The Swans take on Wycombe Wanderers at the Swansea.Com on Wednesday evening with a number of players looking to make their mark on this seasons squad. Plus we take a look at the stats from previous games, and leading up to this one. That all comes from Gwyn Davies at (@GwynStato) our very own stats man on the Indy.
Both Florian Bianchini and Nelson Abbey have had pre seasons and have also had some brief time to settle into their daily work routines. The likelihood has to be that both will start with Zan Vipotnik up front for Wednesday nights League Cup round two home game against the Chairboys (7:45pm) The Swans have other options, Kristian Pedersen will be looking to start along with Nathan Tjoe-A-On, if they are not seen then we can expect news on them leaving the Swans before deadline day. The window closes at 11pm this Friday.
And the Swans still have business to do.
With money already spent on Eom, Vipotnik, Bianchini, Franco, loaning Nelson Abbey and of course bringing in Vigouroux from Burnley on a permanent the Swans seem to have met with the top line of their summer budget. Yes, these payments and the way they are staged and managed aren’t always made in full but we see that close to the five million pounds we expected to see the club pay out this window. A goalkeeper is certain as back up with DC United offering Tyler Miller to the Swans, the links there obvious.
Will there be more players to come on top of that ? We think so, but for big money (by the Swans current standards) we just can’t see it. Ruben Providence hasn’t been selected for his club, TSV Hartberg in the league this season, they are three games in. It’s likely he won’t be and he is awaiting for the closure of the window to see what he has on the table. Ruben hasn’t played for TSV since the 26th July when he bagged two goals against regional side, SK Bischofshofen in a friendly. Since then he has been on a journey of training with specific clubs of interest in August. The Swans being one of those sides. What stage that is at is anyone’s guess now, the Swans have their compliment of foreign signings, but again how they have signed, and under what regulations isn’t known. That’s five in since January with Ronald and Franco coming from Portugal, Eom from South Korea, Florian from France along with Zan there has to be a ceiling on transfers from outside of the UK. The final word for now on Adama Sidibeh, the in form St Johnstone striker is that he will be out now for around a month we understand. He received two red cards on the weekend against Dundee United with his boss Craig Leviein calling him ‘silly’.
Well, yes, possibly rather silly as well ?
Gwyn is back with his official match stats for Wednesday nights game. Here’s a look at some of them for now.
Referee Ben Toner has never officiated at the Swansea.Com, so a new experience for him for sure. Gwyn also tells us that Christopher Husband and Abbas Khan who are on flag duty haven’t been to the stadium either for officiating duties. Fourth official, and someone with far more experience is Lee Swabey, he has been an assistant eleven times & fourth Official thirteen times at the Stadium. The Swans haven’t always had it their way in this fixture either.
PLAYED: 9 WON: 4 DRAWN: 3 LOST: 2 FOR: 18. AGAINST: 14
For those who can go back to the 1st March 1994, the Swans won 3-1 in the Autoglass Semi Final first leg at the Vetch Field. A 1-0 loss at Wycombe, despite the whole town being covered in black and white ensured a safe pathway to the final. The celebrations were huge, it was a big thing back then. Thousands of Swans fans in Wycombe and at home made plans for a final which our club also won against Huddersfield Town.
At the Liberty and now Swansea.Com there have been three games with the Swans winning one, drawing one and losing one. That’s a League Cup game in August 2006 which went to extra time, Wycombe winning 2-3. In October 2007 the Swans defeated the Chairboys 2-0 in the then called Johnstone Paints Trophy. Finally a 2-2 draw was played out at the stadium in April 2021 in the league.
More on the fixture to come later.