Not an easy away fixture this. Newcomers Portsmouth struggling at bottom but one in the table.
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Not an easy away fixture this. Newcomers Portsmouth struggling at bottom but one in the table.
Portsmouth v Swansea Wed 1st Jan 15:00
Happy New Year everybody!
With the poor display at Hull still fresh in our minds the next away fixture is to another club struggling at the foot of the table, Portsmouth.
The city of Portsmouth is an historical naval city and home to the Royal Navy fleet. Last season they were League One Champions but they have struggled so far to cope in the Championship. Their home form has garnered them the most points and Fratton Park is full most matches. We’ve sold out our away allocation and the Jack Army face a 370 mile round trip on New Years Day.
Key midfielder Franco will be missing after Luton defender McGuiness almost broke his jaw in a tackle.
Franco’s lower jaw row of teeth and gums were dislodged and he requires reconstructive surgery to realign them. Joe Allen, another injured midfield player will also be missing.
A local referee, James Linington, has been appointed for this match and the Fourth Official, Andy Davies was an ex-Portsmouth player. A seemingly unfair decision and surprisingly not contested by Swansea.
With another match on Saturday against West Brom our squad depth will be tested to the full.
Talking of West Brom, our head-coach Luke Williams has been installed as favourite by the bookies to replace Carlos Corberan who quit West Brom to go to Valencia. Some of the three million pounds compensation West Brom will receive could be used to entice Williams away.
Today’s lineup
Swans:
Lawrence Vigouroux, Kyle Naughton, Ben Cabango, Harry Darling, Josh Tymon, Matt Grimes (c), Jay Fulton, Liam Cullen, Ronald, Jisung Eom, Florian Bianchini
Subs:
Jon McLaughlin, Josh Key, Joe Allen, Zan Vipotnik, Nathan Tjoe-A-On, Cyrus Christie, Myles Peart-Harris, Ben Lloyd, Azeem Abdulai
Portsmouth:
Nico Schmid, Connor Ogilvie, Ryley Towler, Marlon Pack (c), Freddie Potts, Colby Bishop, Andre Dozzell, Zak Swanson, Josh Murphy, Paddy Lane, Callum Lang
Subs:
Jordan Archer, Jordan Williams, Christian Saydee, Tom McIntyre, Owen Moxen, Elias Sorensen, Sam Silvera, Terry Devlin, Matt Ritchie.
Portsmouth 4 (Murphy 22’, Lane 29’, Towler 61’, Bishop 78’) - Swansea 0
Another away-day shambles where our team did not turn up again and succumbed meekly to Portsmouth pressure for their heaviest defeat of the season.
This against a second from bottom in the table struggling club who’d just lost two away games coming in to this match.
I thought the Hull match was bad, but this was very much worse. Portsmouth could have scored several more goals, we had no idea how to stop them. Our defence went to pieces, Naughton and Fulton were useless but so were the rest of the sorry bunch purporting to be a football team. West Brom will have a field day against us on Saturday. This Jekyll and Hyde team, who play when they feel like, are not worthy of representing our proud club, a big clear out is needed. As a lifelong supporter I am fuming.
Match highlights if you can bear to watch them
https://www.skysports.com/football/v...hip-highlights
Luke Williams reaction
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouyB-bLJP8E
Extended highlights
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbDo1f5Um_Y
Did LW openly touting himself for the West Brom job affect the players yesterday?
Did his comments also upset the fans and owners?
He has now started the snowball rolling as the issue gets bigger and bigger, not helped by his weak reaction after yesterday’s game.
Do West Brom really want him after his bizarre tactics were cruelly exposed by one of the worst teams in the Championship yesterday?
Do Swansea really want him after all that’s gone on?