Planet Swans ArchivesTwo Swans wins and two 0-0 draws have been the four results between the two sides so far over the past two seasons and it seems as if our former manager is already trying to get excuses in as he blames the Premier League for scheduling a fixture for a weekend after they have played on both the Monday and the Thursday. Co-incidentally (of course) they lost both those fixtures which wouldn’t have anything to do with the rant would it?
Brendan seems to have forgotten that had they not managed to get knocked out of the FA Cup last round they would have been playing city rivals Everton this weekend in the 5th round so it is hardly as if the nasty people at the FA have stepped up and just created a new weekend on a naturaly break for Premier League teams.
“I was very disappointed with the Premier League, to be honest, to put [the Swansea game] in on a week when we have played on a Monday and played on a Thursday in an away trip to Russia, and put it in between that and another important European game on Thursday,” he told the Independent as he surveyed the mess of two 2-0 defeats on the bounce that have significantly reduced the chances of him needing to worry about European football next season.
There is little doubt that the Swans travel to Liverpool tomorrow as underdogs despite the fact that they currently sit above their opponents in the league table and therefore it seems a little strange that he is worrying so much about a fixture that he knows his side should win or is that merely a reflection of a woeful record against sides in the Top 10 so far this season (7 from 42 points I believe is the stat)
The price of any form of success is extra matches – I am sure Michael Laudrup is well aware of that considering our favourites tag for the League Cup final next weekend – and with extra matches comes weeks where you will play three times in a seven day period.
I wonder if Brendan and Colin will cast a slight glance at the tanned faces on the Swans bench tomorrow wondering what it would have been like to soak up the sun in Dubai for 5 days prior to the game but they would also do well to remember that we played weekend, midweek, weekend throughout most of January and managed and we have a susbstantially smaller squad and smaller resources available to us.
I am really not a fan when managers appear to get excuses in early but for tomorrow for me it is the Swans that cannot lose purely on the basis that most don’t expect us to win.
Never mind, I’m sure it will all be t’riffic.
