Swansea finished strongly under caretaker manager Alan Sheehan, and after years of ropey recruitment looked to have done better this summer with captures like Adam Idah and Ethan Galbraith, but it’s all a bit meh so far according to Phil from JackArmy.net (@SwansNews) and Steven Carroll (@StevenSOS1987) from the SOS fanzine.

How was last season? I thought Luke Williams was a good fit but that didn’t work out…

PS Dull boring and uninspired. Williams talked a good game but he never really seemed to have a plan. The football was never the style of football to please a crowd or to win many games sadly. He had to go when he did. We finished well to get into the top half but it was a largely forgettable campaign. So much so I have forgotten about it already and I am told if I never speak about it, I should be over it really soon. So, can we not talk about it?

SC: Last season was a strange one. Everything was going reasonably well up until early in the new year. Then our form nosedived along with performances and Williams found himself out of a job. Results did improve after that and we ended up in the top half, which is why Alan Sheehan now has the job.

Thoughts on Alan Sheehan’s appointment and how it’s gone so far?

PS:Based on the results at the end of the season Alan Sheehan had to get the job. I hate to say it though, but in many ways it’s more of the same. In his caretaker tenure the football looked better and we got results but we are very much still an average side, not really threatening to do anything of note.

SC: Sheehan made a strong case for the job. I wasn’t convinced it would translate into the correct long-term appointment and those doubts as now coming to fruition. We’re comfortably in midtable which last season would’ve been fine but after spending a lot this summer it’s fair to expect more. Going forward we’re one of the worst teams in the division and we’ve not been great defensively recently either. Pressure is coming if we don’t improve.

Swans in the league so far…
Boro 1-0 Swansea Fry 51
Swansea 1-0 Sheff Utd Ronald 66
Swansea 1-1 Watford Vipotnik 82 – Irankunda 35
Sheff Wed 0-2 Swansea Vipotnik 50, Ronald 81
Swansea 2-2 Hull Vipotnik 40, Ronald 57 – McBurnie 45, Egan 90
Birmingham 1-0 Swansea Dykes 90
Swansea 1-1 Millwall Vipotnik 12 – Coburn 45
Blackburn 1-2 Swansea Cantwell 28 – Franco 44, Cullen 67
Swansea 1-3 Leicester Idah pen 70 – James 13, Fatawu 77, Vestergaard 85
Southampton 0-0 Swansea

How has this season started?

PS: Win one lose one draw one. That seems to be our mantra. The three we’ve one have all been against sides currently in the bottom three (Sheff Utd, Sheff Wed, Blackburn), that’s probably the most telling story.

SC: Three wins, four draws, three losses. So as midtable as it gets. We’ve conceded a few late goals which have cost us a few points. We should be doing better in my opinion. It wouldn’t be so bad if performances were good but they are worse than the results suggest.

Swansea’s recruitment has been pretty erratic last few years, how was this summer’s transfer window?

PS: On paper much better although with one or two exceptions nobody has really backed that up with performances. The recruitment team were lauded in the window but the football hasn’t really changed. Whether that’s the manager’s fault or the players’ will only be told over time.

SC: The summer window was hugely different. Our net spend is second only to Wrexham and we now have depth in just about every position. It’s been refreshing after years of finishing windows worse than when we started them.

Ins >>> Adam Idah, 24, CF, Celtic, £6m >>> Zeidane Inoussa, 23, LW, Hacken (Sweden), £5m >>> Ethan Glabraith, 24, CM, Orient, £1.5m >>> Bobby Wales, 20, CF, Kilmarnock, £300k >>> Cameron Burgess, 29, CB, Ipswich, Free >>> Ricardo Santos, 30, CB, Bolton, Free >>> Paul Freeman, 35, GK, Barrow, Free >>> Marko Stamenic, 23, CM, Forest, Undisclosed >>> Malick Yalcouye, 19, CM, Brighton, Loan >>> Manuel Benson, 28, RW, Burnley, Loan >>> Kaelan Casey, 20, CB, West Ham, Loan >>> Ishe Samuels-Smith, 19, LB, Chelsea, Loan

Outs >>> Jerry Yates, 28, CF, Luton, £1m >>> Mykola Kukharevych, 24, CF, Slovan Bratislava, £700k >>> Harry Darling, 25, CB, Norwich, Free >>> Nathan Tjoe-A-On, 23, LB, Willem II, Free >>> Nathan Broome, 23, GK, Bolton, Free >>> Jerry Yates, 28, CF, Luton, Undisclosed >>> Florian Bianchini, 24, RW, Portsmouth, Loan >>> Ben Lloyd, 20, AM, Newport, Loan >>> Kristian Pedersen, 30, LB, Released >>> Joe Allen, 35, CM, Retired >>> Cyrus Christie, 32, RB, Bolton, Free >>> Jon McLaughlin, 37, GK, Boro, Free >>> Kyle Naughton, 36, RB, Released >>> Oliver Cooper, 25, AM, Wigan, Loan >>> Cameron Congreave, 21, LM, Dundee, Loan >>> Filip Lissah, 20, CB, Falkirk, Loan >>> Josh Ginnelly, 28, LW, Released

Stand out players and weak links?

PS: Ethan Galbraith gets much praise from many quarters and Zan Vipotnik has had a good start but everyone else shows some flashes of brilliance but in a sea of - well, it’s that average word again. Weakness wise we look weak at right back still but have very few options there.

SC: Ethan Galbraith and Zan Vipotnik have been two of our best players so far this term. The weak link is Josh Key, his confidence is shot and he needs taking out of the firing line for a spell.

Expectations for the season?

PS: Midtable. Because we are a midtable squad playing midtable football and getting midtable results.

SC: Expectations would be to push for play offs and get the most out of what’s now a decent squad. But, unless the manager changes, I think we’ll be bottom half.

Links >>> Official Website >>> Planet Swans — Blog and Forum >>> Swansea Independent - Forum >>> Wales Online — Local Paper >>> The Jack Army — Forum >>> SOS - Fanzine

Pictures - Reuters Connect

TacticalR added 19:15 - Oct 22 Thanks to Phil and Steven. Average doesn't sound so bad to us as we have been a bottom half team for years.
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