Swansea City players return to Fairwood this morning with much to digest after their weekend performance against Southampton. Despite earning a point, on any other given day they would have lost that fixture. It was more about Southampton and their poor finishing than a solid defensive performance.
What was noticeable was the physique and awareness of on loan West Ham defender Kaelan Casey, he looks composed and had two headers on goal in the twelve minutes he had on the pitch against the Saints. Anyone who has watched this player during his three League Cup appearances and his Championship debut at Middlesbrough wouldn’t have seen too much wrong in his performance. Without doubt the dependable Ben Cabango is keeping him out of a centre back role but there is an argument for game time alongside the Wales international. We have seen Cameron Burgess at his best in the League Cup but he has been prone to giving the ball away when it is at his feet and he does look uncomfortable at times on the ball.
Casey can play either side of a centre back pairing.
West Ham will be happy with his progress at the Swans for now, he is twenty and loaning a player to a club isn’t always about appearances. There’s many other areas he will be experiencing. He is a part of the first team squad so therefore he is training alongside those players preferred by head coach, Alan Sheehan. He is learning new strategies from a different coaching team, seeing how his peers react in training, and on a match day he experiences plenty of involvement in first team organisation and how that all comes together. There are many other challenges to face for this young man not least living away from home and family. Routine in a first team squad is key, plus timekeeping, training daily and displaying maximum effort which his coaches at West Ham will be particularly interested in.
Premier League clubs always monitor their assets who are away on loan. We did a searching profile on Ethan Laird when he came to the Swans from Manchester United. We covered much of what many fans don’t see when a player is loaned out by a big Premier League side. West Ham are no different.
⚽️ Ethan Laird How it all works
Having such a huge resource of well researched reports is always helpful when comparing and contrasting our latest news. It adds context and clears up much. We look now at Ishé Samuels-Smith, a player yet to see Championship minutes and only has one EFL cup appearance under his belt. This is an area of concern, he is again a Premier League player who hasn’t been utilised in the league by Alan Sheehan. That is not only a concern for us as he was purchased back from the Blues ‘parent’ club RC Strasbourg Alsace by Chelsea literally thirty four days after signing. He now finds himself stationary in the Championship.
That after a while will become an issue for Chelsea, as we stated not so much for West Ham but both clubs will want to see progress under Alan Sheehan. In Samuels-Smith case the nineteen year old is experiencing everything Casey does, but he came to the Swans to play games. Without clear knowledge on both of these players terms and availability for recall it’s difficult to gauge. But the Swans wouldn't want a situation as they experienced last January with Nelson Abbey who instigated his own return to Olympiacos after very limited opportunities in west Wales. In Abbey’s case it went pretty much under the radar, if Samuels-Smith suffered the same fate it wouldn’t.
This is a highly regarded left back who is seen as the real deal by Calum McFarlane especially in the current U21 set up. McFarlane is the man to look to here, the former Southampton coach has been at Chelsea for just under four months. Ex Swansea recruitment man, Josh Marsh and indeed Ed Brand will be monitoring Samuels-Smith progress as loan managers, Chelsea have four. With exacting training analysis on the player required weekly and him being spoken to about how he is emotionally and settling in west Wales and we have to add, not playing, the focus is microscopic.
And yes, we realise Josh Tymon has the spot at the moment.
The same can be said of Manuel Benson albeit he is a player making his way back into the game after some serious setbacks. On him we do know Burnley are looking to offload him this season or in the summer so it’s not such a testing issue. The real problem alongside Samuels-Smith is Malick Yalcouyé. Again a young player really treasured by his club Brighton. He is twenty in November and his season so far has seen him make eight appearances, but he hasn’t been on the pitch for an entire game. His two League Cup appearances reflect the same statistic. Many Swans fans see how much he can offer the club but consistency is key for all of these young players. On Saturday he came on and was quoted as ‘busy and industrious’ in our match report, he offered commitment and did worry the Saints defence. This is a real talent that even if it means a change in midfield tactics and formation the Swans need on the pitch.
With all these players at his disposal Alan Sheehan can’t play them all. But the reality is the Swans are stuttering and are at best average this season. Sheehan isn’t playing as progressively and sharply as he did last season. It’s almost as if he believes he has time to find his best eleven, the issue for us here at the Indy is ‘how much time do you need’ ? That’s a question that needs asking. The performances have been generally flat, and in two games time we can most certainly say a quarter of the season has passed.
There are two games coming up this week, make no mistake about it they need to not only be won but won well with some style. Many Swans followers are citing the frustration and boredom they experience when watching this Swansea team this campaign. That’s a part reason as to why attendances aren’t as decent as they could be, cards on the table it’s fact. Off the pitch the board and majority owners are nailing it with not only new investment opportunities but bringing in players sourced as an exact fit for Swansea City. To that end Sheehan and his coaching team have a huge responsibility on their heads to make this work, not so so but at every turn. It hasn’t been reflected in performances and the style of play is pretty boring at times with none of the flair we saw at the end of the season.
There is a caution about Swansea City this season, but I’m guessing there won’t be too much of that ingredient off the pitch if this continues over the coming fixtures before the next international break.