Jan Window 2023

[CroJack]

What’s all the fuss over Ogbene? Looking at his numbers they are nothing worth what they might be asking for him - transfer market had him valued at £2M … don’t see why.

1. Heading, dribbling, physicality, pace...

• We don't have attackers who regularly score headed goals, and we need someone who can attack crosses
• We have sent Oko-Flex back to his parent club and lost the only player who could dribble
• We are still a bit soft up front, we can use his physicality
• It seems he's got pace, and now when Obafemi is gone we lack pace up front, so we can counter-attack

2. We can't afford better players than Ogbene.

3. He is a goal-scoring winger who can play as a wing-back. We need someone like him on the right flank.

​

 

[Yankee_Jack]

We don’t score many headed goals because: we don’t cross much and when we do the quality is lacking; our #9 Piroe who scored a lot of headed goals in his showcase video is shy against Championship CBs.

Ogbene is recorded as playing #9 for Rotherham in almost all of his starts. Is Martin going to start Ogbene ahead of Sori and Lati or bench Cullen.

I don’t see $2M as a fair price

 

[CroJack]

We don’t score many headed goals because: we don’t cross much and when we do the quality is lacking

We cross much. We are actually joint-third for crosses per game.

​

Is Martin going to start Ogbene ahead of Sori and Lati or bench Cullen.

I am afraid it's going to be Jay in 4-2-3-1 formation.

I don’t see $2M as a fair price

$2m is the market valuation, not the price we are going to pay for him. He has only 6 months left on his contract.

 

[KVetch]

I wonder if they have a backup plan if the Ogbene business doesn't work out. If Norwich sells Cantwell and Watford loses Sarr then they may get in the race for Ogbene. I'm concerned about Whittaker, recalling him seems like a hasty move. I don't quite understand it unless Martin has room in the squad for him. Looking at the remaining 19 League fixtures, we are playing 12 out of the 13 teams below us. There's a chance to climb back into the playoff race. I just don't think we have the quality to win a final.


QPR (A) 21.1
Stoke (H) 28.1

Birmingham (H) 4.2
Sheffield Utd (A) 11.2
Blackpool (H) 15.2
Blackburn (A) 18.2
Rotherham (H) 25.2

Luton (A) 4.3
Middlesbrough (H) 11.3
Millwall (A) 14.3
Bristol City (H) 18.3

Cardiff (A) 1.4
Coventry (H) 7.4
Wigan (A) 10.4
Huddersfield (H) 15.4
Preston (H) 19.4
Norwich (A) 22.4
Hull (A) 29.4

West Brom (H) 6.5

 

[CroJack]

There's a chance to climb back into the playoff race.

I doubt it. All the big guns are up there right now and I expect them to stay there. Burnley, Sheffield United, Watford, West Bromwich, Middlesbrough, Norwich. But if we miraculously finish in the top six, then we have a chance to go through.

 

[Yankee_Jack]

The trouble going forward is that Martin has got himself caught in a tactical trap. Not that we had much width with 3+2 since the WBs had no winger skills and couldn't / wouldn't attack defenders and take them on, now that he's gone to a back 4 we definitely have no width and play too narrow. He's got good, probably our best players on the field, but absolutely no real width.

The Sunderland game was a prime example. Watch the first half in particular. We owned the ball, but instead of stretching them out and attacking down the flanks we basically narrowed the field to the width of the penalty box. In contrast, Sunderland scored their goal by skinning Lati out wide, crossing far post, nod down to the goal area .... Classic goal shape.

Martin lost Flex. Garrick was sold. Now no width. Cooper can take players on but plays narrow. Congreve can take players on but is on the bench. Piroe is statuesque.

We lack width which makes us even easier to defend. Width is not standing out wide, getting the ball and playing backwards or passing back inside. Width is getting the ball wide and attacking the space down the flank, getting behind. We don't do that. We can't do that.

We have players that can break quickly in Cullen, Cooper, Cundle, Fulton, but since we own possession we don't get much opportunity to flex the quick-break muscle.

What to do?

 

[KVetch]

I doubt it. All the big guns are up there right now and I expect them to stay there. Burnley, Sheffield United, Watford, West Bromwich, Middlesbrough, Norwich. But if we miraculously finish in the top six, then we have a chance to go through.

I think they will do it, it may take another final day miracle to make it. Form hasn't been great but they're only 3 points and a few goals from 6th place. Watford and Norwich may sell they best players. I don't know if they get to the final but 6th place is possible. Swans are tied with Sunderland for 4th in goals scored, and they're set to play the current bottom 10 sides on the table. This fraction of hope keeps me alive. I would dare put a friendly wager on it.

 

[ivoralljack]

Still can't work out the Whittaker problem. If a player with his stats became available, I'm sure we'd want to buy him. But we've already got him so why does Martin want rid? This really puzzles me. I read today that Glasgow Rangers put in a bid but it was rejected. If we expect an interested club to pay a lot of money for him then logic dictates that he must have talent and potential. So I ask again, WHY sell him? Any answers, Mr Martin?

 

[The Blobster]

I just read ( via swans independent) ,that we have had offers for incoming players accepted only for the yanks to veto the agreements , they have previous form for this , our negotiating team reaching agreement with clubs only for the yanks to refuse to pull the trigger on the purchase .
As many of us have previously said they are not fit for purpose as owners of our club , they only look to sell and for the club to scrape by .

 

[Behindthegoal]

The Whittaker dilemma is:-
We hauled him back, presumably to sell him, but if he plays for us he can’t play for the purchasing club.
But if he doesn’t play for us we won’t know how good he is.
All of which means, as prospective purchasers know full well, come 31 January anyone offering a fiver will get him.
Another prospective Jack Bastard sacrificed on the altar of Mammon

 

[Yankee_Jack]

If Whittaker isn't sold at the right price come 1/31, then there are two options: we keep him; we loan him to Plymouth. He can't play for three clubs in a season. Plymouth isn't a 3rd club.

 

[KVetch]

They are reporting that Whittaker wants to go to the Rangers now. I hope they can remedy this bad situation. We have players refusing to sign contracts, play and want transfers out. On the one hand Pato brought on with known issues. Nigel Pearson showed him the door. Obafemi has had several issues with training, meetings what have you. You don't want players causing problems in the squad on or off the pitch.

What is making them unhappy, or better yet who? It can't be that Swansea is suddenly an unnatractive place to them. A team that's featured in the playoffs and a playoff final in recent years. Sure our owners are skint and it's at the end of the earth. It's worrying when several players want out. You have to wonder if the coaching staff is making a mess of things.

I hope at the end of the window things will sort themselves out and we are left with a motivated squad of players who want to win. If Martin is tough on the players because he expects professionals than good on him. It's certainly something to be concerned about though.

Obafemi has the potential to be an outstanding player in this league and beyond. He will no doubt add his name to the list of former players who score against us. Whittaker could have taken his spot, I hope it's not too late for that.

Kaplan and Levien are directly responsible for the future of this club. They don't seem to have a clue.

 

[Behindthegoal]

If Whittaker isn't sold at the right price come 1/31, then there are two options: we keep him; we loan him to Plymouth. He can't play for three clubs in a season. Plymouth isn't a 3rd club.

Taxi to Plymouth booked for 11.59 Jan 31

 

[ivoralljack]

Sure our owners are skint

They are only skint when the words 'Swansea City' appear before them. Of course they have money - they just don't want to spend any of it on us.

 

[Behindthegoal]

Whitaker can’t play tonight anyway, he’s cuptied

 

[KVetch]

Scottish sources are claiming a £1.5 million bid has been submitted for Whittaker. They rate him and desperately want him. It's yet again very sneaky tactics from the owners to claim they aren't selling and then make deals whilst negotiating behind the scenes. Eventually we will be left with nothing.

 

[KVetch]

Now they're saying Whittaker refused to play against QPR. How badly have they mishandled our players. That's too many players refusing to play this season. They didn't communicate with Morgan and tell him he's being recalled to play? This could badly hurt the morale of the rest of team. How are 2 or 3 players refusing to play going to motivate the rest? All 3 will be sold on deadline day for probably £4 million total.

 

[CroJack]

Now they're saying Whittaker refused to play against QPR. How badly have they mishandled our players.

Not only they have mistreated them, they have also spread false stories about these players being bad human beings. Everything about this current situation reminds me on how they had treated Michael Laudrup and in the process turned the vast majority of our fans against him.

I'm with Paterson, Obafemi and Whittaker on this one.

 

[jackodiamonds]

Did you see Martin's comments re: Whittaker's text asking not to play? Basically said "it's a shame because he would have featured in this game" - so easy to say after the fact, but since when has Martin been so hot on Whittaker anyway? The player who scored a hat-trick in a cup game and was rewarded with a loan instead of a first team berth. When Whittaker was recalled, Martin read out of list of players who were ahead of him in the pecking order to show how unlikely it was he'd get a game. So we're to believe Whittaker is suddenly in the manager's plan, but only after the player takes himself out of it and can therefore be scapegoated as a trouble maker.

This is pure PR from Martin, making it seem like he has no issue with Whittaker when his past actions scream the opposite. Now, a large section of the fanbase thinks Whittaker is the problem, when who can blame him for wanting a move to a team with a manager that will value him and play him. Every time Whittaker has played for Swansea he's put in a shift. He's a talented young footballer, why wouldn't he? This is not a case of him not wanting to play for Swansea. It's a case of Martin not wanting him to play for Swansea. So who's the real problem?

Martin was wrong about Benda, wrong about Ollie Cooper, wrong about Fulton and wrong about Cullen. He's wrong about Whittaker too. Can anyone remember a time in recent history when 3 starting-calibre players were trying to force a move away from the club all within such a short space of time, because I can't. The one consistent factor in all this dysfunction is Martin, the seemingly un-sackable midtable supremacist with 2 wins in his last 14 games. That's 0.93 points per game (1 point per game excluding cup games), which for any club in any of the top four divisions is sacking form 99% of the time.

 

[Yankee_Jack]

If Whittaker was on the team bus headed to London, why text. Why not walk to the front of the bus sit down next to Martin and have a chat. When exactly was that text sent. It all seems strange to me.

If Rangers rate Whittaker enough to make an offer, surely he's good enough to play for us.