Equal Importance Placed On Watford Clashes

Swansea City entertain Watford at the Liberty Stadium tomorrow in a Championship clash and again on Tuesday in a Carling Cup tie with the prize for the victors being a place in the quarter finals of the competition.

Most fans will tell you that they place more importance on the League game than the cup one but if Roberto believed that then he was not for saying it as he put the finishing touches to his squads preparation for the first of the games tomorrow.

The Swans are likely to drop out of the Championship top half this afternoon but a win tomorrow to maintain their unbeaten Liberty record and they will be back chasing hard on the heels of the play off positions.

“Tomorrow’s game is the most important to me at the moment because it’s the first game,” Roberto told the Evening Post.

“But we want to win every game at this club, we are expected to win every game, and once Sunday is out of the way, Tuesday night will be the most important.

“Our preparation for the league game has been the same as usual, while the preparation for the cup will be affected by what happens tomorrow.

“We have to worry about the first step now, which means trying to get three points, and then we’ll think about the second, which is a fantastic tie in round four of the Carling Cup.

“Playing the same team twice in three days is a unique situation in my career

“It’s a new experience for us but if we go into it together, with the fans behind us, we will deal with it.”

And Roberto also has to deal with the fact that a new manager will sit in the opposition dug out tomorrow – Mallky MacKay took over from the departed Aidy Boothroyd at Vicarage Road earlier this week

“When you have a manager who has been at a club a while, you know his philosophy and it can be a little predictable,” he added.

“But when a manager goes you need to cover far more departments in your preparation because you can’t be sure how a team is going to play.

“Their players have shock in their system, and that means these two games are going to be tougher tests for us.”