Phil SumblerThe Swans will be back in league action at home this weekend when they welcome last season’s play-off runners up to SA1 in the shape of Mark Robins and his Coventry City side.
Had things turned out slightly differently back at the end of May, Robins could have been leading his side into a Premier League campaign this time around but defeat to Luton consigned them to another term in the Championship and he will want to make sure that term ends with a step up at the end of this campaign.
One win and one defeat in their two games so far gives them a position broadly halfway in the table but will want to build on what was an impressive 3-0 win last weekend against Middlesbrough on a day when the Swans were beaten far more comfortably at West Brom than the 3-2 scoreline suggests.
On the other hand Michael Duff is looking for his first league win as Swans manager after last week’s defeat followed a 1-1 opening weekend draw against Birmingham and he could certainly do with that win coming at the earliest opportunity given the close to hysteria that has followed the opening games of the season.
Whilst most can accept comfortably that it takes time to embed adaptations in style and also bringing in new players there feels already an undercurrent with some crazy suggestions already that the pressure is increasing on Duff – crazy when you consider that the season is still just those three games old.
Those suggestions though thankfully will not be in the mind of Michael Duff who is clear in what he is trying to achieve at Swansea and continues in his mission to get in the players that he believes will assist him in that achievement with the simple reminder that he has delivered at his previous clubs and there is nothing yet to suggest that he will not do the same here.
The addition last week of Charlie Patino was added to this week with the arrival of Nathan Tjoe-A-On and with Duff confirming that he is looking at Bashir Humphreys it is clear that he is continuing his work on the deficiencies in certain positions that have existed for too long.
Patino is likely to start this weekend after what looked like a positive debut as substitute last weekend with Oli Cooper likely to be the one who misses out and there is a chance that we could also make changes at the back to accommodate Tjoe-A-On into the starting line up although a substitute berth seems the most likely.
“Today, I think, is the first time he’s trained fully,” said Duff when questioned on his new signing. “He’s fit, but he’s not football fit. There’s a big difference. That’s why we have a pre-season. So we’re going to have to microwave him. Get him done quickly.”
Joel Piroe could well be playing his last game at the Swansea.com Stadium with speculation still around him leaving before the window closes in two weeks time but with no firm bids on the table, Duff will continue to play the striker alongside Jerry Yates who of course scored the goal two weeks back to earn the Swans that point in their last league encounter at home.
In between the two league clashes the Swans of course progressed in the Carabao Cup with a comfortable 3-0 win over Northampton but Coventry will prove to be a harder battle than their former landlords, something of course that the Cobblers had in common with the Swans other visitors this season in Birmingham.
Our matchday thread poll suggests that there is a lower level of optimism traditionally seen amongst the fans with almost 1 in 2 predicting a Coventry win although it is tough to know if that is caused by a general feeling of doom or a respect for the quality of opposition!
Whether Coventry will be able to go one step further than they did last season remains to be seen but make no mistake they will be no pushover tomorrow and Michael Duff will need to see a significant upturn in the level of performance seen in either league game so far.
And that, I believe, is something that the Swans are more than capable of.
