Glory Hunter - A Journeyman adventure

Meanwhile....


Another new club for myself.... More to follow

Massive move! Good luck with the Swans.

So here we are at the start of the 5th season with my 4th team already in what has been a whirlwind of a save. So Swansea City are a Welsh Championship side founded in 1912 who since 2005 have been playing at the 21k seater Liberty Stadium. The club have an interesting modern history as they were promoted to the old First Division in 1981 and where they were in the title hunt until a bad run of form saw them finish 6th in the First Division - still a record for the club. However, just 22 years later the club nearly found itself relegated to the Football Conference.

From that moment, partially backed by the fans the club in just 8 years rose from League 2 to the Premiership. In 2013 the club won the League Cup beating Bradford City 5-0 to win the clubs only major piece of silverware and then competed in the Europa League the very next year. However, the 2017/18 season saw Swansea relegated back to the Championship where they have been ever since.

In the four seasons since the save started the club have finished 5th, 9th, 7th and 15th. In fact it was last year's lowly 15th placed finish with Roberto Di Matteo in charge that sees us in this job. The club were predicted around 6th last year and this season the predicted finish is 8th.


So the club want a top half finish this season with the aim of winning promotion next season. Its a nice little step up from the suspected relegation fight with MK Dons and the board have given me £2.5m to spend on players but a healthy additional £130k on what we are currently spending on wages. It is another step up for sure.

Playing Squad


Going through the squad from the end of last season, taking out any players here on loan and removing any from the first team that i had no interest in keeping, this seems to be the squad i will start off with. It is a little light as you can see but there is a smattering of half decent youngsters that i will give a chance to.

In Goal our number 1 is an Italian Paolo Bastianelli who looks Ok but lacks the distribution stats i want from a possession based team. In front of him the first choice back four of Roberts, Van Der Hoorn, Rodon and Bidwell looks solid and ready for the Championship.

The midfield has Matt Grimes who looks to be a decent playmaker with the more famous Mats Moller Daehli and Yousseff Ait Bennasser also there giving us a very creative midfield. Up top Borja Baston is still at the club and he will need some competition if we are going to be able to score enough to get out of this very tough division.

So there you have it... Where should i improve?

Swansea are a club who have the setup to achieve great things in the Championship. The constant back-line at the club still remains strong despite the addition of a few years. Ait Bennasser and Daehli are two very adept options alongside Grimes. Baston knows where the net is at this level.

Definitely a squad you can succeed with in my eyes.

It has been a busy little summer here in South Wales as i signed 8 new players on top of an already pre-arranged transfer from the Roberto Di Matteo days. So let's see what i did

Outgoings

There was the usual releasing of youngsters not good enough for this level and on top of that i allowed 6 players to leave on free transfers with only winger Aiden O'Brien featuring for the first team last season. He is off to Ireland to play for Shamrock Rovers. On top of that we loaned out another 6 players to get some more first team football, with the main ones i am keeping an eye on being right back Michael Clarke and back up keeper Daniel Jinadu who both at one point were going to form part of my squad this season.

Now onto the permanent exits. Centre Half Jack Hendry was sold just before my arrival to Hibernian for a deal that should eventually be worth £2m. He came in just over a year previously for a small fee so its a nice little profit on someone that i probably would have kept around if i had the choice. However, onto the exits that i did control. Four of whom were back up players that were just not good enough to be the back ups to the first team. The most notable being Joe Lewis who joined Boston United for £190k. I also decided to move on youth prospect Jack Cochrane for a deal that could be worth £1m. The coaches thought there was some potential but i couldnt see him developing enough to make a real difference so off to Stoke he went. Back up keeper Matthias Hamrol was shifted on to Tottenham of all places for £220k to be their 3rd / 4th choice keeper but the big sale was Club Captain Michael Van der Hoorn who wanted to move to the Premiership and there was no way of keeping him happy. So i sold him.... to Ligue 1 side Nantes for £4.4m, so not quite the Premiership dream he desired.

Still it was good money and Joe Rodon will now be the captain for the side. We almost lost right back Connor Roberts after Bournemouth came in but i rejected the deal on Deadline day and i now have a pissed off right back which seems to have caused some problems in the squad that i now need to deal with. Still some decent money raised

Incomings

Our budgets were still relatively tight but we had some money to move around to get some players in. Mattia Valoti was a pre-arranged transfer from the Roberto Di Matteo days and he looks to be a servicable midfielder who has some versatility. He isnt necessarily what i think we needed but it is another body for the cause. On top of that my U18 manager was busy signing 6 youngsters for their sides all of whom dont look good enough to ever make the first team.

However, there were two free transfers i did make myself. The first is Kiko Casilla who joins from Leeds on a free transfer. He is old at 36 but he has some incredible keeping stats even if his physicals are shot but that experience could be vital as he comes into be the new No.1 for the season. I had him on last years game and he was incredible averaging over a 7 every season despite being a keeper. I hope he can continue that form on this years. The second was young James Mcatee who caught my eye playing for Charlton last year when i was at MK Dons. He was released by Man City and i think he can be a really useful AMC rotating with Daehli.

In terms of cash buys there were just two by myself. Lorenzo Venuti was on loan here last season and was signed for £375k in Di Matteo's last piece of business and will come in and be the back up at right back this season. On to my signings, i signed Brendan Galloway and Filippo Sgarbi to be my back up centre halves for the season for a combined £375k. Galloway should be familiar to you all from his Everton days and i was about to sign him at MK Dons before my move to Swansea and when i moved i came in and swooped for him here. He has solid all round attributes and can cover at left back which is the added bonus as Buchanan isn't the greatest back up to Bidwell. Sgarbi is one of them players that my scouts stumbled upon as they were clearly still scouting for Italians for Di Matteo. He isn't exceptional but doesnt have any real weaknesses and should be a safe choice should we need him this season. His height and jumping reach could mean he is an aerial threat at the other end too.

However, it was the loan market where i think i excelled. Wonderkid Tommaso Austoni joins from Tottenham. The 18 year old Italian U21 International centre half physically looks like a monster and he needs to work on his tackling but he could be a superstar and we are paying absolutely nothing to have him master his trade here. I also loaned in England U20 International Marvin Boyce from Everton. Boyce was on loan at Stoke last year and pulled in some half decent stats. He looks to be a good little winger with lots of dribbling and agility with some half decent pace nad passing stats. He should be a good outlet on the right wing this season. This time we have some wages to pay but again it looks to be cheap.

Now onto the more expensive moves and hopefully the stars of the show. Portuguese U21 International Henrique Jocu joins from Benfica and could be one of them players that becomes excellent. He has good passing ability and tackling along with some solid physicals. I am not quite sure how to use him but he should be versatile enough to make an impact. The last was Afmicu Pululu from Chelsea as the Frenchman has struggled to get into the Chelsea team so comes here on loan. He has some big wages but he gives me another option to Borja

Some good moves to get the ball rolling at Swansea. I’m particularly a fan of Galloway. He’s definitely good enough, and his versatility means you don’t need to build a team around him - but can always fit him into the team. That could prove important in future seasons depending on what players may come in through the doors.

The Swans are hardly flying as the campaign gets off to a stuttering yet undefeated start to the season. The League table below tells you some of the problems.


The season started off in almost the most disasterous ways as we went 3-0 down to Middlesbrough in the first half of the first game of the season. A stern talking to at half time though saw probably my best ever Football Manager come back as we got our own three goals through Baston, debutant Austoni and Matt Grimes who scored a superb solo goal to give us a 3-3 draw.

Since then Draws have been in fashion as we should have beaten 10 Man Sheffield United but had to come back from behind with Marvin Boyce scoring his first for the club to give us a 1-1 draw. Lower league side Northampton caused my 2nd string side some problems in the Carabao Cup 1st round keeping us to a 1-1 draw before we got the best of them on Penalties to send us into the 2nd round.

Our only win in August came in a languid Hull game where a Matt Grimes penalty won us the game. Two bore draw 0-0's came next as we took on Stoke and Birmingham before another penalty shoot out saw us knock out Norwich after Pululu scored a late equaliser to keep us in the Cup. Premier League side Crystal Palace stand in our way in the 3rd Round.


So what is going right or wrong? Well i came out of the gates looking to play possession football and we top the charts by a long way as we average 62% possession. 5% more than the next team and in just 5 league games we have racked up 600 more passes than the next nearest team. Keeping the ball isn't a problem, scoring is as we just dont make many chances. Our games are highlight light, so much in so i had to double check they were still on. Im taking our problems as being because we are still gelling as a team and i havent quite settling on a first choice 11. I need more consistency from the team and as you can see only Matt Grimes sits above a 7 for an average rating as he is the only man who has impressed me.

The Swans need work if we are going to take flight

We got a little wind underneath our wings as we briefly started to find some form with back to back wins (A 3-0 demolition of Aston Villa in the League and a brave 3-2 fightback against Palace in the Carabao Cup 3rd Round). However the month of September saw us lose our first match of my tenure as QPR beat us 1-0 in another game where we dominated possession but just couldn't put the ball away.

Before all of that we had two 1-1 draws against Bristol City and Preston in more matches that seem to be defining our season. Games where we have lots of the ball but just dont finish off teams.


So what do we do? Well i have tweaked the tempo, increasing it a little and i have removed the focus from the middle, allowing us more variety in our attack and there were improvements as seen in the Aston Vill and Crystal Palace games but we are still a long way away from being free flowing. At least more of the team are now averaging over a 7 and Afimicu Pululu is getting among the goals so we might have a striker who can lead the line and get the goals needed in this division.

There are others that are starting to surprise me, Youngster Josh Thomas has looked good whilst Rodon and Austoni look to be a decent pair at the back. Whilst Matt Grimes is still the best player in the team based on performances with Ait Bennasser keeping out Jocu who has disappointed me since joining on loan.

We need work and maybe just a little time

A grand rise up the managerial ladder, from humble beginnings with Oxford City to a former Premier League side in Swansea City. You have done immensely well so far, even winning promotion with Notts County back into the Football League, a team which have every right to be there. Hopefully you can see a promotion push at Swansea, but the Championship is arguably the hardest league in world football to get out of. Good luck and keep it up!

Sometimes it takes a little while before something is at its beautiful best and although i cant say we are at our best, we are finally starting to threaten to blossom into a beautiful swan as out ascent up the league table begins.


Some things feel certain in life and one of them at the beginning of October was we were going to draw some games and our incredible run of drawing carried on as we drew our first two games of the month against Yorkshire duo Barnsley and Leeds. Both games ending 1-1 despite taking the lead in both games. Now to be fair both teams were in the top 4 at the time but still the inability to hold on to a lead was hurting our promotion bid as you dont win a league by just drawing every game.

However, things started to click a little better in the next game as we fought to a hard 1-0 win over Nottingham Forest who themselves were doing well with Marvin Boyce scoring a fine solo goal to win the game. A 1-0 win over Luton followed with Baston scoring on a rare start before a 2-1 win over Brentford with Pululu scoring before Valoti scored from his unfavoured left wing slot in a 2-1 victory.

3 Wins on the trot and we suddenly find ourselves in a real play-off hunt. Draws have still outweiged wins but the coin is starting to flip to our side and for the first time since the season started i feel quite good about our chancecs. We need to score more for sure but defensively we are pretty strong all things considered. I guess it is hard to lose games when you dont let the opposition have the ball but in reverse we need to make sure we do something with it if we want a few more games in that win column.

We couldn't quite keep the winning run up for our tough League Cup tie against Chelsea but a 2-0 defeat was a respectable result in a game that saw Chelsea play a strong side.

The left wing slot is proving a problem with no one excelling, in fact our midfield other than Grimes needs work. Pululu is starting to score though and gives me hope we have a scoring threat if we can feed him correctly. Currently i am deploying this in games


I dont love it and the left wing is a real problem but Valoti finds himself in that spot for now purely because he scored.Daehli who i expected to be playing more has been awful allowing Mcatee the AM slot which has now been converted to a Trequersita as i was worried about two playmakers in the centre getting in each others way. We seem to be better but i am still not massively enthused about what is going on. Could we do with a ball winner... definitely and i do wonder if we have enough variation in the team right now.

We lead the league in possession and passing showing we can dominate...now we need to turn it into meaningful actions. Still things are on the way up

Things most definitely on the way up and you seem to be really spreading your proverbial wings with the Swans

Some big moves since I last saw this! Into the Championship and a real chance at being in the Prem next season with a good start so far this year! Hopefully you will be in the big time come June!

Slowly gaining momentum now.

I don't want to be overly melodramatic but it kind of felt like the wheels fell off this month as it was truly a month of two halves. Before the International break our good run was continuing as we put Bristol Rovers and my old side MK Dons down, both in 2-0 victories.

Then we had a couple of weeks off and since the International break things have not gone well. We were beaten 2-1 by Derby before South Wales rivals Cardiff ran away with the game in a 3-0 loss. It leaves the table like this


It is still incredibly early days but this month showed our challenges. We only have one man scoring goals in the form of Pululu and possession domination means nothing if you dont stick the ball in the back of the net. Like my other moves i have stumbled upon the real gap in the squad a few months in and we need to move quickly and well in January if we are going to break into Promotion contention.

Moller Daehli has been awful and i have lost patience with him. Tumminello is surplus to requirements as is Petersen on the wing despite the fact we need a left winger desperately. We need some bulking out of the team for the 2nd half as right now we just dont have the impact players to come off the bench to turn a game that is going against us.

Hopefully we can hold on until January comes around but there will be some significant scouting coming up

Hopefully the latest defeats aren't the beginning of a disappointing trend for you and Swansea.