Rob Davies
Swansea City travel to the seaside to face Blackpool bidding for a first win of the season against Michael Appleton’s men.
The Swans looked on course to seal their first win against Oxford on Tuesday night but eventually let the 2-0 lead slip and lost on penalties.
It followed up two rather disappointing results in the league before that but as it’s matchday, the focus has to be on moving up rather than the negatives that have come before.
After all the changes on Tuesday it’s expected Martin will feature a more normal line-up.
Team News
Ben Cabango and Joe Allen are pushing for starts in defence and midfield although Martin is likely to give them both another chance off the bench as they continue to build up their fitness levels.
Up front Olivier Ntcham has been subject to speculation of a move away this week and he is likely to be on the bench with Jamie Paterson returning on the left.
Cameron Congreve and Oli Cooper are both pushing to start after impressive performances at Oxford but will the Swans boss take the chance on them in a League game?
For Blackpool, former Cardiff striker Gary Madine limped off in the loss to Stoke last weekend and is likely to make the bench today after missing the midweek penalty shoot out loss to Barrow.
The Seasiders otherwise have a fully fit squad to choose from and do have many exciting attacking players in their ranks.
None other than Josh Bowler and Charlie Patino – the latter being a young Arsenal starlet who the Gunners have very high hopes for after some exciting displays in the cups.
Rhys Williams is also likely to feature for his new loan club against his old one last season. Expect him to have a Stormer.
Predicted line-ups
Swansea (3-4-3):
Fisher
Wood – Naughton – Darling
Latibeaudiere – Fulton – Grimes – Sorinola
Piroe – Obafemi – Paterson
Blackpool (4-3-3):
Grimshaw
Connolly – Ekpiteta – Williams -Thompson
Fiorini – Dougall – Virtue
Bowler – Madine – Yates
The Managers’ comments
Russell Martin: “We have to give the supporters more energy, more risk in the final third, more aggressiveness in the final third and more willingness to put the ball into dangerous areas and make the opposition defend.
“Blackburn was a really big reminder for us of certain things we need to bring. Iโd rather it happen now than in 10 games. Weโre all quite relaxed about it. Weโre frustrated, but at the same time, we know how hard the guys and how hard we work on trying to win football matches and weโll start doing that soon Iโm very sure.”
Michael Appleton: โYou can go about it in two ways really and you can change it throughout the game in terms of your attitude.
โWeโve just got to decide โ and I say it as if I donโt already know โ but weโve got to decide whether to go all-out press and try and break up the play from their build or look to be more strategic and allow them to have the ball at times.
โThe strength Swansea have got, probably more so this year than last year, is if you go and press them too high and too soon theyโve got incredible pace high up the pitch and even the wing-backs are very quick, certainly on their right-hand side.
โItโs about getting the balance right about when to press and when not to do it.โ
Planet Swans prediction:
Blackpool 1-1 Swansea City
