After a satisfactory opening away day at Preston last weekend we see Swansea City making their season home debut at the liberty this weekend taking on Birmingham City. Recent encounters have very much gone in favour of the swans with 3 goals scored in both games by the swans last season. Last week swans manager Steve Cooper was more than happy with his sides performance.

“I thought all the attacking players did well. Andre and Jamal ran so hard and put their backline under a lot of pressure. They did not let them play with any real composure or quality," Cooper said after the game. "I liked us, I thought we were threatening. Maybe not so much after we scored, but that’s understandable. If you think about it, we are only three weeks in from the start of pre-season. We are not going to be 100 per cent up to speed, so the fact we have picked up a win here in the condition we are in at the moment is a big plus.”

So with Cooper happy what can we expect from him tactically this weekend ?

The manager has stuck with certain tactics both home and away so his trusted 3-5-2 could well be his initial starting point. At the back it seems it will always be Freddie Woodman this season, a player who still needs to earn the trust of numerous swans watchers. Joe Rodon, Ben Cabango and Mark Guehi will all start if fit and any exclusions there will worry swans supporters as the transfer window is still open. His wing backs will almost certainly be Connor Roberts and Jake Bidwell, however he has to impress upon both the need to recover a lot quicker from their advanced positions when attacking. Bidwell has been a revelation in recent times but Roberts most certainly needs to work on his recovering pace. Coopers midfield has been more fluid but he will likely stick with Smith, Grimes and Gibbs-White supporting Lowe and Ayew up front.

Its a satisfactory starting eleven that needs strengthening and not just by the likes of Jay Fulton, Wayne Routledge and Yan Dhanda coming off the bench, more needs to be done. Speculation continues but nothing concrete is being reported, and in this window the squad needs strengthening across the positions. Lets just hope we don't need to lose our more touted 'best' players to make way for new arrivals.

News out of Birmingham

Hogans Heroes

Scott Hogan has returned to the St. Andrew's Trillion Trophy Stadium following a successful loan spell last season. Hogan will wear squad number nine and he joins George Friend, Jon Toral, Jonathan Leko, Andres Prieto, Adam Clayton, Ivan Sanchez and Neil Etheridge all joining the midlands side. Birmingham City are strengthening their squad in numbers and the introduction of Adam Clayton along with Hogan will introduce threat and steel to the middle of the park and up front. Hogan scored 21 goals in 36 games for Brentford before getting a deserved nine million pounds move to Aston Villa, it seems that Birmingham City have made an astute permanent signing.

That's what football is all about. Nice one Joe.

In Karanka Birmingham City have a demanding and respected manager, for us here at the independent this could be one of the toughest games of the season at home, both clubs expecting success, something has to give. The game kicks off at the liberty stadium, Swansea at 3pm on Saturday follow the matchday thread in the forums and give us your feedback and thoughts post match.

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Match Preview by lead editor Keith Haynes

Photo: Action Images

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