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Ahead of Saturday's vital game with Swansea
City at
the Liberty Stadium, we spoke to Swans' fan Steven from City fanzine
Swansea Oh Swansea. He gives
us his views on the
game, Michael Laudrup, the Europa League and much more. You can also find Steven on
Twitter at @StevenSOS1987
Very much like
Albion, Swansea’s season so far has been disappointing considering last season’s
strong showing, what do you feel are the main reasons behind the generally poor
form?
A lot of players haven't performed as well as last term,
Europe obviously hasn't
helped but I wouldn't say that's been as big a factor people may think. When
Laudrup was in charge he was consistently making 3 or 4 changes per game and I
don't think that did us any favours either.
The departure
of Michael Laudrup raised a few eyebrows, your take on his departure? Was it the
right decision?
At the time I wasn't convinced but looking at it now I think
it was. We'd only won seven league games since March 3rd last year which was
very poor form. I think the main problem was everyone thought he'd quit in the
summer regardless so he was struggling to motivate the players because of this.
Who would you
like to see replace Laudrup?
Hopefully it'll be Garry Monk and I'd say it's his to lose.
We may have only won once since he took over but performances have improved
drastically in the last month. My only concern is who will sign for him because
he's not the biggest name. If not him then I have no idea, our board tend to
make the right decisions though so I'm confident whoever gets it will do well.
Despite the
recent exit against Napoli, the club’s Europa League
adventure must have been enjoyable on the whole?
I loved it, it was a fantastic experience. I went to
Valencia in the group stage
where we won 0-3 and that was surreal, spent 3 nights up the road in Benidorm so
you can imagine what that was like! I also went to
Napoli 2 weeks back and despite being treated badly by the police
and us losing it was still brilliant. If you ever qualify get to as many aways
as you can, that's my advice. You can read about my trip to
Italy in more detail at
www.sosfanzine.com
You currently
sit just four points clear of the relegation zone, are you confident the club
will avoid the drop?
I think we'll be fine, I'd like to have more points on the
board but now we're primarily back to one game a week I'm confident we'll get
enough points on board. If we were to go down it'd be our own fault, I'm almost
certain there's 3 worse teams than us if we play to our capabilities.
Highlight of
the season?
That trip to
Valencia. Playing them was
incredible enough, to win 0-3 was just ridiculous. There's been many moments
like that over the last few years but that tips the lot, it'll probably never be
beaten.
Moment you
would rather forget?
Losing 1-0 at
Cardiff and looking as if we
couldn't be bothered. That was shocking and we were all fuming after that one. I
can grudgingly accept defeat to them, but a lack of fight isn't good enough.
Player of the
season?
Very tricky one, as I said a lot of players haven't been as
good this year. I'd probably go for Ben Davies but it's a hard one to call.
Any player
been particularly disappointing?
Alvaro Vazquez our back up striker. He's stealing a living,
he's absolutely horrendous. I'd get Lee Trundle out of retirement over him!
Premier League
Champs?
Tipped
Chelsea
in August so I'll stick with that. They look favourites now, only Manchester
City can stop them winning it.
Relegated?
Fulham are doomed, think
Cardiff will go as well and I'll
say Norwich although the last place is hard to call.
Prediction and
thoughts on Saturday’s game?
Hoping after a 2 week break we'll be refreshed and put in a
good performance, if we do I think we'll win, you've been good opponents for us
since we came into the league and I'll predict a 2-1 win for us.
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