Swansea City is on the crest of a wave right now. They have only lost one game from their last ten in the Premiership and that was 0-1 defeat against Champions Manchester City. A week ago they completely outplayed WBA who were lying third in the table, and spectacularly defeated once mighty Arsenal on their own patch three days later.
Their Spanish midfielder, MIchu has to be the bargain buy of the season. The Swans picked him up for a paltry 2 million and he has rewarded them with 11 goals, ten of which were scored in the Premiership.
They are currently lying 7th in the table with a winnable game against Norwich City to be played at the Liberty on Saturday. Norwich has proven to be a bit of a bogey team for the Swans and they need to be careful not to read too much into the media hype that has them playing European football next season. Borrowing a phrase from the NFL, “Any Given Sunday” (any day of the week for that matter) any team in the Premiership has the chance to win.
They currently have 23 points from 15 games which is a better return than last year’s inaugural season in the Premiership. Despite the euphoria created by away wins over Newcastle and Arsenal attaining 40 points should remain the primary goal to avoid relegation.
Unfortunately their recent run of success has not gone unnoticed by teams with bigger bank balances. The January transfer window is suddenly looming around the corner, and several teams will be looking to strengthen their squads at either end of the table.
The primary target for clubs will of course be Michu. One man doesn’t make a team but a regular goal scorer can be the difference between success and failure in this or any league. His role is more than one dimensional. He can play the lone striker but his favored position is one of attacking midfielder where he provides a link between the midfield and the striker. It also gives him the option to run at opposing defenses from deep positions as he proved so successfully against Arsenal.
The Swans could sell him for a huge profit, but in doing so could seriously damage their standing the league. Quite simply he is irreplaceable and any sizeable profit from his transfer would be considerably offset by the threat of relegation.
Ironically the Swans have amassed 23 goals to match their points’ total, 10 of which have been scored by Michu. Danny Graham, last season’s leading goal scorer with a total of 12, has yet to open is account this term. The only other significant goal scorer in the team this season is Wayne Routledge with 4 goals which reinforces the importance of Michu to the success of the team.
Perhaps the Swans Chairman needs to remind Michu of the fate of Sinclair and the Iceman who left for bigger fish in the shape of Manchester City and Tottenham, but have rarely featured in the first team this season. Sinclair was on the fringe of the England squad when playing regularly for the Swans, but has been completely overlooked by England manager Roy Hodgson.
Manager Michael Laudrup is also receiving plaudits from his peers for the way that his team is playing football. They have retained the close knit passing game encouraged by predecessors Roberto Martinez and Brendan Rodgers, but Laudrup has tweaked it a little by adding more of a cutting edge to increase scoring opportunities.
It was less than a month ago that there were rumors of unrest in the dressing room over the changes made in the playing style. It is amazing what a little bit of success can do to quell disquieting rumors.
However, Michael Laudrup’s recent success coupled with his extensive range of contacts in Europe will prove to be more than a passing interest to other Premiership clubs contemplating a managerial change. It’s not co-incidence that former managers Martinez and Rodgers are in charge of Premiership teams. But quite frankly I don’t quite understand why Martinez viewed Wigan as a bigger club than the Swans.
Managerial appointments don’t usually take place in the middle of the season although there are exceptions (aka Chelsea.) Michael Laudrup appears to be a man of integrity, and hopefully he will not be tempted by lucrative offers to jump ship mid-season.
