Luke Williams has made some bold statements in the light of the style of play Swansea offered against Gillingham in the League Cup on Tuesday night. And they seem a bit mystifying, especially as we haven’t really seen anything to encourage his side can play in a different way.
Luke Williams - "That's something I'm desperate to bring to Swansea. When we think about Wayne and Nathan playing in a really top Swansea side, they were so exciting to watch. I loved those players. They're the ones that captivate people and make you really enjoy the experience. They need a team around them but Ronald gave me that feeling of really exciting wide play and the goal was brilliant. I enjoyed his performance. All those lovely things that terrify fullbacks and excite fans and he’s done that and caused a huge problem for the opposition, then he scored a brilliant goal".
It has to be said, his options are Eom and Ronald at this time, both players in the same side are relatively untested in the Championship, let alone where Dyer and Routledge wowed the Premier League during that journey. The issue for us is that his desire to play in that old Swansea way isn’t reflective of any strategy or game plan that we have seen to date. Abdulai clearly doesn’t have the confidence to play in the position he played in on Tuesday, he lessened the threat time and time again by playing safe passes backwards and was very limited in his play. To inspire good wingers you also need a good midfield. Jay Fulton and Matt Grimes are not effective in attack if its pace Luke requires. They retain possession, look to play safe passes, and at a very limited tempo. The Swans had Michu in their golden days and Gylfi Sigurdsen pulling the strings, even a half hearted Gylfi isn’t available to Swansea City. So where does this current side fit the bill ?
Quite simply it doesn’t.
A statement such as the one above is just a hope, a mere wish for the current Swans head coach. We can expect a more exciting game on Saturday for sure. A bigger attendance and a Preston team, after a good result in the League Cup seemingly free of the stresses Ryan Lowe brought to the table. Mike Marsh, who was at the Swans as coach has now taken temporary charge of Preston North End. He seemed far removed from the decision making of Ryan Lowe despite being at the club at the same time, plus he is utilising different picks already. And on Patrick Bauer he said."It wasn’t a difficult decision with Patrick. I am not really sure why he hasn’t been involved previously. Obviously, you would have to ask Patrick and Ryan. But, we have been going with kids on the bench - Theo (Mawene), Noah (Mawene) and Josh Seary at times. We have got an experienced professional on the bench there, who can add a little bit when we need it. I spoke to Patrick and said I was more than happy to bring him back into the training group, and that he’d be involved in the match day squad going forward. Whether he gets minutes is now up to Patrick.”
So, already Marsh is making decisions that he believes will enhance his squad on Saturday.
The Lilywhites have 986 tickets to shift, with plenty available at this time, but the new change of head coach will enhance their away support. The Swans are offering safe standing areas and seated tickets to away fans this season. Peter Murphy and Ched Evans are working alongside Marsh. The new temporary boss continued. "I spoke to the players and said we need to be more flexible. I thought we were brilliant, going from a 3-5-2 into a 4-2-3-1 in a heartbeat really (against Sunderland). I thought we were better in a four and it’s obviously something to consider. I don’t want to go too early and give the cards away for what we’ll go with against Swansea, but I think everyone could see it was an improvement from where we’ve been.”
There has been a new face in at Deepdale too, twenty five year old Jeppe Okkels has signed from FC Utrecht and will offer North End a natural option on the wing. You do get the feeling, even though this is the Swans first home fixture of the season that Luke Williams has a lot to prove already. We cannot expect the style of play that bored so many on Tuesday. If it’s pace and excitement he wants then stop telling the players to bore people to death with a lack of creativity and no desire to take ahold of a game of football. And if anyone thinks the issue is with the players, we can’t believe that, however, they need to buck up as well. They have a duty to do so.
One stat that is travelling to Swansea with PNE is that they haven’t scored a goal in their six previous league games. Yes, we know what you are thinking.
No repeat of Tuesday please Luke.