Ipswich Town next up for the Swans but there should be nothing to fear?

The biggest disappointment for me on Tuesday night was not the nature of the final scoreline but the fact that the players seemed to show no real fight in the game or even a desire to want to compete.

In recent weeks we have been comprehensively beaten by Leicester, Southampton, Bournemouth and now Leeds and in each of those game we have looked bewildered that we are even allowed on the same pitch as those sides.   In each of them we have gifted early opportunities and in the case of all but Leicester the game has been over inside the first twenty minutes of the game with the Swans barely out of the starting blocks.

It is very easy to point at the fact that all four teams are Premier League quality but that simply does not excuse the fact that we have made it so easy for each of them to come through our midfield and defence without seemingly any need to break sweat at the same time.

Successive Swansea City managers have talked about the need for the players to be brave at times but there has been very little evidence of bravery in the games that are mentioned above so it becomes very much a point in time where words are no longer needed, it is actions by which we need to deliver (Andy Coleman’s favourite subject).

Last weekend’s win at Hull was well deserved in many ways but we do not want to become a team that produces these kind of results on an infrequent basis, we need to become known as a team that can produce these performances week in week out even if we don’t win all these games.

There should have been no reason why we could not push the likes of Leeds and Southampton harder than we really did even if it still means falling to defeat at the end of the game.   Southampton scored eight in two games against us, Leeds six and Leicester six as well.   Ipswich already have three from the game at Portman Road.   Twenty-three goals against in seven games against the current top four does not constitute bravery, it constitutes too much respect and a lack of belief.

Ipswich arrive in SA1 on Saturday still in fourth place in the league but not in the best of form.  Their midweek 4-0 win at Millwall was only their second win in six games and they have fallen from being clear in second place to looking up at both Southampton and Leeds.   That will mean that they come here looking to build on that midweek win but that also means that we should have no fear against them and certainly none of the generosity that we saw afforded to Leeds in midweek.

Kieran McKenna was happy after their midweek win and told their TV channel “It was a good night for us and a good performance in a lot of elements, especially defending set-plays, which is something that will always be a big part of the game here. 

“We defended those well, scored some really good goals and controlled the game when we needed to with an all-round good performance. 

“We had a few set-plays to see off early on and we needed a little spell like that where the first chances the opposition have don’t go in the net, then we were clinical when our first good chance came. 

“The clean sheet was important. The set-plays were the main thing and we defended everything in free play pretty well so credit to the boys.”  

Games between the Swans and Ipswich tend to include goals – 20 in the last 5 meetings between the sides have been favoured 12 to 8 in the Swans favourite although Ipswich won 3-2 here in 2018 which is their only visit to SA1 since the Swans promotion season back in 2010/11.

The game at the Swansea.com Stadium kicks off at 3pm Saturday and there are still tickets available.   Keep updated on the latest news and views with our comprehensive matchday thread which can be found here

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