Swansea City are being viewed on a number of accounts and websites as an easy touch for Saturdays big kick off away to Middlesbrough. (12.30pm)
The clubs fans and certain websites are considering this game a ‘fairly easy’ three pointer. Boro.news joined in yesterday.
Now of course confidence in your team is paramount, but over confidence does come with some big stumbling blocks. Yes, the Boro have retained who they wanted for the new season and brought in three decent signings, Aidan Morris, Delano Burgzorg and Luke Ayling is shrewd business, the latter on a free. However, it has been a long time since we have read such confidence in a side getting a win, especially when opening day games do throw up some revealing results.
Swans head coach, Luke Williams believes he has his squad ready to do battle on Saturday. "We have expectations as a group. The players expect me to prepare them to go toe to toe, and I expect them to not be afraid of anyone. We have a mutual respect between staff and players and that is how we are approaching the season” Good news for the many Swans fans who again have to make a long journey north to watch this game.
His full pre match interview is here.
The Ruben Providence situation will take a bit more time to resolve, initially as many did we thought he was a free agent, the fact he is still tied to his club for two more years requires negotiation. All we have been told is that he has really impressed this week and Luke has discussed the situation with Sporting Director, Paul Watson who heads up the contact for signings to progress. It’s our belief from what we know that Providence is now more than likely to become a Swans player in the near future. Maybe they will announce him on the coach travelling up north ! It’s now down to Paul Watson and Chairman Andrew Coleman to decide. We believe his fee will be negligible, even to the extent the Swans just take over his contract with a few adjustments.
Seriously though it seems very much the case that Swansea City are being underestimated for Saturdays game. It won’t be the first time. It really only leaves us to quote Boro.news one more time in this report, and it may make you a tad angry. "On paper, Middlesbrough should be able to pick up a win over Williams men with relative ease. However, Boro fans will be well aware that their team have struggled against weaker opposition in the past”
So, the terms ‘relative ease’ and ‘weaker opposition’ should be pinned to any wall Luke can find before this upcoming game. It’s a bit cheeky, so come Saturday it is looking like Middlesbrough have a lot to prove, and if they don’t there will be some serious ‘smoggy’ type grief come Saturday evening. That’s the term for people from Middlesbrough. It is used for supporters of Middlesbrough F.C. - coined by their Sunderland A.F.C. counterparts. The name was meant to refer to the heavy air pollution once produced by the local petrochemical plants. Take a deep breath those of you when you get to the Boro’s ground, you may even find a more descriptive term for their pre match confidence.
Port Talbot anyone ? Because that’s what it smells like …