Phil SumblerWhen the Swans systematically pulled apart Cardiff City at the Swansea.com stadium just under six months ago there were very few watching the game who would have seen anything than a formality as far as the league double goes.
The two sides seemed miles apart on the pitch at least during that time with Russell Martin’s side showing very early promise and delivery on the style he was trying to bring to SA1 whilst Cardiff were sinking faster than a stone under Mick McCarthy.ย At that point in time it would have been difficult to see anything other than a second Swansea win at the start of April and history was most definitely beckoning in the South Wales derby.
Fast forward six months and Cardiff have recovered well since the departure of McCarthy and the appointment of Steve Morison whilst the Swans ‘revolution’ has not developed at the speed we would like and the two sides go into tomorrow’s game just two points apart in the league table and the game really open to go either way.
And whilst Sky have opted not to show the game tomorrow it does mean we are potentially facing one of the most open games to call in recent memory although the magnitude of the potential first double will hold thought in both camps as they complete their final build up towards the game today.
For Cardiff this will be a game that they do not dare lose.ย ย Not a single player in their camp will want to be part of the first side to be on the losing side twice in the league in the same season whilst the Swans will be tentative as they consider the chance to be the players who created that slice of history in a fixture that has more than 110 years behind it.
This is a reason why so often the second game of the campaign can end in a draw and often the tentative nature of wanting to be the first is outdone by the desire to not be the first from the side who lost the first fixture of the campaign.
All this points to an interesting encounter as was put out there by Paul Lambert, the former Norwich manager who was in charge at Carrow Road when Morison and Martin were team mates back in their playing days.
“Russell will go and play the same way,” reckons Lambert, talking to the BBC. “Moro will probably be saying ‘get on the front foot against them, don’t give them any time’.
“It’s an interesting game. Put it this way, I think this game will be harder for Russell than it would have been a couple of months ago.”
Whilst they may have been teammates the contrast in styles between the two managers is clear for all to see.ย ย Martin prefers a possession based game, playing the ball out from the back and being patient with it whilst Morison seems to adopt the more ‘robust’ style that Cardiff fans have become used to.ย ย As Lambert called it during his comments to the BBC – a ‘we have to win games’ style.
“Football-wise I get it, how he is trying to play,” Lambert added. “It looks really pretty on the eye. But Russell will tell you himself that you enjoy it more when you are winning.
“Moro will probably play a different way. He will think ‘yeah, we have to win’.
“His team will be hard to beat, whereas Russell’s team will have more of the ball. It’s about converting that into goals.”
Much has changed in the six months since these sides last met and that makes tomorrow very difficult to predict.ย ย Both manager will feel that if they play their best then the points are theirs for the taking but, as we know and have experienced many times in the past, in these fixtures form can go out of the window and on the day it is the team that wants it more who comes through triumphant.
Time will tell.
