I Love Swansea City

Manuel Pellegrini expressed his displeasure at some of the refereeing decisions in the recent 2-1 loss against Everton.

The two teams met each other in the first leg of the League Cup semi-final. Everton are determined to make up for the disappointments when it comes to cup competitions. They put in a determined display at Goodison Park to claim a 2-1 win. It puts them in pole position ahead of the return leg at the Etihad stadium. The prospect of a Merseyside Derby in the final of the competition has been enhanced after Liverpool beat Stoke City in the other semi-final.

However, Pellegrini was dissatisfied with some refereeing decisions made in the game. The officials had some tight calls to make but television replays appeared to suggest that almost every decision was correct. The aggravation for Pellegrini came up due to a penalty appeal that was waved down by the officials in the second half. Jesus Navas appeared to be fouled in the 70th minute, but the referee chose not to award a penalty. Pellegrini also felt that the first goal scored by Everton should have been ruled out for offside, although television replays suggested otherwise. Ramiro Funes Mori scored the opening goal for Everton before Lukaku provided the winner with 12 minutes of normal time remaining.

“It’s a foul inside the box. He didn’t touch the ball, he touched the legs of Jesus Navas, it’s a clear penalty.We didn’t deserve to lose. At the end of the first half they scored a goal that was absolutely offside, we should have had a clear penalty and we had two clear chances to score. It was offside. He made the movement and participated in play. It’s unbelievable that the referee or linesman didn’t see it was offside,” said the City manager.

Patrick Vieira reckons Garry Monk has it in him to be able to go on and get himself in the elite group of the Premier League managers.

Monk is presently in charge of Swansea City and in his very first season there, he guided the club to a top 10 finish.
In terms of the no. of points secured, it’s the best performance that Swansea was able to put up in the English top tier.

They ended up with 56 points in their kitty.
They beat a team like Manchester United, both home and away, in their campaign.

Vieira knows Monk quite well as both pursued the same management course and he is not surprised at all with the success the 36-year old Englishman has achieved straightaway.

According to Vieira, Monk has everything that one requires to make a mark as a manager and somewhere down the road; he will earn himself an opportunity to work with one of the biggest clubs.

In a talk show last week, Vieira, who has also started his management career at the junior level and has been reported to be in line to take the job of Newcastle boss this summer, said, “Garry is someone to be watched out for. You mark my words he is going to be a legendary coach in the coming future.”

When asked what he thinks is the biggest strength of Monk as a manager, Vieira said, “I think he is quite good on all fronts, be it the man management skills or the technical knowledge of the game, he possesses everything and he is somebody who is always serious regarding his job. There are not too many young managers out there who are better than him; that is for sure.”

Swansea manager Garry Monk says that Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers deserves a lot of credit for the way he has transformed the club’s fortunes in the space of a few weeks.

After the 3-0 defeat against Manchester United at Old Trafford, it looked like the end of the road for Rodgers at Liverpool. Not only were the team struggling to get past the Champions League group stages, but it was also looking as if they would not qualify for the European competition next season. Since then, however, Liverpool have gone on a brilliant run that has seen them close the gap on their rivals like United and Arsenal.

A win for Liverpool at the Liberty Stadium will help continue their good run of form in 2015. Along with Manchester United, Liverpool have been the best team since the turn of the year and they are yet to suffer a defeat. Monk was also similarly questioned when he took over from Michael Laudrup last season, but he has managed to guide Swansea to a respectable top 10 position this campaign. Even though the likes of Tottenham and Southampton have built a 10 point advantage in the last few weeks, Swansea are looking to favourites to finish in the eighth spot and it will be a commendable achievement.

“I’ve not spoken to Brendan about the game coming up – he has got his own things going on at Liverpool with different targets.He has moved on from us obviously and is doing exceptionally well at Liverpool, turning them around and making them a real force.But what he did for our club is fantastic and it’s the benchmark for us.He did a great job for our club and if we can do the same or try to improve on it then great, that’s what you have to try to do as a manager,” said Monk.

Swansea failed to recover from the 5-0 thrashing at the hands of Chelsea after losing 3-1 against Championship outfit Blackburn Rovers in the FA Cup.

More than the exit from the FA Cup at the fourth round, questions will be asked about manager Gary Monk’s ability to lead the club. Monk is the youngest manager in the Premier League and he has showed the lack of experience on certain occasions. However, he did remarkably well to keep the club in the Premier league after a dismal first half of last season.

It is expected that the club will continue to keep faith in him over the next few weeks, but continued poor performances may bring jeopardy to his job.

Swansea have managed only one win in the last six matches and this victory came in the third round of the FA Cup against lower league opposition. The club were always expected to struggle scoring goals after the sale of Wilfried Bony to Manchester City for a club record £ 28 million. Monk has revealed that Swansea are not planning to invest most of the sum back into the players, but into the infrastructure of the club. This includes improving the training ground, stadium, and other facilities in order to build for the future.

“The season won’t fizzle out — I will make sure of that because that’s my job. I won’t accept that, anyone who knows me knows that, and the players won’t accept it either.We’re in a difficult moment.

The last two games have been very difficult in different circumstances, but it’s important that we come through it together.We wanted to put things right at Blackburn. Circumstances didn’t help us, but the next game and the next crucial period for us is about making sure that after all the important work we have been doing,” said Monk.

Wilfried Bony has dropped hints that this might prove to be his last season at Swansea City.

As per the Ivorian striker, he would be sold if somebody pays the correct price to the Swans next summer.
Bony was on the radar of the clubs this summer too, but, nothing materialized and the 25-year old could not go anywhere.

Bony’s desire of playing in Europe is not hidden from anybody. He has already stated many times in the media that like any other player, he also dreams of taking part in the Champions League one day, but, he is not getting impatient. He is happily waiting for his time.

In an interview recently, when he was asked about his situation at the Liberty Stadium, he said, “The club is pretty clear and so am I. If they are given the sufficient fees, they would let me go. And I would also not mind moving to a place where I get to play European games. But, as long as I am here, I need to be fully committal to Swansea City.”

“As a striker, you’ve always got to be scoring wherever you are playing, if you do that, people would notice you. For me the ambition this season is to score more number of goals than I did the last time around.”

Bony, however, needs to push very hard from here to pass his last season’s goal tally which is 27. This season, he has only netted 4 times.

Coming from the international break, Swansea will take on the Gunners and that would be a fantastic chance for Bony to impress Arsene Wenger and his assistant coaches. Arsenal is also one of the teams that are eyeing to buy Bony in 2015-16.

Swansea City disputed their 8th Premier League match of the season against Stoke City in a game which concluded with the team of Garry Monk losing 2-1 with a late goal from Jonathan Walters securing the triumph for Stoke City as the hosts claimed the crucial victory at the Britannia Stadium.
This defeat was extremely bitter for Swansea City’s Garry Monk as the coach criticized Stoke City’s Victor Moses who was slightly touched by Angel Rangel and Victor Moses launched himself to the ground inside the penalty area of Swansea City and the referee allowed Stoke City on taking a penalty kick.
It was a rather clear dive but nonetheless, the penalty set-piece was awarded to Stoke City which proved to be crucial in the match as the hosts ultimately won the match with a narrow 2-1 scoreboard.
“It’s obviously a massive game-changing moment, for me it’s a disgusting decision. How he can’t see that’s a blatant dive is beyond me. For me, Moses has cheated the referee into making that decision. He should be punished for that. It’s clear cheating, one of the most blatant dives you’ll ever see. You go and watch a million games and you won’t see more of a dive than that. He should be ashamed of himself’’
That was just a sample of the rant that Garry Monk launched as he called Victor Moses a liar and that he should be ashamed of himself for his obvious dive which helped Stoke City in their 3rd triumph in this season of the Premier League.
The Football Association has been in contact with Garry Monk and the football authority is expected to make a decision on what action they will take concerning the recent rant which was launched by the manager of Swansea City. A sanction or punishment will most likely be given to Monk within the next few weeks or days.

Swansea manager Garry Monk is a delighted man after his team have made a spectacular start to the new Premier League season by winning all their opening three matches. Swansea opened the campaign with an away match against Manchester United which many predicted would go in the way of the Red Devils. However, the visitors once again stunned the home supporters by getting a 2-1 win. It was not the finest attacking display from Swansea, but their defending was of the top order to prevent United from coming back into the match.

Since then, they have managed to build on this victory by taking three points against Burnley and West Brom. The start has been so good that Swansea have also managed to progress to the next round of the League Cup after beating Rotherham United. Since the start of the campaign, Swansea have conceded just one goal in the four matches. After the 3-0 win over West Brom that put Swansea briefly at the top of the table, manager Monk accepted that it has been a good start to the campaign but players are not getting carried away.

Swansea were one of the surprise packages in Michael Laudrup’s first season at the club, but they disappointed last season by finishing close to the relegation zone.

“It’s a good start but that’s all it is. There’s a long way to go and a lot more work to do, but it’s good to have the winning habit. We know what we are. We’ll try to get to that 40-point barrier as quickly as possible, that will always be our target. It’s only our fourth year in the Premier League and expectations come with winning games but we have to get there as soon as possible,” said the manager, whose team next take on table leaders Chelsea.

Premier League club Swansea City are ready to offload Spanish striker Michu and cash in on their prized asset as they look to strengthen the squad after the dismal performances of last season.

The former Rayo Vallecano forward has been mooted for a reunion with former boss Michael Laudrap at Qatari club Lekhwiya SC which has been looking to add some firepower to their squad. It was the Danish manager who brought Michu to English football while he was in charge of the Swans for a meager £ 2 million, having seen the player in action during his time as a manager in Spain.

Michu was easily one of the signings of the 2012/13 season as his goals were mainly responsilble for the club’s finish in the top half of the table as well as securing their first major title when they won the League Cup, beating Bradford City.

However, his form dipped immensely during the last season as he struggled with niggling injuries and the sacking of the manager and is also looking to move on to a fresh challenge.
Crystal Palace are credited with an interest in bringing the Swansea City to London but whether they have the financial power to land his signing is a different question altogether.

Italian giants Napoli and Spanish champions Atletico Madrid are also keeping a close eye on the situation with Atletico looking for a replacement for Diego Costa who is almost certain to leave for Chelsea in the coming days.

Also showing interest are West Ham United as the club looks to play more attacking football this time around after disgruntled fans wanted their season tickets refunded and this gives Swansea City plenty of options as they hope a transfer tug of war could raise the player’s transfer price as well.

After the appointment of Gary Monk, results have been slowly improving for Swansea city, but they still have not been able to get away from the relegation zone since teams in and around them have also been picking up points. Swansea needed three points from their recent encounter against Norwich, who are also close to them in the table. The players exactly managed that after running out 3-0 winners over Chris Hughton’s men. This victory and three points have certainly eased the pressure off Swansea, but Angel Rangel is of the opinion that the players should not get relaxed after this vital win.

He says that Swansea are still in the relegation trouble even after this victory. It was only 12 months ago that the team had managed the capital one cup victory under Michael Laudrup, but the former Barcelona midfielder was recently sacked after a terrible run of form. Monk has managed to stabilise the club since his arrival as manager two months ago. Rangel says that the club are working hard towards making their position in the Premier league certain for next season. Until it is mathematically impossible for Swansea to get relegated, the players want to keep going according to the full-back.

Swansea have tough matches against Chelsea and Aston Villa in the remaining six of the season.

“Until mathematically we are safe we are going to fight until the end of the season. We are not safe but obviously it’s a big win – a big step forward for us. We probably now can face the Hull game with more relief. Obviously we can’t just sit and relax because we are not safe yet. But we can go there with more confidence and play better football now and hopefully get something out of the game,” said Rangel.

Swansea City is seriously fumed over Naples police on fans’ delay in their game against Napoli. In fact, the leading Welsh soccer club has even declared to launch official complaint against Naples police & UEFA.

The club had seriously condemned “deplorable and unnecessary delays” in the transportation of supporters to Naples stadium from specified collection points.

Buses from the Italian capital were delayed & it took more than 2 hours for around two hundred fans to reach from Naples port to stadium.

“For our supporters to be delayed this very way is completely deplorable”, stated an annoyed spokesman from Swansea City. “There’s just no excuse & we are demanding answers from Naples authorities and UEFA. The worst bit is that it’s not the 1st time it has happened to the visiting supporters in Naples. The Arsenal supporters had to face a similar fate in the recently concluded Champions League.”

“We felt that we did everything needed to eliminate any trouble for our valued supporters”, added in another spokesman from the club. “Last month we sent delegation to discuss on earlier issues with Naples local police.”

“We were of the view that we could come up with some positive progress as they assured us that there won’t be a repeat of previous issues for our supporters. But unfortunately, a fair share of the assurances give to us weren’t honored that night. We did whatever possible that night to ease the situation – we got to UEFA delegates, British consulate & Napoli officials as well.

But, we could not exercise any sort of control over the events. However, we do appreciate the enormous support we received from the fans all through the years. It is disgraceful how badly they were treated here where they flew from so far just to extend support for our club”