Championship - Countdown: Swansea City
Eurosport - Sun, 20 Jul 10:33:00 2008
Eurosport.yahoo.com continues its countdown to the Championship season with a look at last season's League One champions Swansea City.
SWANSEA
Manager: Roberto Martinez
Last 10 seasons in the Championship (2007/08 to 1998/99): None
POSSIBLE STARTING XI:
Dorus De Vries
Angel Rangel - Dennis Lawrence - Gary Monk - Ashley Williams
Mark Gower - Darren Pratley - Ferrie Bodde - Owain Tudur-Jones
Guillem Bauza - Jason Scotland
BACK-UPS FROM:
David Knight
Albert Serran - Alan Tate - Marcos Painter - Kristian O'Leary
Leon Britton - Federico Bessone - Jordi Gomez - Thomas Butler
Stefan Morrison - Gorka Pintado
POSITIVES:
Swansea have one of the game's promising young managers in Roberto Martinez, who was linked with the vacant assistant manager's job at Manchester United recently. He has them playing good football which secured the League One title by 10 points last season. The Spaniard has finally secured the services of Dutch midfield man Ferrie Bodde for another season despite the offer of £1.5m from Derby, while several signings - most from abroad - and a new contract for captain Garry Monk point towards an ambitious Championship challenge this season, with strikers Jason Scotland and Guillem Bauza capable of scoring plenty of goals. The Swans will hope to loan striker Febian Brandy again from Man Utd as back-up; if they can also loan Chelsea starlet Scott Sinclair or Liverpool's Adam Hammill for a spot out wide, they may surprise a few people.
NEGATIVES:
There have been disappointments too this summer. Winger Andy Robinson left for Leeds while Paul Anderson, on loan from Liverpool last year, opted instead to join fellow second-tier new boys Nottingham Forest. Darren Way and Darryl Duffy have also exited the Liberty Stadium.
VERDICT:
Swansea have the potential for a top-half finish, but whether they can 'do a Bristol City' and challenge for the play-offs is another matter. The key to their season lies with the new signings that replace the players that have left: can they gel? Established names such as Bodde and Scotland - assuming they remain fit - should ensure that they are not in for a relegation dogfight.
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Comment 1 - 8 of 8
HA HA what a joke of a report
The pikeys will be back where they belong next season
Bottom 3 finish
swans will finish in top 10 and jason scotland will be topmarksman in championship we will havea fiesta with the spanish players .look out cardiff m.williams
Who wrote this post? have you ever been to a Swans game? The starting line up is way off the mark. Adam Hammil joined Blackpool on Friday. Swans will definatley be in top 10 in the championship. We need a replacement keeper and Scott Sinclair will be perfect for us as we need someone out wide with pace i would love to see him there next season but cant see it happening.
This report is useless. The photo is of two players who don't even play for the Swans any more and the possible starting XI is wide of the mark.
top ten if lucky
well said son but dont know about top5 but top half of the table will do for this year and the next year is a different matter:O):O):O)
We with what i've seen pre season the Jacks are going to be a force to be reconed with.
The like of Bristol rovers and Cardiff City are shaking in their boots already as they have heard we are on a mission to get into and hold a top 5 spot for the season.
My prediction definately top 5 finish
Cornellyjak
swansea will be in the dogfight four relegation
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