Swansea City: Flying High In Europe

pompeyblue: Cheers pal

Pauker: Cheers pal And yeah I will; try and win everything with Swansea all part of the fun!

Michael Laudrup has laid out his expectations for the season as well as hinting at his expectations for the next few years. It is strongly believed that Laudrup and Huw Jenkins have put a plan into place, to try and develop Swansea season on season. Last year they obviously over-achieved so now the bar has been raised for this season and the coming seasons.
Laudrup exclusively told us at SkySportsNews what is plan is for the next few years. “Well I think it helps if you have a structured plan of how you improve for a season to the next season.

This year I plan to continue my 4-2-3-1 tactic at the club which I implemented last season which saw us succeed in the Capital One Cup. It was great to watch us beat teams and keep the ball so well. I am looking to sign one more player, maybe an unconventional left winger who is pretty quick but also good at passing and crossing. I already have my eye on someone who may not straight away look like an improvement but when he beds into the squad he will help take my tactics to a new level. This year I aim to finish top 8 and have a cup run in both domestic competitions. Europe is more difficult to judge, you cannot guess who you will be drawn against. But I aiming for at least being competitive in our group.”

It is clear that Laudrup knows what he wants this season but when asked what about future years he was a little less open. “I am not sure yet. Obviously we would like a higher finish every year, but we need to see how we get on this year because that will affect budget etc. I am hoping that in a few years we can improve the youth and training facilities to bring in more youth players.”

Not everybody dare to be a man with such great hair.

Like the first updates and will be following.

Michael Laudrup has explained to us his famous 4-2-3-1 tactics that has had millions of fans on their feet in appreciation. The fluid, short passing based tactic has been applauded by fans and pundits alike. Laudrup likes to use pacey wingers as the main point of attack with the team basing their tactics on short passing, exploiting the flanks and fluid movement around the pitch to keep the opposition chasing the ball and being truly outdone by the pace of the wingers. Laudrup likes to dominate possession but attempt to do something with the ball unlike sides such as Barcelona who just keep the ball until the opposition make a mistake.

Laudrup likes to dominate passes and possession but he also likes to throw everything at the opposition. It is a safer way to attack is one way to look at it because they are committing men but don’t give the ball away enough to be hit on the counter attack.

Laudrup had this to say about his tactic.

"You can't ask players to do things that Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi are doing, but you can ask the easy things" he said. "Sometimes the easiest things in football, a simple pass five or eight yards, can be the most effective. That, everybody can learn.”

This is a clear indication of how he sets up his sides with simple and fast football the main point of attack with his side being built around the wingers and short passing. Swansea fans are certain to witness some entertaining football.

2013-11-01 08:49#140738 Northwood : Not everybody dare to be a man with such great hair.

Like the first updates and will be following.

Haha I will struggle to live up to his hair! And thanks mate!

After discussing with the board his expectations for the season Laudrup went home to plan thorugh the next few years as Swansea boss. As he sat in his office filled to the rafters with books and paperwork related to football and his employment with Swansea, he planned out the future for the Welsh side. He worked long into the night and finally he cracked the idea. He had devised the perfect plan to improve the squad, improve the stature of the club in Europe and finally improve the youth system. Some were obviously easier than others.
Laudrup entered the Swansea board room the next morning nice and early to discuss his plans with the Swansea board. Huw called him into the office. “Hi Michael nice to meet you again, I believe you wanted to discuss some things? If so come this way and my personal assistant will write our entire conversation down.”


HJ: Huw Jenkins

ML: Michael Laudrup

HJ: Michael what is it you wanted to discuss?

ML: I wanted to discuss several things to improve the club overall. Not just the first team but the entire structure of this club.

HJ: Well that is quite impressive plan! Is there any way we can realistically do it though? We have a small budget with a lack of resources. Compared to big clubs as you well know.

ML: I have taken that all into consideration and I know what to do. Firstly I believe we should improve the first team training facilities. I believe this will improve the entire first team squad and help us really push our way up the table. Secondly I recommend we improve the youth facilities to really develop the youngsters in our youth academy. By doing this we can survive on our small budget. Lastly I strongly recommend we improve our entire youth set up so we bring in more youngsters.

HJ: Honestly that works well! I will get started straight away. Anymore Michael?

MJ: No I think that is all. Bye

Always liked Swansea (as in, since they got to the playoffs in 2011), hope you can prove your story title correct!

Earlier this season Michael Laudrup claimed if they are to succeed then Swansea need to make the Liberty stadium a fortress against visiting sides. This will be more likely now that the Liberty stadium has sold out every single seat for the entirety of this season. The atmosphere in the Liberty for big games has been complimented by many neutral fans since Swansea’s arrival in the Premier League three seasons ago now. Laudrup was delighted about this news.

“It makes me very happy that my football team are attracting enough people to fill the entire stadium. Great stuff. Just wait until we play Cardiff!!”

In transfer news Swansea are delighted to announce the signing of Shaun Maloney for a fee of £5m from recently relegated side Wigan. Maloney has shown in his career so far that he has great positioning off the ball, can cross as well as being very good at passing and most importantly for Laudrup and his 4-2-3-1 tactics is a deceptively quick winger. Swansea fans have shown delight at the signing due to his pace and technical ability. Laudrup was able to negotiate the transfer from £10 million to just £5 million. Laudrup had this to say.

“I am more delighted with this signing! Shaun is a quality player who was too good to be relegated last year with Wigan. He was a shining light in what was a poor season for Wigan last year, I am so proud to have signed him for just £5 million. It took several phone calls to Mr Whelan, to negotiate the price to just £5 million. Shaun is everything I want in a winger. Pace, passing ability, crossing and even better can finish when he gets the chance. It is a great signing.”

All in all a good signing for Swansea who need a replacement for Nathen Dyer who is not cut out for Swansea’s standards.

I doubt the two events are related

2013-11-01 20:26#140938 Louis O. : I doubt the two events are related

Shirts sales went through the roof with his singing!

Swansea fans will be delighted with their Europa league 3rd round qualifier, in which they have been drawn with Belarusian side Minsk. Swansea qualified for the Europa league due to their Capital One Cup glory and now fully expect to cruise into the next round of qualifying. However Swansea captain Williams is not taking things for granted.

"Shocks happen all the time in football and we need to be at our best. When we first got to the Premier League we were expected to be beaten by every side away and most at home yet we only lost to Manchester United at home that season! We shocked the footballing fans of England as they realized we are not walk overs and FC Minsk will not be walk overs either! We need to come out with our game heads and do a professional job."

In truth is should be a easy tie for Swansea and they have sold otu home and away for this tie.

Loving the story so far, you should coast the Europa League game good luck. Keep up the good work

In a tie which Swansea were expected to control they didn’t let their fans down as they ran out 5-0 winners over the two legs and now have the final qualifier against Vitesse to look forward to.

Minsk set out a very defensive side for the trip to the Liberty stadium in an attempt to restrict Swansea in the hope they can give themselves some sort of hope going into the 2nd leg in Belarus. However this did not happen. Swansea opened the scoring after just 8 minutes after a delightful 1-2 with Michu and he outmuscled the Minsk left-back to storm into the area and smash the ball into the bottom corner. Things got worse for Minsk when Michu converted a penalty dead on the 15 minute mark after an awful challenge by the Minsk striker. Minsk sat in their shells for the remainder of the first half and Swansea dominated possession with relative ease. The possession led to another goal with Bony smashing in a bullet from 20 yards out into the top right corner.

The game was over before half-time.
The second half started off much the same as the the first with Swansea keeping the ball for fun. Swansea were then awarded another penalty after 47 minutes to heap the pain onto Minsk.

Usual penalty taker Michu gave up his role for new boy Bony who converted the penalty and scored a hat-trick on his debut sending the fans into ecstasy.


With such a comfortable 4-0 victory in the bag the away tie was irrelevant for Swansea who made many changes for the second tie. Bony and Vorm were the only two players to start in both fixtures, with Laudrup resting many players for the opining Premier League game against Everton at Goodison. A very boring game saw Swansea keep the ball from the start to kill off the clock.

Swansea however did score another when Gary Monk headed in from point blank range after 91 minutes. A comfortable 5-0 aggregate win was exactly what Swansea wanted!

In the post match interview Laudrup praised the professionalism of his side. "I am very proud of the performance over the two legs. We turned up and dominated in both games and fully deserved this victory. We can now focus on the upcoming Premier League games with some form, as for the Vitesse game I am fully comfident we can progress there as well!"




Not really much for Swansea to complain about this pre-season the constant rotation of the squad allowed more players to get game time. Swansea will be content with their pre-season as it allowed youngsters also get game time and they won three out of their seven games.

Hi, i've been trying to make laudrup's tactics for ages and have failed many times, but i would really appreciate it if you could upload your Laudrup tactics, they look like you've got them spot on. If you can't upload them then i would appreciate it if you compile a list of all the player roles, team instructions and player instructions please.

2014-07-13 06:07#184030 TikiTakaJames : Hi, i've been trying to make laudrup's tactics for ages and have failed many times, but i would really appreciate it if you could upload your Laudrup tactics, they look like you've got them spot on. If you can't upload them then i would appreciate it if you compile a list of all the player roles, team instructions and player instructions please.

This story hasn't been updated in 8 months and I don't think the writer has been here since then either, so I suggest you look elsewhere for Laudrup's tactics.