Swansea City v Tottenham – The Opposite View

Posted by dompaczko on Dec 31, 2011 in Interviews, Premier League | 0 comments

I am not sure why but this game has totally caught me out. I guess being on Christmas shut down at work for over two weeks now has made me lose track of time.

Of course I know January will soon be upon us, this was apparent a couple of days ago when Modric’s name started appearing in Newspapers and on some of the awful ‘In The Know’ websites in the build up for another 4 weeks of newspapers generally pulling players names and football clubs out of a hat just to try and sell a few more rags.

The first uttering of Modric came from a Croatian newspaper who quoted our midfield dynamo stating he was happy at Spurs after all the upheaval in the summer. Once news of this hit the UK it suddenly became “will stay at Spurs until the Summer” to “I still might move to Chelsea in Janaury”. Either the press are desperate for Modric to leave on a big money deal or they need to sack their translators. Either way it looks like we are going to have to prepare for another media circus over the next 4 weeks.

Anyway, on to today’s game with Swansea City. A potentially tricky away game, Swansea have only lost once at home this season losing to Manchester United 1-0. But if Spurs approach this game like we did Norwich City earlier this week then surely we should be heading back across the M4 with all 3 points.

Today I have a great Swansea City fan for you, recommended to me by the superpowers of Twitter. So please welcome season ticket holding, 300 mile home game travelling and all round good egg, Lucy Edwards.

WAFR: Welcome to What A Fantastic Run, seeing as this is your first time would you mind introducing yourself

My name is Lucy Edwards, I’m 32 and work as a public relations co-ordinator at Kirklees College (main sponsors of Huddersfield Town). I’ve lived Yorkshire since 1999 except for a couple of years when I moved back to Swansea during our Martinez era. My twitter name is @pearldot. I play a bit of netball and spend a lot of time on the M6!

WAFR: How long have you been supporting Swansea and how did it all begin?

I was lucky enough to go to Wales’ historic victory over West Germany in 1991. My Dad had taken me and it was my first live football match. I couldn’t believe how awesome it was, especially when Ian Rush scored in front of us. I got the bug. My older brother had just started going to the Vetch Field (former Swansea ground) with his mates, so I nagged until he took me with him and haven’t looked back since! It was free for under 16s to get in back then, and it was a system that worked as I still see the same faces at the Liberty Stadium these days, from when we were kids.

WAFR: 14th in the Premier League, only one defeat at home – you must be pretty happy with the season so far?

Yes I am. I’ve got a season ticket, so I’ve racked up some mileage travelling nearly 300 miles each way for the home games, but it has been worth it. We look a lot more comfortable at home and our defensive record at the Liberty is something to be proud of. I’ve been to most of the away games too, and I have to say the Swansea fans are fantastic. As Brendan Rodgers will testify, we’ve learnt something from every game. A couple of unfortunate errors have cost us games (Man Utd, Arsenal), but to get draws at Liverpool and Newcastle just prove that the team’s work ethic and determination is spot on; something that as a fan, you can’t argue with. We’re happy to be in the premiership and very pleased with the boys’ performances.

WAFR: Brendan Rodgers has the highest win ratio than any Swansea manager in the clubs history (50.82%). I am guessing he is universally loved by all – or are there still some voices of decent in that stands?

I have to say that I haven’t heard a bad word from any Swansea fans about Rodgers. I don’t think we expected to go up this season, but he has delivered above and beyond our expectations and continues to impress with his attitude, professionalism and tactics. For Cliftonville striker Rory Donnelly to be offered Liverpool, Everton or Swansea as his first professional club and for him to choose Swansea above the Merseyside giants speaks volumes about the manner in which Brendan operates.

Roberto Martinez must also take credit for our rise over the years. He introduced key players and a playing style that Rodgers has continued and developed. The closest you’ll come to finding a Swansea fan with a ‘problem’ with Rodgers may be a few quietly muttered questions amongst the terraces around playing Stephen Dobbie, Kemy Augustien or Leroy Lita to strengthen the centre behind striker Danny Graham. But really? We love the guy.

WAFR: The club bought in 8 players during the summer transfer window, including on loan Stephen Caulker and former Spurs player Wayne Routledge, how is he and all the others getting on so far? Who has stood out and who needs to try harder?

Danny Graham has come on leaps and bounds since the start of the season. He’s scoring goals, holding the ball up and working hard for 90 minutes and I am positive that more goals will come for him. Stephen Caulker (on loan from Spurs) has also impressed, he suffered a nasty injury at the Emirates when he cleared the ball off the goal line. He’s just come back and is looking very confident and competent.

Routledge is coming into his own at the moment. He’s had to compete for right wing position with Nathan Dyer, but he’s been very good in his last few games, I think it’s only a matter of time before he scores. Lita looks sharp and I’m hopeful that he’ll get another few goals before May.

Our new keeper, Michel Vorm was an inspired signing and has definitely proved himself in the premiership. He’s kept us in some really tough games, and has attracted high praise from the footballing world. He is a super keeper!

WAFR: The January window will be open before we kick off – do you think there will be any more additions to the squad? What areas do you feel the team could strengthen?

Well, we’re pleased to be signing another striker in Rory Donnelly and hope he’ll settle in nicely. We have struggled to find the back of the net so far this season, but fortunately we’ve made it very difficult for other teams to do the same. We have been hindered by some injury problems in defence, so we may look to get another defender. We’re a club that’s careful with its finances and we tend to make purchases with the long term in mind, so I can’t see huge changes, but certainly a bit of strengthening wouldn’t go a miss.

WAFR: Swansea bucks the trend of most of the Premier League by being partially owned by a supporters group. What can you tell us about them and how did it all come about?

This is something we’re very proud of. We were very close to going out of business in 2001 and the club was sold twice for £1, to ‘owners’ who didn’t have the club’s interests at heart. To cut a long story short, a group of very determined and committed Swans fans fought a guy called Tony Petty in court to buy the club and the Swansea City Supporters Trust is still part owner today. Those were grim days, and that’s why being in the Premiership and doing so well means so much. Back then, we weren’t so hot on the field either and nearly got relegated from the football league, so we’ve been through quite a lot over the years. The full story is here www.swanstrust.co.uk

WAFR: Now we are almost at the halfway mark of the season – how do you think the rest of the season will pan out for Swansea? Where do you think you will finish?

I think we’ll survive and finish in about 15th. You can tell that the other Premiership managers have studied the way we play, we don’t get as much possession as we enjoyed when we were fresh to the league, but with Brendan and the boys’ determination, we’ll survive.

WAFR: What are your thoughts on Tottenham this season?

I love watching Spurs play. I’d like to see them challenge for the title, and don’t see why they won’t. Without doubt, they play the best football in the Premiership and with talents like Bale, Parker, Van der Vaart, they are the ultimate fantasy football team. Class in all areas.

WAFR: And finally, lets have a score prediction for our match

I’d like to think that we’ll keep the goal count down and maybe even sneak one ourselves, but even as a very optimistic Jack, I think Swansea 1-2 Tottenham. Whatever the result, I think we’ll see some awesome football.