tell not a vintage performance but at the moment we are used to such displays. Desperation going behind and playing proper football whilst being desperate. Hello Mr Jackett........long ball does not work. Our strikers need service to chest or feet, at least if to the head do it from the flanks with our wide men.. Another bone of contention...................What constitutes outstanding? My understanding would be something or someone that stands out inexplicably to the rest of the crowd surrounding them. Some Swans fans in my eyes (and this is a personal rant) do not seem to grasp this concept. What I mean is that of Pratley's performances. I will be first to say he has played okay and has been one of the more consistent performers this season....but as you can tell that is not that difficult. But outstanding.....far from it. He dwells on posession, loses the ball often, tires by 60 mins, does not bust a gut to get back (a role he is in the team to do), unable to pass the ball forward, and apart from his run to earn the penalty against Orient, his forward runs take him to the corner flags before....wait for it.....he loses the ball. Now if this constitutes outstanding then the dictionary definition needs to be altered. If people want to see an outstanding performance, get a tape of the Yeovil game and watch Tate. Now that defensive performance WAS outstanding. Won eerything in the air, on the ground, a goal line clearance and constantly ypping to marshal the defence and the midfield....which included our so called captain Pratley. Even though Pratley was named M of M (not surprising as it was Mr and Mrs Pratley sponsoring.......well it must have been or it was named to the player with the silliest name) anyone at the game would clearly tell you who was the main man. Oh well work calls and I have successfully wasted another 25 mins. Until next time Swanjackal http://swanjackal.welshblogs.co.uk/2006/09/lack_of_activityand_that_is_ju.html http://swanjackal.welshblogs.co.uk/2006/09/lack_of_activityand_that_is_ju.html Swansea City Mon, 04 Sep 2006 11:01:09 +0000 Well it's my first entry, let me introduce myself before I continue to bore. I am a late 20's Swans fan and have been a regular down the Vetch/Liberty for nearly 16 years. Been through the bad and the worse times, with a tiny smidging of decent times between. Anyway............Let us start with the season beginning. An extremely busy start to the pre season being linked to every decent player within the lower divisions, and ending up with ermmmmmm none of them. Oh wait Pratley had come in for 100k and seemed like a decent signing. That was as good as it got until the double capture of Amankwaah and Butler, with some media disasters by the chairman Comical Jenks (he would have been great as Saddam Husseins press correspondent). Johnson and Brown were "certainties" and Leacock had "signed", so it seems that a certain degree of reserve was kept for the "actual" signings made of Amankwaah, Butler and then "we are not in any talks with Wrexham" Lawrence. Despite missing first choice targets to the pulling power of the Championship, it is felt that all 4 players could add strength to the squad. Unfortunately, none of these add strength to the one position seriously needed.....left back. The loss of Ricketts didn't seem to be a huge problem for 300k as, to be honest, last season he looked very ordinary for an international. Oh how wrong could one be when saying "decent money for him, he won't be missed". Even though he was not the most consistent of lb's he did offer something our cover in Austin and Williams do not, defensive stability. Williams is an exciting player to watch, in the fact he uses "jedi" passing (remember the scene in star wars with the millenium falcon where Luke dons the helmet to deflect the lazer shots, well i believe that is how Williams (and other players recently) decide on passes - eyes down and hope for the best or be guided by "the force"), and that he could pick a fight in a morgue.....major temper issues. Austin on the other hand has lost his pace and can be exposed by pacey wingers. So as you can tell a lb is definitely required for stability. On the whole footballing wise the new players seemed to have settled well, Pratley doing the job Martinez was doing, only not passing the ball forwards, or tracking back as a player of his position needs to do (but ask fans who played "outstanding" and they pick him....errrmmm they obviously see things in his game I don't). Amankwaah seems to be bedding in better after a poor start, although still feel more comfortable with Tate at right back (when he isn't suspended). Lawrence seems comfortable although worrying that he and Big Willy seem to be on different audible ranges and like to tangle themselves up like a swedish porno when deaing with high balls. Let's hope last night's injury isn't a serious one. Butler seems to blow hot and cold, pace skill and willing to run at his man (definitely a trait I like to see in a player) but like his playing nemesis, mcleod, drifts out of the game all too often and can look disinterested. Oakes, well we can only wait, although between him and Lawrence they could put all four of their legs together and Bayo's right peg would still be thicker. I will end this rant by commenting on the matches themselves. Some might say shocking, slow start to the season. I would say shocking, slow carry on from last season. The actual style of play being adopted by Jackett of direct play does not, and has not worked since he introduced it January time. We seem to play our best football when we chase the game and play our natural game, pasing and quick movement in at chest and feet and not the head (fans will know, the last 20 mins or so of a game). If this desperation technique of using the players natural game was adopted from the start, teams would be quaking, instead of lapping up the long ball. On a personal note, Jackett has done excellent for the club, driving us on to promotion to FAW cups, and the league trophy, but we have definitelty lost the "WAY" recently (return soon Darren....your a class act). I feel and I know I am not alone, that Jackett has taken us as far as he can and a change may be needed to push on that little further the players and the club know they can. I hope I am proved wrong and Jackett can kick us on, but since January there has been no plan B to follow up a defective plan A. Swanjackal http://swanjackal.welshblogs.co.uk/2006/08/any_surprises.html http://swanjackal.welshblogs.co.uk/2006/08/any_surprises.html Swansea City Wed, 23 Aug 2006 12:38:17 +0000