Swansea Preview (A)
Brady Frost, Feature Writer
Twitter: @brady0894
Source for image above: HTAFC
Can The Terriers stop the high flying Swans? Swansea City fan podcast The Jack Cast previews Saturday’s match in South Wales.
With the international break coming to an end, league football returns with a difficult away trip for Huddersfield Town. Playoff semi-finalists Swansea City welcome The Terriers to The Liberty Stadium, having started the season strongly. The Swans are unbeaten in their four league matches, winning three of those and having only conceded one goal. Yikes.
On paper, it may look like there’s only one winner. Especially when Town have picked up just four points and sit 19th in a very early league table. However, as the cliche goes dear reader, football is not played on paper, so who knows what awaits us this Saturday in South Wales.
One transfer deadline has passed but the extended two-week domestic window ends today at 5pm, so we might even hear about some new additions and some long-awaited exits to The Terriers’ squad. We’ll wait and see.
Ahead of the match, And He Takes That Chance chatted to Steven Carroll from Swansea fan podcast, The Jack Cast, to preview the game and what we can expect from Town’s opponents.
Last season, Swansea won 3-1 in their home fixture against Huddersfield and drew 1-1 at the John Smith’s Stadium in November (pictured). Photo source: Swansea City
Other teams who finished in and around the playoffs last season seem to be starting the season slowly, but not Swansea, why do you think you’ve made such a good start?
The key has been the fact we’ve only conceded once in four games. Going forward we haven’t created a lot but when you’re not letting goals in you’ve always got a chance of picking up good results and that’s what’s happened.
What are your general expectations for the season?
Hard to say, this is a season like no other, our squad isn’t the biggest and I would assume it’s the same for most clubs. The fixtures are crammed in like never before so it could be unpredictable. But having made a good start, a top 6 finish could be within reach.
What’s your opinion on manager Steve Cooper? When we spoke the last time these two teams played, there were some calls for him to go.
Since then he’s changed to a 3-5-2 formation from 4-3-3 and it suits our personnel far better. Results have improved a lot, the football can be poor at times but he’s used the loan market well again and is doing a good job in tough circumstances.
Swansea Boss Steve Cooper famously won the 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup with England. Photo source: Swansea City
What happened with Alan Tate and Jon Toral in the first match back? That seemed to come out of nowhere. Can you give us some context?
No idea on this one! There seemed to be a bit of backchat between them then next thing we see is Tate grabbing him around the throat! No one at the club has really said anything since but Tate is now in the middle of a touchline ban because of it.
Which player from your current squad do you think will be one to watch this season?
Morgan Gibbs-White, he’s looked a class above so far. He’s created numerous chances and we’re hopeful he’ll chip in with goals regularly too.
You’ve done a lot of transfer business this window, have you been impressed with your business so far? Any players you think will do well?
Gibbs-White as I’ve mentioned is the standout. The others have made steady if not spectacular starts so far. Korey Smith and Jamal Lowe have been regulars and it’ll be interesting to see Victor Gyorekes get some minutes too. Freddie Woodman and Marc Guehi have also returned on loan after similar spells last term.
Morgan Gibbs-White has joined Swansea on loan from Wolves this season and has already impressed for The Swans. Photo source: Swansea City
Is there anything Huddersfield need to be on the lookout for in this game?
Gibbs-White is likely to be the biggest threat along with Andre Ayew.
What are Swansea’s weaknesses, is there anything Huddersfield can take advantage of?
We don’t create much so if you can keep things tight then there’s always a chance of you coming away with a result.
What are your expectations for Huddersfield Town this season?
Tough to say, I’m expecting a change of style under your new manager. I’m sure after last season you’ll be hoping to be further up the league and away from the relegation zone.
What’s your score prediction for the game?
Our games have been low scoring so far so I’ll go for a 1-0 Swansea win.
How do you think Huddersfield will get on against Swansea? Let us know in the comments!
Our Predictions:
Brady: 3-2 win for Swansea.
Kosi: 2-2 and Andre Ayew to score.
Matt: 2-1 win for Swansea.
Neil: 2-0 win for Swansea.
Pozza: 1-1 and Andre Ayew to score.
Scoring system: A correct score wins three points, a correct result wins a point.
