I Love Swansea City

The 2017 summer transfer window has reached it’s end and the head coach of Swansea City, Paul Clement took some time to talk about the departures and arrivals about certain players of his squad.

One of the standout departures of Swansea City was Fernando Llorente as the Spanish attacker made his way out of the club during the very last day of the summer transfer window and joined Tottenham Hotspur.

In order to replace Fernando Llorente, Paul Clement decided to sign Wilfried Bony on that same day however, even with the arrival of the Ivorian forward, it still is a fairly big loss for Swansea City as Fernando Llorente was able to finish as the top goal-scorer during the previous Premier League season of 2016-17 as the Spanish player scored 15 goals.

“I really enjoyed working with Fernando. He was such a big player for the club in the one season he was here. His goals in the latter stages of the season were vital for us to remain in the Premier League.I think it has been really positive. The make-up of the squad is moving in a really positive direction”

“While two important players have left the club in Fernando and Gylfi Sigurdsson, we will still be moving forward with some exciting players. With the addition of Renato Sanches and Wilfried on deadline day, it was a good day’s business for us.” Swansea City’s Paul Clement said as he talked about Fernando Llorente’s departure and the arrival of Wilfried Bony.

During the English Premier League season of 2016-17, Swansea City was able to avoid relegation as they secured the 15th spot and Fernando Llorente played a huge role as he scored 15 goals and now Wilfried Bony will have to score just as much or maybe even more goals in order to continue competing in the top tier English League.

Paul Clement through his statement yesterday sent a clear message to all the clubs which are chasing Gylfi Sigurdsson that if they have to secure the services of the playmaker, they must meet the price that Swansea has set for him.

A couple of clubs in the Premiership have shown quite a bit of keenness to add the Iceland international to their ranks, but, the problem is the transfer fee that Swansea wants. They are not ready to accept anything less than fifty million Pounds which is a little too high an amount to spend for the aspiring buyers.

As per Clement, Swansea is in no hurry to crack a deal for Sigurdsson and would be very happy if he remains because he has proved to be such a wonderful servant of the club and there is nothing better for the club than to continue to have his services, but, when a player generates interest in the market and the clubs start coming with offers, there is always a possibility of a deal, However, one thing is for sure that even if a deal takes place for the transfer of Sigurdsson, it’s Swansea which would decide the terms of that deal and not the buyer.

Clement insists that there is no confusion and everybody is very, very clear about the situation. Sigurdsson is contracted to Swansea at this stage and he is focussing on his pre-season preparations with the ambition of doing as well for the club as he did the previous season and the club is also taking it the same way and is counting on him to feature for them in the summer of 2017-18. But because the other clubs are after him, a transfer can’t be ruled out totally.

Swansea City was not able to snatch a single victory starting from March 11 of 2017 until April 22.

The English club went through a string of 6 successive matches where they either suffered defeats or draws but Swansea City was able to break their string of underwhelming results on April 22 after defeating Stoke City with a final scoreboard of 2-0.

The head coach of Swansea City, Paul Clement is hoping that this recent triumph can be a turning point and a change of momentum that could propel his squad to positive results for the remainder of the season.

“I think that gives us all a bit of confidence that we have now turned a corner after a difficult period.We have four games to go, two away and two home games. I am very confident, and the players are also, that we can get valuable points in the remaining four games’’

“We had not been performing very well going into the Stoke game. That run lasted much longer than we all would have liked. One point in six games is clearly not very good. We did put it right (against Stoke) both in terms of the performance and the application which I thought was very good, particularly in the first half.We had that bit of luck with their penalty miss. But I think we were due it.” Swansea City’s Paul Clement said after his team had defeated Stoke City on April 22.

The 3 final league matches of the season of Swansea City will see them facing off with: Everton, Sunderland and West Bromwich Albion. Even if Paul Clement and his men are not able to snatch any points from these games and Swansea City get relegated from the English Premier League, it’s rumored that Paul Clement is going to continue being in charge of the club as he is believed to have gained the trust of the fans and head chiefs of Swansea City who are going to give him more time on the club so that he can prove his worth as a capable manager.

Paul Clement reckons that if he is able to save Swansea’s place in the Premier division of England, he would consider it bigger than any of his feats in the past.

Clement has had some big feats under his belt with different teams, but, all in the capacity of a coach and not in the capacity of a manager. So, all of them were somebody else’s moments of glory, not his.

However, Swansea’s survival would be his moment of glory and that’s what is driving him.

The only team Clement had the opportunity of managing before Swansea was Derby and he would like forget that experience as he wasn’t able to keep himself in the job there for even a season.

He then had to make his way back to coaching again as he joined the support staff of Ancelotti in the German capital the previous season, but, as per him, having had the taste of management once, he didn’t find himself enjoying coaching that much as the sense of responsibility and authority was missing in that job.

So when another management opportunity came, he didn’t have to contemplate too much over it because deep down his heart, he knew that’s what he wanted and that’s where his future would lie, in the management and it proved to be an easy decision to make at the end.

Clement also denies that the length of his tenure at Swansea depends on the top tier survival of the club.

The 45-year old reveals to have been promised by the hierarchy that he will stay even if the Swans end up being one of the last three sides in the top flight. It’s him only who will be given the responsibility of getting the side back on track.

Bob Bradley was appointed as the head coach of Swansea City on October 3 of 2016 but it wasn’t until a few days ago when the American coach was able to snatch his 1st victory in the Premier League after his team overcame Crystal Palace in a thrilling match which concluded with a final scoreboard of 5-4.

It took the 58 year old American manager almost 2 months until he could land his 1st Premier League victory as the coach of Swansea City has been struggling trying to consistently get points in the top tier league and it’s because of this lack of consistency that Swansea City are currently drowning at the bottom of the league in the relegation zone.

When this Premier League match between Swansea City and Crystal Palace reached it’s end, Bob Bradley took some time to talk to the media as he said:

‘’This could be a turning point. Sometimes you just feel you need something crazy to change your luck and maybe this can be that moment.It’s been a difficult season, so much hasn’t bounced the right way for them, but they’ve come in every day with the right mentality and the character they showed here will pay off because we know it’s there and I know we will continue to see it and they deserved this for that but that won’t mean we don’t know that there are things that still need attention’’

‘’We need to enjoy this but it can’t be something where we just take the good part without looking at it deeper because you won’t . Being off the bottom is positive. We still have a long road ahead but we’re going to get there.”

Bob Bradley is hoping that this recent victory can be a turning point for him and his squad as they will need to start collecting more triumphs on a more consistent basis in order to escape the bottom relegation zone and try to survive for at least another season in the Premier League.

New Swansea City’s manager Bob Bradley has been given a fitness boost with the return of several players to the first team.

This will be a great news for the team ahead of their clash with Watford during the weekend.

Indeed Swansea City has been facing clubs such as Manchester City, Liverpool, and Arsenal during their most recent games and they will be hoping that they could get their season going with matches against the likes of Watford.

Bob Bradley will want to win points against their direct competitors in order to move away from the danger zone.

The first good news will be the availability of Modou Barrow for the match against Watford. The winger was injured in the game against Arsenal where Granit Xhaka fouled him. The player was causing all kind of problems to Arsenal before being injured by a dangerous tackle by Xhaka. There were fears that the player could be out for several games but medical tests have revealed that there is nothing dangerous in the injury and the player will be available for the match against Watford.

The second boost for the new manager will be the return of Fernando Llorente. The Spanish forward has returned from injury ahead of schedule and is available for selection for the game against Watford.

Bob Bradley has stated that the team needs to improve at home and make sure that they gain maximum points from the game against Watford. He said that it is important that the team give something back to the supporters and ensure that they are behind the team. He stated that the only way to achieve this is for the players to give a good performance on the pitch.

He believes that Swansea City has a good squad and that they will improve as the season goes by.

Swansea manager Francesco Guidolin says that he is happy that his team have recovered from a loss against Hull City during the weekend so as to beat Peterborough United in the EFL cup.

Swansea will always have fond memories of this competition after it gave them their first major title in the club’s history. The League Cup will once again be a target for the Swansea boss even though staying in the Premier league will be his biggest objective.

After starting the campaign with a narrow win over Burnley, the loss against Hull City once again exposed to one of the biggest weaknesses of Swansea – lack of consistency.Guidolin was a major factor in convincing Spanish international Fernando Llorente to move to the Premier League. So far, the Spaniard has been a disappointment with his poor finishing. He is clearly out of form and the performances of the team will improve dramatically once he returns to scoring fashion. Even though most of the players who took to the field in the midweek action were squad names, it gave the manager a good opportunity to look at their performances. He is likely to bring one or two changes for the upcoming league match against champions Leicester City.

One of the biggest positives in the match was young striker Ollie McBurnie, who scored a brace.”The game looks easy now, but I can assure you that nothing is easy in this job.We played some good football in the first half and I’m satisfied with what I saw.I am happy to see a young player like Ollie score goals. He is improving all the time and has been working with the first team for the last two months.It was nice for Jay to do well too and for other young lads to be on the pitch,” said the Swansea boss.

Richmond Kickers play in division no. 3 in the Football structure in USA.

So, you would like to think they would not have Footballers of quality to beat or even make a Premiership side sweat too much.

Well, if that’s what you are thinking, then you should see the online streaming of the game they played against the visiting Swansea City yesterday because it would surprise you to say the least.

The Kickers never appeared weaker and in fact made the Swans look weaker with their pace and had the better of them by two goals to none, ending their tour, which was more than a week long, on a low.

Francesco Guidolin, however, played down Swansea’s poor performance saying the situation of the Kickers and Swansea is not the same. While, one is half way through the season, the other is coming off a break. Also, Swansea had a game a couple of days back. So, lower energy and pace in comparison to the Kickers was understandable.

Guidolin opines that the motive of the tour for the players was to build rhythm and they were able to do that in the two games as they did put in as much effort as they should have on the pitch. Also, he reckons not to have any injury incidents in the two matches is great news.

The 60-year old Italian said, “The opposition was really sharp, but, we were perhaps short on spark too which you can expect in the build-up to the season when it’s not really about the results, but, about achieving rhythm.”

“Touring United States is always wonderful. The temperature might be too high for our liking, but, it’s fine. We had a lovely time and we are returning happy.”