Taking Flight Once Again: Swansea City

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Reading progressed to the 4th round of the Carabao Cup following a penalty shoot-out victory over Swansea.

The game was taken to penalties following a 1-1 draw in normal time. Bersant Celina put the Swans in front with a simple finish after 15 minutes, however saw his side pegged back almost immediately after John Swift dazzled the defence to score an excellent solo goal for the Royals.

Each side converted their opening four penalties in the shoot-out, with Conor Washington, Jefferson Montero, Tom Carroll and Jay Fulton scoring for Swansea. Sam Baldock, Maximilian Wober, Leandro Bacuna and John Swift replied in reverse for Reading.

However, it was the goalscorer Bersant Celina who were see his effort denied by Reading 'keeper Sam Walker, who joined from Colchester in the Summer. David Meyler was given the opportunity to see Reading through and calmly converted his spot-kick to seal Reading's place in the next round.

Swansea manager Leon Britton spoke after the game admitting, "We weren't good enough today and didn't take our opportunities. We had enough chances to see off Reading, but were too wasteful and you can't afford to do that. Well done to Paul [Clement] and his players - they deserve this win."

Reading will travel to Premier League opposition in Southampton at St Mary's next month in reward for their win. The tie will take place on Tuesday 30th October. Southampton sealed their place in the fourth round after a convincing 3-0 win over Derby County.

Swansea XI: Nordfeldt, Roberts, Rodon (Wright, 78), Van Der Hoorn, Olsson, Fulton, Carroll, McKay (James, 62), Celina, Montero, McBurnie (Washington, 71)

Reading XI: Walker, Yiadom, McShane, Moore, Wober, Beningime (Meyler, 79), Ezatolahi, Swift, Meite (Bacuna, 56), Baldock, Bodvarsson (Harriott, 62)

Replies

Griffin: Thankfully we have plenty of options available to us that will help us through, however it's still a massive shame to hamper his progression for the next six months+

Justice: Hopefully. It's going to be interesting to see if the injury causes any set-backs for him in future.

Bleh, unlucky! Reading are a good team and there's no shame in losing to them!

Paul McShane, on the other hand..... he may only be 32 but he plays like an 80 year old.

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"September was a real challenge for the players. I challenged them to motivate themselves and kick on, after a few poor results in the league and I saw a real response at Millwall in a terrific 2-1 win. The Den is notorious for being a difficult place to travel to and we showed no fear in a battling display.

It's important that results are followed up and we did that in a home victory over Forest. After a frustrating first-half, we were rewarded in the second with two goals to see off a tough side. Aitor [Karanka] certainly has his team set up strongly at the back and it was a real difficult game for our forwards.

Stoke was arguably the toughest fixture on everybody's fixture list this season. It proved to be a rather dull affair on a cold Tuesday night and we were unable to provide enough threat to challenge Jack Butland and rightfully the points were shared.

This took us into two really poor performances. Firstly, we were beaten by Middlesbrough who undone us in the opening exchanges of the game. It is very frustrating to concede a goal so early on, as your game-plan effectively goes out the window. For the remaining 87 minutes of the game, we were chasing Tony's [Pulis] team and were unable to record an equalising goal.

It was a similar story when we faced Reading, however we did frustrated ourselves after conceding so quickly after taking the lead. Chances were plentiful and we were not efficient enough in front of goal. In this business, you need to take your chances or you are punished. That was indeed the case, albeit in the cruel manner of a penalty shoot-out defeat.

However, we managed to show the character distilled within the squad after an impressive 2-0 win at the Liberty Stadium to Queens Park Rangers. Therefore, it leaves us inside the playoff places at the end of the month and gives us a platform to build on going into October.

In October, we face Wigan and Aston Villa away, as well as home games against Ipswich, Blackburn and Reading in the league, where we'll look to extract our revenge I'm sure. No game in football is easy, but we'll be looking to build towards a strong points tally by the end of the month."

Replies

Justice: It was a real frustrating result, but we move on regardless.. and yes, McShane really isn't the greatest.

Some good results there mate, definitely none to be scoffed at, Boro are a very good side! The Carabao Cup defeat is a blow but at least you can focus solely on the league until January

Not the most consistent of months but you've picked up points which makes a good building block. Plenty of games left in the season, you're not far off the top!

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Ex Wales manager and Swansea favourite Chris Coleman has praised manager Leon Britton for the faith he has shown young players so far this season.

Since being appointed in late-June, Britton has installed his faith in a number of young players over the course of the opening months to the Championship season. Those include the likes of Joe Rodon, Connor Roberts and Daniel James, who have all come through the Swans youth academy.

Prior to Britton becoming manager, only 21-year-old Roberts had been handed a start by the senior team as he made four appearances towards the back-end of last season under Carlos Carvalhal. Both Rodon, 21 and James, 20 had spent the second-half of last season out on loan with Cheltenham and Shrewsbury Town, respectively.

The 36-year-old manager has also allowed Scottish international Oliver McBurnie to flourish at the Liberty so far this season. The 22-year-old spent last season at Barnsley, after completing a loan move in January. He went on to score nine in 17 appearances as the Tykes were relegated.

McBurnie has added to that total, bagging eight goals in 15 appearances so far this campaign, as the Swans occupy the final playoff position currently.

The former Wales boss, Chris Coleman, who now manages Chinese Super League side Hebei China Fortune, has praised Britton for his method in a recent interview.

"I have a lot of admiration for Swansea." He said. "I spent four years with the club and enjoyed my time there, so I follow the results of the club. Leon [Britton] is a legend in those parts and has done a great job so far."

"I think his work has been overlooked in some respect. He has a very young squad at his disposal and is working well with such an inexperienced team. But, he's nurturing them and getting the best out of those players which will benefit them in the long run. He's an experienced man and certainly a great tutor, so they're in great hands."

"Not enough teams give young players a chance. So, to see Leon doing that, is refreshing. He is giving those players the best chance of improving and as seen in recent results, is getting repaid for that. The future looks very bright for everyone involved at the club, right now."

Swansea travel to the DW Stadium tomorrow night in a clash with Paul Cook's Wigan side. The Latics currently sit just inside the top-half this season in 11th, after winning the Sky Bet League One title last season.

Replies

Griffin: It was a frustrating game, as aside from that goal; the sides were quite equal. Exiting the Carabao Cup was a disappointment, but you're correct in what you say. Concentrating on the league entirely will be a big help, personally.

Justice: Hopefully we'll be able to claw those points back over the course of the season. Consistency will hopefully come with time!

A big game against Wigan coming up, but Coleman has every reason to have faith in Swansea's new management!

Great update man, hopefully Wigan get blown away tomorrow! Up the Swans!

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Swansea City goalkeeper Erwin Mulder will depart the Liberty Stadium in January, after agreeing a fee with Dutch side SC Heerenveen.

The 29-year-old will rejoin the club after having played there for two years, prior to joining the Swans. He made 68 appearances before he was signed by Paul Clement on a free in 2017.

The Dutchman has found playing time hard to come by during his time at the club, struggling to position himself as number one over Lukasz Fabianski prior to his move to West Ham this Summer. Whilst Kristoffer Nordfeldt has been favoured this season.

A principal fee of £1,600,000 has been agreed with De Superfriezen, which will eventually rise to £2,700,000 over the course of the next twelve months.

After agreeing the deal, Mulder said: "I am looking forward to rejoining a club close to my heart. I found my opportunities here very limited; but I am thankful for my time here. I have met a lot of great people that I'm sure I will remain in contact with when I move back to the Netherlands."

"I would like to thank everybody at the club for the last year or so and wish everyone the best of luck. However, I will remain dedicated to the team in the final few months of my contract here and my services are very much still available."

It is believed that there could be more business being conducted over the course of the next few weeks. Leroy Fer has been fairly limited this season, since returning from injury and is subject of bids from numerous clubs in which include Stade de Rennes and Trabzonspor.

Fer, 28, is believed to be seeking a move away from the Liberty Stadium following relegation and the lack of minutes he has received under Britton this season.

The Dutch midfielder joined in the January window in the 2015/16 on loan from Queens Park Rangers, however made that deal permanent following the R's relegation that season - signing for £3,500,000. He has since made 70 appearances across the four seasons he has spent at the Liberty, scoring on seven occasions.

Replies

Justice: A tricky side to say the least, but hopefully we have the quality on the day to oust them and get all three points.

Griffin: Thanks mate, hopefully... UTS!

Good money for the 'keeper, in truth. Fer isn't a player you'd want to lose but if you can get a big fee for him, I'd be confident in you reinvesting it well.

Feel like you have got the better end of the deal there, not sure i've ever heard of Mulder ever playing so you're in the money

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"We enjoyed an unbeaten October, in what could become very important to our season. There were some difficult fixtures, including our opening one of the month in a trip to the DW Stadium - however, we have shown our quality in a strong display overall.

We battled well in a draw to Wigan, creating chances but defending resolutely to keep a strong Wigan attack out. This was followed up with another 1-1 draw to Ipswich in a disappointing result, but one that reflected the pattern of the game as both sides failed to get a real grip.

These draws were followed up by three impressive victories to conclude the month and allow us to put the pressure on the top two [Middlesbrough and Brentford]. The Villa result shown our strength going forward and we limited the creative talents of Jack Grealish and co very well. The result allowed us to show our full capabilities, which I was particularly pleased with.

Finally, we beat Blackburn and Reading by a goal to nil. Both wins were reflected by the scoreline, but we took our chance and enabled our unbeaten run to stretch to six. I am very pleased by the ethos displayed by the players and things look to running smoothly, which gives me great confidence as we start to get into the thick of things.

November is a sparse month in all, with just four fixtures for ourselves - but fixtures that will be vital. We will be looking to pick up maximum points in a few of them, at the minimum - we can't accept anything less if we want to challenge. The players have the expectation on their shoulders and have lived up to that recently; so hopefully that can continue."

Replies

Justice: Definitely a tidy fee for a back-up goalkeeper, who is more than likely not going to feature. Fer is a player I'm split on, in truth, but we'll see what materialises with him.

Griffin: He's never played for the club before, so that may explain why!

Those draws at the beginning of the month could be regrettable considering the quality of opponent. That doesn't take away from the fact that this month was an unbeaten one and that's a big positive to take away!

Regarding Leroy Fer, I'm a big believer in his talent in real life and he should be an integral part of the squad when fit, but if Trabzonspor blows you out the water with a big fee then I wouldn't be rejecting it, especially if you've done so well this season pretty much without him.

Draws are always going to happen and you're going to drop points, but so will everybody else and it's about taking the opportunities presented to you when the opposition do drop those points!

One favourable weekend could put you top of the league, so it is good that you are breathing down the necks of the two above you. An unbeaten month always builds confidence, particularly one with three back-to-back clean sheets!