Archive for April, 2017

Four To Go-Twist or Bust?

Thursday, April 27th, 2017

Swansea City won their first game in six matches last Saturday which gives their beleaguers supporters a glimmer of hope of avoiding the dreaded drop into the Championship. Unfortunately fellow strugglers, Hull City also won with a convincing 4-2 victory over Watford.

Middlesbrough and Sunderland appear to be heading for relegation, and either Hull City or the Swans will accompany them, as three teams are relegated from the Premiership at the end of each season. Hull City have two more points than the Swans, and each team has four games remaining in which to save their season.

The Swans four fixtures are against: Man United (a) Everton (h) Sunderland (a) and WBA (h.) Hull City  play Southampton away on Saturday followed by Sunderland (h) Crystal Palace (a) and Tottenham Hotspur (h.)

Taking into  context  the teams’ positions in the Premiership Hull and Swansea have to play the Swans have a more difficult run in than Hull. Ironically both teams have to play Sunderland who are languishing at the bottom of the table. The Swans play Man United on Sunday who are lying 5th, Everton are currently 7th and West Bromwich Albion are 8th.

Hull’s opponents on Sunday, Southampton, are currently 9th, Crystal Palace are 12th and their final fixture will be at home against Spurs who will finish at the minimum in 2nd place and could be vying for the title in the final game of the season.

To say that The Swans have endured a traumatic season is an understatement. Not many teams survive when three managers have been at the helm at different stages of a season. Paul Clement succeeded American Bob Bradley who was clearly out of his depth and was only hired by the new American owners on a nepotism ticket. Bradley had replaced Italian Francesco Guidolin who according to rumors was glued to the TV monitor watching the “Tour de France” rather than taking his players for a training session. Guidolin received news of his dismissal on his birthday!

     

Paul Clement was appointed in January, and arrived at the Club with a great resume as assistant to Carlo Ancelotti at Chelsea, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich respectively. His stint as manager of Championship side, Derby County, was not so stellar and he was subsequently sacked and returned to assist Ancelotti at Bayern.

He initially had great success in his first  couple of months at the Liberty Stadium, but somebody should have warned him: ” Beware the Ides of March.” Beginning with a loss to fellow strugglers Hull City on the 11th March, they lost five games and could only muster a single point against relegation threatened Middlesbrough until securing a win against Stoke last Saturday. Clement had guided them from the ignominy  of the bottom three to comparative safety, and subsequently back to the Premiership basement.

Quite frankly, the team lacks the quality to be a Premiership team. Only the Icelandic Gylfi Sigurdssson would find a home in another Premiership team. I am hoping for the best in their final four fixtures, but I am not expecting too much. Hope does spring eternal, and football is a funny game, so you never know.

Unanswered Questions

Friday, April 14th, 2017
  • Why do some people smother their steaks with ketchup?
  • Why do some Atlanta drivers refuse to use headlights when the visibility is almost zero?
  • Why do some Atlanta drivers feel that using blinkers is an affront to their masculinity?
  • Can you define the  word “schism” and use it in a sentence?
  • Why does hair sprout from unusual places but ceases to grow on your head when you are older?
  • Why didn’t my parents warn me to take better care of my body to offset the wreckage of old age?
  • What is the difference between refugees, asylum seekers and migrants?
  • Do Germans and Greeks really dislike each other?
  • Why do I regard myself as Welsh first, British second, and European a distant third?
  • Who is John Ossoff and why has he been foisted on people living in the Sixth District of Georgia when he doesn’t even live here?
  • Why are spectators referred to as Patrons at the Masters?
  • Why does CBS’s Jim Nantz assume everyone is his friend?
  • Would I rather be ugly and rich, or poor and good-looking?
  • Would you rather always lose or never play?
  • Would you rather be forgotten or hatefully remembered?
  • Would you rather get even or get over it?
  • Would you rather kiss a horse or lick a cow?
  •  Why did it take a homeless person to do what transit planners, engineers, and consultant could not do…..get the attention of politicians to start looking at transportations options in Metro Atlanta.
  • Why aren’t Americans familiar with the phrase “curate’s egg?”
  • Why do Swansea City’s American owners remind me of Steptoe and Son?
  • Why did the Atlanta Braves win only one world series  when they had three Hall of Fame pitchers in Smoltz, Glavine and Maddux?
  • Does 14 successive Division (which only comprises 5 teams) Titles  achieved by the Atlanta Braves define success, mediocrity, or missed opportunities?
  • Why is Easter, the most important event in the Christian Calendar, no longer a public holiday in America?
  • What is more important to the average sports fan, a winning team or a “state of the art” ultra modern stadium?
  • Why don’t we have a colony on the moon bearing in mind Neil Armstrong landed there in 1969?
  • Why are my compatible with certain individuals, but not others?
  • What is the criteria for defining a good friend?
  • Which of these three songs has been covered the most by other artists: George Harrison’s “Something,” Paul McCartney’s “Yesterday,’ or John Lennon’s “Imagine?”
  • Which is most likely to happen in my twilight years: Swansea City returning to the Premiership, or the Atlanta Falcons winning the Super Bowl?
  • Why is my neighborhood in Atlanta beginning to resemble Puerto Rico?
  • In an attempt to avoid the dreaded drop, will the Swans go gently into the good night, or fight the good fight?
  • With apologies to “The Clash,” should I stay (in America) or should I go (to Wales?)