Phil SumblerThe Swans returned to the Swansea.com Stadium yesterday evening when they welcomed Bristol Rovers to SA1 but it was the lack of depth in the squad that highlighted just how much work there was left to do in the remaining weeks of the transfer window.
A week on Saturday the team will be back in action in the same venue but on that occasion there will be three points up for grabs against Birmingham in a match that will matter far more than any home friendly defeat to Bristol Rovers.
Ironically, it seems that it may have been Birmingham who made yesterday seemingly a bad day for the Swans even before a ball was being kicked. Early reports stated that Lee Buchanan was on his way back from Germany to put the final touches to a deal and, given our desire to sign him and the supposed progression of talks, Swansea we assumed was his destination. It now looks like it was the West Midlands and whilst Buchanan will be in on SA1 on 5th August it looks most likely that he will line up against us rather than the anticipated for us.
The time to figure out how we failed to complete that transfer is not now but we do hope that we really have learned the lessons from the January window and are not making the same mistakes that cost us so dearly back then. As I said, one for another day.
The 2-0 defeat to Rovers though did make it clear where our issues lie and Michael Duff was clear on that after the game “There are still 10 days to go until we start,” he said after the game. “We know we are short on bodies, the team at the end had five under-21 players in there.
“It’s needs must at the minute, so the main thing for me is more minutes into the legs.”
The Swans were undone by two late goals – Jevani Brown heading in at the far post with fifteen minutes to play before John Marquis scored a second in stoppage time.
We know that pre-season results are generically not important but losing to Oxford and Bristol Rovers – both sides from a division below – will have done nothing to add to optimism that seemed to be building this summer and the need to bring in reinforcements is obvious for all to see.
Carl Rushworth and Harrison Ashby are both still stated, from many quarters, to still be coming in on loan whilst there are increasing rumours about a new Premier League loan coming under discussion by the team looking at recruitment this summer.
There are also conflicting reports as far as Jamal Lewis goes but one thing is certain from those reports that any deal to see him in SA1 will be requiring some generosity from Newcastle United to make it happen. Unlikely remains our view on this one!
It has been stated many times that it is still anticipated that Joel Piroe will depart this summer and speculation naturally rose yesterday that we were awaiting a sale of the striker before we completed much of our summer transfer business. We hope – given recent “new monies” – this is not the case but, as said when Coleman arrived, actions speak louder than words.
Despite the result Michael Duff was looking at the positives from the game and he added “Result aside, we were much improved from Friday. I thought we were a lot cleaner in our forward play,” said the Swansea boss.
“We should have been out of sight with the chances we had, we had many, many good chances.
“Some of it was us not being clinical enough, and some of it was good blocking from them.
“Then as the game goes on we gave a lot of young players an opportunity and the game becomes a bit disjointed, and that’s where the final result comes from.
“But in that first hour, I was far more pleased than I was in the last game.”
The statement of pleased probably didn’t always play through into the feeling on social media post the game last night but there are still those ten games before the season starts and much can change between now and then if it all plays out as we anticipated. Even if it didn’t as far as Lee Buchanan was concerned.
Defeat to Bristol Rovers is one thing and, as mentioned before, pre-season results ultimately are not important but the important stuff is around the corner and there is likely to be an increasing franticness about our activity over the next few days as a direct consequence of the past few days.
Swansea City: Andy Fisher, Josh Key (Filip Lissah 64), Matt Grimes (captain) (Jay Fulton 46), Jerry Yates (Joel Piroe 46), Jamie Paterson (Joe Thomas 77), Brandon Cooper, Liam Cullen (Josh Thomas 77), Nathan Wood (Joel Cotterill 64), Kyle Naughton (Harry Darling 46), Ollie Cooper (Olivier Ntcham 77), Azeem Abdulai (Ben Lloyd 86).
Unused Substitutes: Lewis Webb, Ben Hughes.
Bristol Rovers: James Belshaw (Matt Cox 46), Luca Hoole (Anthony Evans 46), James Wilson, James Connolly (Ryan Jones 46), Lewis Gordon (Tristan Crama 46), Sam Finley (captain) (Kofi Shaw 85), Grant Ward, Luke Thomas (Jerry Lawrence 78), Aaron Collins (Trialist 84), Scott Sinclair (John Marquis 46), Jevani Brown (Harvey Greenslade 85).
At the moment we are in a mighty mess .
Short of quality,experienced players and seversl players injured .
Have to say Duff picked a strangely balanced side last night Sometimes it is important for players and fans’ confidence to win a game and last night was one of those occasions .
It would be nice to see our new striker find the net too.
Good comment.
Sadly, he sounds like he has realised he is out of his depth.
I dont think Micky Longhaul has thought this through….
He can only keep you where you are, theres no way on earth youre going to catch the Leicesters/Leeds/Middlesbroughs/Watfords, and the Ipswich/Plymouth and Wednesday arent exactly going to roll over for you.
Being a barnsley fan, my heart bleeds.
Still Mickey, go check your bank statement….
Mr Duff has examined and tested the team and the depth of the squad, and hes found it wanting. So, lots of change at the top of the club but not so much with the team outlook. Mr Duff will now have realised that the owners werent kidding when his brief was to promote the youngsters and make silk purses from sows ears. He will also appreciate the work of his predecessor. Perhaps Coleman and Watson will produce some rabbits out of the hat before the end of the window and we’ll see a net gain over the end of last season, but for the moment its looking iffy.
With prep time running out, I hope the game v Reading will demonstrate that Mr Duffs fact finding exploration is over and the essence of the starting 11 is, as much as possible, focussed on actually getting down to business.
So why did we fail to sign Buchanan? It’s the same old “Swans missout” Was it his wages, or the transfer fee out side of the current philosophy of sell for 10 million and buy for 1 million. Come on, nothing has changed, we are in the grip of people who don’t give a toss. All they want is to produce talent and make their bank balance as fat as possible. Yanky scavengers out!!