Premiership preview, table prediction: 17. Swansea City

Swansea City

Swansea City

Nickname: The Swans

Ground: The Liberty Stadium

Capacity: 20532

Manager: Brendan Rodgers

Squad:

·         Goalkeepers 13 David Cornell 21 Jose Moreira 99 Gerhard Tremmel ·         Defenders 2 Ashley Williams 3 Neil Taylor 4 Steven Caulker 5 Alan Tate 16 Garry Monk 22 Angel Rangel 34 Joe Walsh 35 Daniel Alfei

·         Midfielders 6 Ferrie Bodde 7 Leon Britton 8 Andrea Orlandi 11 Scott Sinclair 12 Nathan Dyer 17 David Cotterill 23 Ryan Harley 24 Joe Allen 25 Shaun MacDonald 26 Kemy Agustien 27 Mark Gower 28 Thomas Butler 29 Ashley Richards 31 Lee Lucas ·         Attacking Midfielders 25 Wayne Routledge

·         Forwards 9 Craig Beattie 10 Danny Graham 14 Stephen Dobbie 15 Leroy Lita 19 Luke Moore 36 Casey Thomas

The first Welsh team to appear in the Premier League, Swansea impressed in the play-offs with their passing football.They swept aside Reading 4-2 in the final thanks to a Scott Dobbie strike and a Scott Sinclair hat-trick.

 
Manager Brendan Rodgers likes to play offensive and prefers to play a 4-3-3 attacking style of play. Swanseas belief in retaining possession, earned them the moniker the Welsh Barcelona. My question is, can they defend good enough in the premiership to stay up? They look strong enough in attack, also bringing in Leroy Lita and Wayne Routledge, as well as getting Championship's top scorer from last season Danny Graham t. I think Swansea will be a fun team to watch, and I think they might give us entertainment like Blackpool did last season. My big question mark is their defense and goalkeepers. They did well in the championship last season, keeping 21 clean sheets, but now its season 11/12 and premiership football. They have yet to bring in any solid defenders or goalkeepers with premier league experience. That said it’ still time to sign players, and they might be able to strengthen enough defensively before the season starts.

Pre-Season Fixtures/Results

July 16 vs Neath 0-1

July 16 vs Port Talbot 3-1 Beattie, Rangel, Cornell

July 23 vs Afan Lido 2-0 Beattie, Lucas

July 27 vs Inter Baku 3-1 Sinclair, Dyer, Moore

August 3 vs Celtic 2-0 Rangel, Dobbie

 August 6 vs Real Betis 1-0 Graham

The results in pre-season have been good, and especially the victory against Celtic and Real Betis show that Brendan Rodgers boys are in good shape for their premiership debut.

Players in

08/11 Leroy Lita FW

07/11 Kemy Agustien MF

07/11 Steven Caulker DF

07/11 Scott Donnelly MF

07/11 Danny Graham FW

07/11 Ryan Harley MF

07/11 Shaun MacDonald MF

Players out

06/11 Fabio Borini FW

06/11 Dorus de Vries GK

06/11 Darren Pratley MF

06/11 Albert Serran DF

The loss off goalkeeper Dorus de Vries will be a big blow if they don’t get a new one before the window closes. Right now it’s not shure who will be Brendan Rodgers first pick in goal. And the club is nowdays linked to FC Utrecht goalkeeper Michel Vorm.  As earlier mentioned I belive that they have done a lot of good signings in Lita, Routledge and Graham.

 

Most likely starting line up for Swansea next weekend:

                                           Jose Moreira

Angel Rangel       Ashley Williams       Alan Tate    Neil Taylor

Nathan Dyer    Kemy Agustien     

 

 Scott Sinclair              Stephen Dobbie           Leon Britton

 

Danny Graham            

To summon things up, I think Swansea will be a positive new team to watch in the premiership, and let’s hope we see some Barcelona type of play from the swans this season as well. At this point I think they will have tough time in the premiership due to the lack of defensive quality, but I have a feeling that they will manage to stay up.

Premiership preview, table prediction: 18. Aston Villa

Aston Villa

Nickname: The Villans

Ground: Villa Park

Capacity: 42640

Manager: Alex McLeish

Squad:

·         Goalkeepers 1 Shay Given 22 Brad Guzan 24 Elliott Parish 33 Andy Marshall Benjamin Siegrist ·         Defenders 2 Luke Young 3 Stephen Warnock 5 Richard Dunne 21 Ciaran Clark 23 Habib Beye 24 Carlos Cuellar 29 James Collins 30 Eric Lichaj 32 Nathan Baker 34 Shane Lowry

·         Midfielders 7 Stephen Ireland 10 Charles N'Zogbia 12 Marc Albrighton 16 Fabian Delph 17 Jean Makoun 19 Stiliyan Petrov 25 Barry Bannan 28 Jonathan Hogg 31 Chris Herd 35 Daniel Johnson 38 Gary Gardner

·         Forwards 9 Darren Bent 11 Gabriel Agbonlahor 18 Emile Heskey 26 Andreas Weimann 26 Nathan Delfouneso

A lot of things have gone wrong for Aston Villa after Martin O’Neil left them about a year ago. After appointing Gérard Houllier, it went terribly wrong. Before he left the club he managed to argue with most of the players and even got the fans screaming for the sack after some weeks. So I’m sure most of the fans were happy to see him sign off due to his health, or at least so he claimed. But from a fans point of view it got worse when the club decided to appoint rival club Birmingham manager Alex McLeish. So I bet the fans will be critical at everything he does, and if the results is not good from the start he won’t be sitting in the manager chair for long. And to add things to all the negative stuff that have been going on in the club for a year or so, they lose Downing to Liverpool and Young to Manchester United. And let both John Carew and Nigel Reo-Coker go on free transfer.  So I think Alex McLeish and Aston Villa are in for one tough and disappointing season which I believe could end in relegation.

Pre-Season Fixtures/Results

July 21 vs Walsall 3-1 – Bent (2), Heskey

July 27 vs Blackburn Rovers 1-0 – Bent

July 31 vs Chelsea 0-2 August 3rd vs Derby County 0-2

August 6th vs Sporting Braga 1-1 N’Zogbia

The pre-season results have been ok, but not impressive and Villa won’t be boosting with confidence after all the negative talk the last year.

Players in

07/11 Shay Given GK  

07/11 Brad Guzan GK  

07/11 Shane Lowry DF  

07/11 Isaiah Osbourne MF  

07/11 Andreas Weimann FW  

Players out

07/11 Stewart Downing MF  

06/11 Michael Bradley MF  

06/11 Brad Friedel GK  

06/11 Nigel Reo-Coker MF  

06/11 Kyle Walker DF  

06/11 Ashley Young MF  

Alex McLeish have not done much on the transfer side yet, and I think he wants and need to strengthen and put his touch on the Villa side if he is to get the team into a good league position this year. On the positive side I would say Villa have a better goalkeeper this season after signing Shay Given from Manchester City to replace Brad Friedel.

Most likely starting lineup for Aston Villa next weekend:

                                                 Shay Given

Luke Young          James Collins       Richard Dunne    Stephen Warnock

    Stiliyan Petrov           Stephen Ireland

 Marc Albrighton                                                            Charles N'Zogbia

                            Gabriel Agbonlahor       Darren Bent

Aston Villa is looking poor defensively and looking at the most likely starting back-line I think Shay Given will get his hands full. Looking forward they are in need of Bent and new signing N’Zogbia to deliver the goods if they are to get result. I think Alex McLeish is a good manager and I could be wrong with my prediction, but I’m 100% sure that he won’t get much backing from the fans if the results are not good from the start, which could make it one hell of a struggle to get results. I predict Aston Villa going down, and I also bet Alex McLeish might be the first manager to be sacked this season.

Premiership preview, table prediction: 19. Newcastle United

Newcastle United

Nickname: The Magpies

Ground: St James’ Park

Capacity: 52387

Manager: Alan Pardew

Goalkeepers 1 Steve Harper 21 Fraser Forster 26 Tim Krul 33 Ole Soderberg  Defenders 2 Fabricio Coloccini 3 Jose Enrique 5 Sol Campbell 6 Mike Williamson 12 Danny Simpson 14 James Perch 16 Ryan Taylor 27 Steven Taylor 34 James Tavernier 48 Matthew Grieve

Midfielders 7 Yohan Cabaye 7 Joey Barton 8 Danny Guthrie 15 Dan Gosling 17 Alan Smith 18 Jonas Gutierrez 22 Sylvain Marveaux 24 Cheik Tiote 35 Bradden Inman 37 Hatem Ben Arfa 39 Joan Simun Edmundsson Attacking Midfielders 11 Peter Lovenkrands 31 Shane Ferguson

Forwards 20 Leon Best 21 Demba Ba 23 Shola Ameobi 26 Joan Edmundsson 29 Haris Vuckic 30 Nile Ranger 32 Ryan Donaldson 38 Phil Airey 42 Shefki Kuqi 44 Sammy Ameobi

Newcastle has been a club with a lot of negativity the last year, and it all started when they out of nowhere decided to fire their manager Chris Hughton. Who was do an excellent job with a newly promoted team, and had the backing from both fans and players, but not owner Mike Ashley. The reason for this was that Hughton didn’t have the right experience as a manager to take the team to the next level was Ashley comment. For me this is just ridicules, and when you go and hire a manager like Alan Pardew it just makes I worse. In my opinion he is no better manager then Hughton, and if you ask me he might be the poorest manager in the premiership at the moment. I think it’s sad to see a big club like Newcastle being led by a business man with no clue about how to run a club. And I feel with all the great fans of the club. The Toon Army is one of the absolute best supporters in England, and deserves so much better then what they have gotten the last year.

Pre-Season Fixtures/Results

July 15 vs Darlington 2-0 – Barton, S Ameobi

 July 20 vs Sporting Kansas City 0-0

July 23 vs Orlando City 0-1

July 26 vs Columbus Crew 3-0 Shola Ameobi, Coloccini, Vuckic

July 31 vs Leeds United 2-3 S Taylor, Vuckic

August 6 v Fiorentina 0-0 – Match Abandoned

Players in

07/11 Demba Ba FW  

07/11 Yohan Cabaye MF  

07/11 Fraser Forster GK  

07/11 Sylvain Marveaux MF  

07/11 Ben Tozer DF  

07/11 Xisco FW  

Players out

06/11 Kazenga LuaLua MF  

06/11 Kevin Nolan MF  

Newcastle’s pre-season results have not been the best, and I think Alan Pardew is in way over his head at the moment. When one look at what quality players that have left the club after he came in charge, it’s horrible to see what he has manage to get in so far. I mean losing Andy Carrol and Kevin Nolan and replacing them with unknown and injured players from France is just ridicules. The signing of Demba Ba from West Ham might be a good signing, but when there is talk about both Joey Barton and Jose Enrique wanting to leave the club because they feel that the club is a selling club without ambitions there is trouble coming for MR. Pardew. The wrath of The Toon Army is nothing to joke about, and it will hit him hard if deliver as poor results as he did last season. There is still time to bring in players for Alan Pardew, but if he lose both Barton and Enrique before the transfer window closes, he needs to spend big money to cope with all the holes that are left to fill from last season. Remember that Carrol, Barton and Nolan stod for most of the Magpies goals last season.

Most likely starting lineup for Newcastle next weekend:

                                            Fraser Forster

Danny Simpson       Mike Williamson     Steven Taylor    Jose Enrique

Danny Guthrie                 Cheik Tiote

Yohan Cabaye                                                  Jonas Gutierrez

                            Shola Ameobi          Demba Ba

The starting lineup for Newcastle scares no one at the moment. And if Alan Pardew doesn’t make more harmoni in the squad there will be trouble from the start. This will make it hard for the club get the backing from the fans, and I predict relegation for Newcastle if they don’t sack Alan Pardew within a short time. I hope I’m wrong but I have a bad feeling for Newcastle this season.