Cyril, the Swansea City mascot.A 700 mile round trip faces the Toon Army for tomorrow’s televised game at the Liberty Stadium, when 5th place Swansea City take on Newcastle United with an undecently early 12.45pm kick off.
This will certainly be a stern test for the lads, as Paulo Sousa’s team play good football and are unbeaten in their last four home games. They are strong defensively, and following our 3-0 defeat at the hands of Derby County midweek, they now have the same number of goals conceeded as us. However, all is not perfect as the strikers, or in fact anyone else having a go don’t seem to have much luck finding the target with only a paltry 26 goals scored in 29 matches. Only bottom club Plymouth have scored less.
The last time the two teams met at Swansea City was amazingly over twenty years ago, with Newcastle Utd. beating the Swans 2-1 in a second division match. Since that time Swansea have moved to a new 20,500 capacity stadium, and more recently have earned a reputation as a decent footballing side. That was evident under previous manager Roberto Martinez and has carried on with their current boss, another good young manager in the making Paulo Sousa. (more…)
Hughton: Delighted with "high tempo start."In the aftermath of Newcastle United’s 3-0 home victory over Swansea City, Chris Hughton and Swans manager, Paulo Sousa, have been giving their reactions to the game.
Hughton had said before the game that Newcastle United would have to “force the issue” with a team which had the second meanest defence in the Championship apart for ourselves, and they did, battering three headed goals past the hapless Swans within the first half hour.
“I asked for a high tempo start and after half an hour I was delighted. I couldn’t have asked for anything more” the Cockney Colossus crowed, adding:
“To get three goals in that period was tremendous and it has won us the game”
On the huge scoreline that was widely expected after the first half hour period, Hughton continued: (more…)
Hughton v Sousa: A defensive chess game at SJP?With 1983 the last time these two teams met in the league, it will be a rare encounter when the Toon and Swansea City meet at St James’s Park. With two naturally defensive minded managers pitting their wits against each other, we can no doubt expect a tight match from the two teams with the best defensive records in the league. In addition neither can be described as prolific in front of goal so little hope of a Keeganesque performance from either side.
The Swans are officially the in form team in the Championship winning 14 from the last 18 points and chasing their fourth successive victory.They’ve also chalked up an unequalled 10 clean sheets this season, half of which have been in goalless draws, so you have been warned. This defensive bias is clearly heavily influenced by Paulo Sousa the ex Portugal defensive midfield legend and good friend of Sir Bobby Robson. Sousa, who played for Sir Bobby at Sporting Lisbon and remained in regular contact with him until Sir Bobby’s death in July, was apppointed manager in the summer following the departure of Robert Martinez. (more…)
