Swansea City take on Queens Park Rangers later today (7:45pm) with a near fully fit squad. One player is definitely out, that’s Ricardo Santos, and Manuel Benson will face tests today but his inclusion is unlikely. We understand that any other exclusions will be as a result of head coach, Alan Sheehan believing certain players can’t manage three games in eight days.
He is quoted in our morning report on this subject.
⚽️ That’s here —> Match day morning report
Having said all that this is the first of three games in the same timeframe if you include Manchester City in the League Cup next Wednesday which is sold out. It’s great news that the game has sold out and it certainly swells the clubs coffers with unplanned income. Having said that the ticket take up for the game this evening is nothing short of concerning. There thousands of tickets available especially in the south stand. As has been pointed out on our forum an adult can bring two under fourteen kids along for £23 all in tonight if they purchase seats in the south stand. This can be done at the stadium right up to kick off. Unfortunately this hasn’t been that well advertised, in fact it was only when it was posted on our forum that we knew. The Swans website hasn’t pushed that this week. In fact it’s hard to find a time when they did. There must be something ? But people don’t generally go looking for information that they don’t know about, they react to positive advertising. They don’t go surfing on the internet for match tickets in the hope that something might be available. Swansea City as a club when looking at the ticket availability for tonight have to be concerned, it really isn’t good.
More needs to be done.
Something will give this evening as Alan Sheehan continues to seek out his best performing eleven. In the case of the R’s they have several injury concerns. Head coach, Julien Stephan has had to crack on without Jason Clarke-Salter, Kwame Poku and Ilias Chair. Poku has featured just once for QPR and that was at home in the first game of the season. He has been out ever since. He was much sought after in the summer so that’s a huge blow for the R’s. Chair has always been a pain in the rear when the Swans have come up against him, but by all accounts he is out tonight as well. We say that as both Chair and Poku were mentioned as returning for last weekends London derby, and neither featured, not even a place on the bench.
More mind games ?
Richard Kone went for Loftus Road instead of what was described as a close run thing for him over the summer. Those who read our pages throughout the summer will know the real story. He left Wycombe for around three million pounds and has enjoyed a decent start in the hoops of QPR. Four goals in nine is a good return. His first goal for the club came at Coventry City back in August, most R’s fans will want to quickly forget that result as their side lost 7-1. Since then though despite a number of injuries Julien Stephan has guided QPR to a more respectable standard. QPR have been using Amadou Mbengue and Liam Morrison as the two centre-backs so far this season, with Rhys Norrington-Davies and Jimmy Dunne in the full-back positions.
Speaking on his defensive structure Stephan believes,”We want to be a team with a good defensive structure, a team it's difficult to create something against. For me, it's very important because without discipline and without structure, it's impossible. So, this is the first idea. The second idea is that players are able to fight for each other each time and represent well the values of the club. The third one is be a team able to create danger and share emotion with the fans. Against Charlton, for me, it was perfect. When you win the last ten minutes like this with all the fans, with the atmosphere, for me, it's perfect”
For us QPR danger man, Karamoko Dembélé is someone to look out for. He scored when the teams last met at Loftus Road in April, the Swans winning 2-1. (above) Harry Darling scored the crucial second goal from a Liam Cullen assist. That was quite a statement last Easter in west London as it was the Swans fifth win on the bounce. Same scoreline tonight please. We will carry the teams and any additional news later this evening.