Phil Sumbler
The dust is starting to settle on the relative madness of the transfer deadline day. A day that saw four arrivals and two departures in SA1 so it almost feels like football is a welcome interlude from what has been a busy few months for the Swans.
Bristol City will arrive at the Swansea.com Stadium for a 12.30 kick off today as Michael Duff goes in search of a first league win as Swans manager, a league win he will desperately want to get today for two reasons.
The first of those is a simple one. He needs a win to follow what was a relatively positive day yesterday and will want to achieve that before we take a two week enforced break for internationals. The second is that he will not, by any stretch, want to go into the next league game – a trip to Cardiff City – without that league win under his belt.
Two home games to date have yielded two home draws – both of them 1-1 – but in both games the Swans have had to come from behind to earn themselves that point. We have managed to find the target in all four of our league games to date but it is only last Saturday at Preston where we have held the lead at any point in a game, something that again clearly has to change.
The arrivals of Josh Tymon, Bashir Humphreys, Jamal Lowe and Kristian Pedersen on deadline day were all welcome news for Duff although it is very debatable how many of them will play a part today if any. My first guess would be that Duff will stick with the side that did start OK at Preston last weekend. That will mean that Liam Cullen – himself part of transfer speculation yesterday – will start again and continue to make his press for a consistent starting berth.
I would also have to assume that Mykola Kuharevich will be pushing for a start himself after featuring against Bournemouth in the League Cup in midweek although, again, a bench position feels the most likely.
Michael Duff confirmed on Thursday he had no new injury concerns “Everyone came through the other night, we had a couple of knocks and everyone should be fine for the weekend,” said the Swans boss.
“Walshy is on the grass but has not had any contact work and needs a pre-season really so he is a little while away.
“We are looking to build on the positives in our recent performances, we are looking to stitch together the good parts of what we have done in the last two games on Saturday.”
The international break is likely to have come at a good time right on the back of the transfer window closing. Two weeks to work with the majority of his squad (bar the international call ups) will be welcome for Duff and it is likely, based on yesterday’s activity, that the team for Cardiff will look very different to the one that we field today. And very very different from the one that secured a double double at the Cardiff City Stadium back in April.
Football today is a very welcome distraction and its definitely a case of three points please drive.
The game at the Swansea.com kicks off at 12.30pm
