Phil Sumbler
The Swans take a break from league action this week with the unfamiliar challenge of a FA Cup tie on a Thursday night but it is a challenge that will present several opportunities for Luke Williams.
The fourth round tie has been moved to Thursday night coverage to allow for TV coverage on S4C and any positive result will mean the victors are the first confirmed name into the fifth round draw.
Both sides were well beaten at the weekend – the Swans of course were beaten 3-1 at home by Southampton Saturday lunchtime whilst Bournemouth were on the end of a 4-0 defeat at home to Liverpool yesterday afternoon.
The dilemma for both managers will be around their team selection. We have seen growing number of teams over the past twenty years reverting in these early stages for backup teams in the competition. However, with Bournemouth relatively comfortable in Premier League mid table and the Swans the same in the Championship we could see very much a bucking trend of that on Thursday evening.
As we referenced in the weekend articles Luke Williams has somewhat of a free hit as manager of the Swans in the coming months. The side will end the season as a mid table side and he is still in the early stages of that managerial career here in SA1. Those early stages means that he is still learning much about his squad and that could mean that we see a relatively strong lineup taking to the pitch for the game. Strong of course in the respect of relative to the squad that we have.
Jerry Yates is one who is likely to benefit from the team selection and he will want to prove his case for a place in the starting line up whilst there are also the likes of Joe Allen, Kristian Pedersen, Ollie Cooper and even Nathanael Ogbeta could be in the frame for a place in the Starting XI. Whoever is in should be viewing this as a continued chance to play for their longer term future at Swansea City.
Saturday’s 3-1 defeat was the proverbial game of two halves and Williams will want more of the last twenty minutes than the first twenty and the side should go to Bournemouth without real fear. It maybe a trip to a Premier League ground but Bournemouth and Swansea have taken similar trajectories over the past twenty years and this should be seen as a game that we can win, not one that we are just happy to be part of.
The fourth round of the competition is the last round of this year’s competition which will mean drawn ties head to replays something that sides are usually keen to avoid at any stage.
So let’s see what Thursday brings and what the selection of Luke Williams is.
You can keep updated with all the pre-match news and views via our Matchday thread. JackHarris got this up and running yesterday with his normal level of in depth coverage – you can catch the latest from the thread by clicking here
