Squad 2021/22

Yankee_Jack

Yankee_Jack

Key Player
Here is our squad going into the next phase of the season: Swansea City - Squad by position

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In practice:
  • we swapped Robert for Rhys Williams + money (£2.6 m[?] for Roberts less any loan fee)
  • we swapped Lowe for Obafemi + money (in our out to be determined)
  • we swapped Oli Cooper (out on loan) for Oli Ntcham (free transfer)
It will take a couple of weeks for the financing filings at Companies House for the Club, Southampton and Burnley to determine the amounts due for Roberts, Lowe and Obafemi.

In addition:
  • we acquired on free transfer: Paterson
  • we acquired Piroe for £1.05 m
  • we acquired for potential fee: Downes, Walsh (injured), Joseph
  • we transferred out for potential fee: Byers
  • we loaned out: Gould, Garrick, Joseph, Oli Cooper
 
Yankee_Jack

Yankee_Jack

Key Player
I think, in general, we've upgraded the squad. Time will tell. Martin can have no more excuses.

Disappointed to lose Connor Roberts, but he needed to play EPL football for his betterment. It would have been great to have him do it for us, but we've squandered opportunities since being relegated in a number of ways not the least of which was dumping talent at the start of our first season down then the hiring of Andy Pandy didn't do much to help.

@CroJack commented on possible reasons for the loss of Lowe, which I agree with. We made a tidy profit on him money wise and in goals from last season ... Lowe did score goals for us in bursts, usually when he felt his starting position was threatened as with Cullen in the January time frame last season.

Let's hope that the newest batch of players (Ntcham, Obafemi, Williams) have the technical, physical and mental ability to play Swanselona 2.0 and not some subset. I'm not convinced in the slightest that Paterson and Downes are Swanselona 2.0 players.

Piroe is our #9 ... given a sight of goal he can finish from anywhere and has the ability to create for himself again from almost anywhere. Reminds me a tad of Jason Scotland who scored quite a few from outside the box.
 
ivoralljack

ivoralljack

Grizzled Veteran
Staff member
CroJack said:
If Martin can get the best out of Ntcham and Obafemi then we'll have a deadly trio up front.
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We can have more than that. If Oli Ntcham is utilised as an AM then we'd have Piroe, Oba and Cullen up front with Oli a constant additional threat. I know I'm a Cullen fan not least because I know there's a lot to come from him. His assist in the last game was sublime showing he's got another string to his bow. Give him consistent chances in the box and he'll start to put them away. With Piroe a now proven striker for us and Oba with massive potential, I'm starting to feel really good about our prospects. Not many teams will fancy keeping that lot out!

Look, I'm not getting carried away. We have new players who need to settle in and develop their understanding and the entire squad is still learning to apply what Martin wants from them. It will take time. So I'm not expecting promotion or anything daft like that (mind you, I'll take it if it comes :)) but I'll be happy to see consistent progress towards us becoming Swanselona once again.
 
ivoralljack

ivoralljack

Grizzled Veteran
Staff member
3-5-2 which would be flexible as Oli can play a number of positions. Maybe the players we have/had dictated our formation to a large extent.
 
CroJack

CroJack

Key Player
ivoralljack said:
3-5-2 which would be flexible as Oli can play a number of positions. Maybe the players we have/had dictated our formation to a large extent.
Click to expand...
Then you have to take out either Grimes or Fulton.

We could switch to 4-1-2-3, which is the formation Liverpool play. Fabinho plays as defensive anchor, Henderson and Tiago as two central/attacking midfielders, and Mane, Firmino/Jota, Salah up front. In our case that would look like this:

Screenshot 2021-09-02 at 17.16.08.png​
 
Yankee_Jack

Yankee_Jack

Key Player
There are a number of solid combinations there for sure. I think we can all agree on who we do not want to see on the field - Bennet, Paterson, Downes for me - solid backups but not in my preferred starting mix. Smith and Dan Williams are going to have a tough time getting starting slots but are my preferred bench players. Dhanda ... day late and a dollar shy unless he finds a gear; note, he wasn't sold or loaned out so somebody at the Club thinks he's solid enough to stick around.

I really like Cabango and Cooper in the back line. Rhys Williams adds an extra element to a 3+2 setup - as good if not better than Guehi so I see him starting also.

Laird seems to relish attacking defenders out wide - another starter - and somebody who doesn't dither or dally about crossing the ball.

Grimes and Fulton have to start for me, so does Ntcham. Which leaves us with what combination works best up front. There is going to be no excuses for not making substitutions early in the second half with Whittaker and Cullen being likely bench players. So the forwards that start can bust a gut for 55 to 60 minutes.

Competition for starting places is going to be fierce. Just as it should be.

I'm optimistic about promotion. Much better manager, improved and more rounded deeper squad, superior keeper. What's not to like or not to be optimistic about.
 
CroJack

CroJack

Key Player
Yankee_Jack said:
I'm optimistic about promotion. Much better manager, improved and more rounded deeper squad, superior keeper. What's not to like or not to be optimistic about.
Click to expand...
More tempo, fighting, running, and pressing needed. And, of course, sloppy passing has to be eradicated. Then we can talk about our promotion chances.
 
Yankee_Jack

Yankee_Jack

Key Player
Martinez didn't get it to click until sometime through October in the season we ran away with L1. I'm expecting something similar to happen with Martin. Once it clicks we're going to be very, very tough to beat; at that point it goes where it goes.
 
ivoralljack

ivoralljack

Grizzled Veteran
Staff member
Just seen that Rhys Williams is 6ft 5" tall. That had passed me by for sure. Should be very useful defending set pieces if he's physical with it.
 
Yankee_Jack

Yankee_Jack

Key Player
Interesting list. Wilshire pops out ... is he really still available at 29. If the money is right he'd be worth a shout. As for the rest ... their free agents for reason and all of the good ones on the list I posted several weeks ago have found clubs.

This morning I heard from a long time Celtic supporter and former controller at the club. Described Ntcham as having talent but no heart and a disgrace. Seems as though the player has plenty to prove. Does he see us as an opportunity for redemption or a soft touch?

Williams at that height with technical ability and with Cooper and Cabango would be a solid back line. Couple that with Benda's height and willingness to command his box and we should be able to establish the GA numbers we setup in the first half of last season before Andy Pandy started to mess around.
 
Yankee_Jack

Yankee_Jack

Key Player
Obafemi says he wants to emulate Bony. He's 5 inches too short for that, but if he can occupy two defenders while shrugging off a third then more power to him .... he'll need plenty of it. At the age of 19, he played 21 EPL games for Soton ... must have been doing something right.
 
Yankee_Jack

Yankee_Jack

Key Player
I'm optimistic about Ntcham despite what my Celtic contact says. At Celtic, there was a stark difference between Rogers and his flavour of football and that of the Andy Pandy Bots that Celtic hired after Rogers left. Those idiots had Sinclair on the bench FFS (who btw suffered a significant amount of racial abuse in Glasgow). So I can see how Ntcham became the square peg in a new set of round holes after Rogers left.

Time will tell soon enough.
 
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