Phil Sumbler
The midweek shambles that was our Carabao Cup exit needs to be put to bed today and Luke Williams knows that his team have a chance to show the fans what they are capable of this afternoon before we pause for the first international break of the season.
The early weeks of the season always have a very stop start feel about them. After today we will be four league games into a season, when we return we have five more before the second break and then it’s a run of six before we break for the third time in November. Fifteen games into a season and three two week breaks will have been a feature which can disrupt good form but also gives the chance to bury the ghosts of bad form.
Williams told us in midweek that the performance was unacceptable and, of course, he was absolutely spot on. We were not made to look ordinary by a League One side we were ordinary. In fact I am not certain we even reached the levels of ordinary. A pedestrian performance littered with individual performances from players who appeared not to have a clue or actually care is not something that football fans of any club should tolerate and for each of those individuals today they should want to put that behind them and remind us of what they say they are capable of.
A win today will see us head into the international break likely in the top six and certainly above our hosts today who have started the season in a mood to at least have a decent fight at a return to the top flight. Last season’s play off place was one that they needed after two seasons in 10th and 9th place following relegation and they will hope to go better this year in a division that is likely to be more open then it has been for the past two seasons.
The Swans deadline day activity saw us bring in just Myles Peart-Harris on loan and he is eligible to be included today although most likely on the bench. Florian Bianchini certainly saw enough forward effort on Tuesday to deserve a first league start and the focus for him within the training that will happen over the next two weeks is surely his end products – lots of desire to get the ball into the box didn’t yield much by way of chances on Tuesday but then again we were always two yards off the pace!
As ever after a poor performance (and maybe indication that we have had one too many of those in recent seasons) the club roll out a player to tell us all the things that we want to hear and this week it was Jay Fulton who said “We expect better levels from each other, much better intensity and we made mistakes on the ball.
“It was disappointing. We had a bit of a go in the second half where we had a couple of chances but we did not really deserve anything from the game.
“Our full focus now turns to Saturday. We’re back in training straight away and we’ll just look to put a lot of things right.
“We’ll go over the game, look at the mistakes we made and look at what we could have done better and try to bounce back because we know we will need to be an awful lot better than that.”
Actions and words are things commonly reflected on when it comes to anything related to Swansea City and this is another occasion when the former needs to far outweigh the latter in the noise that it is making. Ironically for many today they would start the game with Fulton on the bench and it has to be almost certain that Franco will come back into the side to add some much needed control to the team.
The eight changes in midweek will largely be unwound and – maybe Bianchini excepted – most of those who came in will have to settle for a place on the bench at best. If the French winger is to start then Ollie Cooper is likely to be the one who misses out which could see a more central role for Eom. We will see if Luke agrees when the teams are confirmed an hour before kick off.
Mikey Johnston (permanent from Celtic) and Mason Holgate (loan from Everton) were deadline day signings at the Hawthorns and took their summer arrival tally to eleven. Both have had previous spells at the club and both highlight the desire that is being shown by the Baggies to return to the top flight. As with the Swans transfer activity, whether it is good enough to deliver, remains to be seen.
So we return to the question now about can the Swans deliver today? Quite simply they have to – they owe us that after Wednesday night – that level of performance should never be near the club again. And if the pride in the professionalism is there then it never will be.
The Swans have no fresh injury worries for the game which is at least some good news for Luke Williams and nobody who has featured strongly in his plans left the club on deadline day which will always be seen as an additional positive.
For the home side, Grady Diangana looked to be in some discomfort after a collision with a Stoke City player last weekend. He trained on Friday but was still in some discomfort and so his status for the match is questionable. Daryl Dike remains a long term absentee.
Luke Williams: “It’s going to be an incredibly tough game because they’re a very good side and I think they have a top manager who is going to be a Premier League manager in the near future.
“It’s going to be a huge test for us. We’re up for that and we’re not shying away from the challenge.
“I expect us to make a really good performance away at West Brom.”
The game at the Hawthorns kicks off at 3pm.
