The Swans take on the Potters tomorrow afternoon (3pm Swansea.Com) with both managers looking to win the game. In Stoke City’s case they come to Swansea off the back of a 6-1 home win against Portsmouth. In the Swans case they have given a lot more hope to their followers with a very decent performance on Tuesday night, despite the 1-0 loss.
Many are thinking this game will end in a draw, but up until this fixture both have shown elements of indifference to games, with much to work on.
We looked at the Swans away performances yesterday.
⚽️ Swans away !
Lawrence Vigouroux has become a real fans favourite, his performances in goal have been remarkable, the clear difference between losing and drawing or even winning a game. Martyn Margetson is the goalkeeper coach. With coach, Alan Sheehan he is also involved in set piece coaching. Some wag said the other day on that informative and gold standard social media outlet Twitter (X) ‘Why would a goalkeeping coach be involved in set pieces ‘ At times it really is a struggle.
As much as Vigouroux is on top form, there are big gaps in forward positions. However, surely we will see Florian Bianchini in place of Ronald tomorrow, and surely an opening from the bench for one of our talented players from the age grade side ? They are being ignored currently as is Zan Vipotnik, he really does need full game time. Liam Cullen is back fit and intends to join up with the Wales International side on Sunday evening with Joe Allen, Ben Cabango and Ollie Cooper. Every game it seems, no matter the opposition is a fifty/fifty shout.
We looked forward to these fixtures after the last international break. Some projected six points from fifteen (five games) Its been a lot better than that, performance wise and results wise. Currently after four fixtures we have seen the Swans win 2, draw 1 and lose 1. That’s seven points from twelve. That leaves this game tomorrow where if the Swans win it’s ten points from fifteen. That has to be the target and displays a slowly developing Swansea City side. That progress is down to Head Coach, Luke Williams and his coaching team. Despite the excellent signings of Eom, Franco, Ronald, and potentially Bianchini the tools given to Luke are lacking in depth. Then there is the contract situations in the U21 side and first team squad. There’s a whole load of agreements to be made, and news of a takeover and/or big investment haven’t materialised within the timeframes some seemed to suggest.
Comment on that is here, not even Chairman, Andrew Coleman would budge.
⚽️ I don’t know
Projected turmoil in both clubs ranks this weekend is highlighted by ex Stoke manager Steven Schumacher. "I don’t understand and I still haven’t had a full explanation on why I lost my job. Jon Walters said he’d sit and explain stuff to me in a couple of weeks when things have died down, but as of this moment we still haven’t had that chat. In leaving Plymouth I knew I was going into a different type of environment and I understood the risks in going to Stoke City," added Schumacher. They're a team who over the last seven or eight years have gone through a lot of change but I felt if we believed in what we did we could be the ones to turns things around."
The Swans with the constant speculation of the club behind the scenes and Luke Williams rumoured to be unhappy at this moment in time just cannot seem to remain on an even keel. What matters though to every Swans fan is the result come 5pm on Saturday evening. A win would certainly assist the Swans to climb the table, they are currently in twelfth but only four points behind a real challenge on the top six.
The Potters are only two points behind the Swans and will want to leapfrog their hosts with a win.
This is new Stoke City coach, Narcís Pelach, first main role in football. He has worked as an assistant at Huddersfield and Norwich, but this is the first time the decisions on the pitch fall on his head. Speaking after his sides 6-1 win over Pompey he said. "There is training to do, there is a game to review in order to be ready for Saturday, which is going to be an important game at Swansea. We have to be ready for it. It’s going to very tough, away from home in the Championship. We need to put the work in and make sure we are ready for that – then in the international break maybe we will have some days off. That will be a moment to settle, now is the moment to keep going.” He has only overseen three games. His first a home defeat (1-3) to Hull City, his second an away defeat at Middlesbrough (2-0) and then came the demolition against a Portsmouth side who haven’t won at all this season. Pelach is walking into unknown territory at Swansea, a team which wants to dominate games, but still cannot carry it off for the majority of a match. Even the stats from Tuesday showed Swansea dominance and two good chances to score. That’s where the deficiency is, hence if totally fit we expect Liam Cullen to feature.
Luke Williams had no visual platform pre match against Sheffield United after his quick interview on Sky after last Sundays 1-1 draw with Bristol City. We can only hope this doesn’t become a feature. Swans fans deserve to kept updated, even in heavily edited club press conferences.