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Article: Swansea City vs Norwich City Match Preview & Thread|Football, Swansea City, Norwich City

Discussion in 'Swansea City' started by Scottswan, Feb 10, 2012.

  1. Scottswan

    Scottswan Active Member

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    Swansea City................................... vs ...................... Norwich City
    The Liberty Stadium
    Swansea
    Sat 11-02-12 15:00 PM KO

    For links to watch the game online, click HERE



    Welcome one and all to the match thread for the game between Swansea City and Norwich City. If asked before the season started, I'm sure both sets of fans wouldn't have dared to expect that their team would occupy a top-half position after this many games, but I think amongst both Swansea and Norwich supporters there would have been a sizable percentage who backed their team's respective systems to see them good, and finish a lot higher than most "experts" predicted pre-season. Norwich sit in 9th, and Swansea 10th, ahead of the match, and both teams will be desperate for points and with the possibility of widening the gap to the relegation spots distinctly evident, the importance of a win will not be lost on both managers. This game was recently compared in an article as being like Spain vs Germany given the respective schooling both managers received, and it's very likely to turn out that way. It's set to be an intriguing match-up, that's for sure.

    The Match;

    Swansea will be looking to avenge possibly their worst performance of the season away at Carrow Road. A dismal start saw them 2-0 down before they knew what hat happened, eventually running out 3-1 losers, and it was hard to argue with. A lot has changed though, and the Swans come into the game on the back of their 2nd away win of the season at West Brom, which was preceded by string of impressive results against Spurs, Arsenal and Chelsea (with Sunderland away the obvious exception). The Swans will be looking, more than normal I feel, to starve Norwich of the ball as both sides know each other very well, and will be confident of doing so on home soil where they've only lost once all season.

    Norwich are on an equally impressive run of form with, again, the main recent exception being Sunderland away. The Canaries have enjoyed some excellent results of late, in both the league and FA Cup, and the defeat at the Stadium of Light to a resurgent Sunderland under O'Neill was their first defeat in all competitions in 7 games, and straight after that reverse they bounced back with an impressive 2-0 home win over Bolton. They will be full of confidence when they line-up against a Swans side they shocked earlier in the season, but they will do well to remember the return fixture in the Championship last year, where the Swans ran out 3-0 winners.

    Prior Form; (most recent at top)

    West Brom 1 - 2 Swansea City Premier League
    Swansea City 1 -1 Chelsea Premier League
    Sunderland 2 - 0 Swansea City Premier League
    Swansea City 3 -2 Arsenal Premier League
    Barnsley 2 - 4 Swansea City FA Cup


    Norwich City 2 -0 Bolton Premier League
    Sunderland 3 - 0 Norwich City Premier League
    West Brom 1 - 2 Norwich City FA Cup
    Norwich City 0 - 0 Chelsea Premier League
    West Brom 1 - 2 Norwich City Premier League

    Team News

    Swansea must now surely give up hope of ever seeing Ferrie Bodde in a Swans shirt again. Sad times. Other than that, Tate continues to push for a start and Orlandi misses out with a hamstring complaint, but other than that it's a more or less fully fit squad to choose from.

    Norwich will wait for late fitness tests before deciding whether to include Whitbread and Ward in the matchday squad. Tierney and Vaughan should both soon be available for selection, but Ayala, Howson and Rudd all face a longer spell on the sidelines.

    Trivia; - "Courtesy" of Opta



    Completely guessed lineups;

    Swansea

    Vorm

    Rangel
    Taylor
    Williams
    Caulker

    Britton
    Allen
    Sigurdsson

    Sinclair
    Dyer

    Graham

    Norwich

    Ruddy

    R Martin
    Whitbread
    Ward
    Naughton

    Pilkington
    Johnson
    Fox
    Surman

    Morison
    Holt

    Analysis;

    As mentioned above, this has been billed as "Spain vs Germany" and it's easy to see why. Swansea, under Rodgers, have improved the pass and move mantra to levels unseen in years for Swans fans, while Lambert's tactical nous has seen them rise through successive promotions and now sees them sitting pretty in the top half of the biggest league in the world. Lambert has possibly changed his style this season and gone a little more direct, but I think to use that word when describing Norwich is a discredit as to a lot of people "direct" reads "hoof". There's nothing wrong with playing a different style of football, and I think it's refreshing to see strikers like Grant Holt and Steve Morison being backed at PL level by a manager who can get the most of them. Norwich play nice football, but look to get if forward a lot quicker than the Swans, which is probably going to be the main contrast on Saturday. Given that past history and recent form suggests that the Swans will have a lot of the ball, it may be that Norwich are forced, to a point, to play on the counter, but that will suit them fine. With a lot of big strong players on the field, crosses on the counter attack will be particularly dangerous and any time there's a man free at the back post it will be a cause of concern for Michel Vorm.

    All across the park Norwich have footballers who've impressed me with their performances for the Canaries - Fox, Hoolahan, Surman, Pilkington, Johnson - all players who've stepped up well and are making names for themselves in much the same way as Britton, Sinclair, Dyer, Williams and Graham are for Swansea, and it will be really interesting to see who comes out on top come 5pm. Early in the season I think the Swans were cautious, and possibly weren't sure early in the season that their style could keep them up, possibly due to the physicality of the league, whereas Norwich seemed to instantly believe they could stay up. There has definitely been a slight shift in their football this year, as last season they were also known for passing the ball around, whereas this season the emphasis has been put a little more on crosses, an area Paul Lambert clearly feels his side can do well, and it's a decent shout.

    The Swans aren't the biggest team, and there are plenty of other sides who will hate the idea of playing a team who can pass, but look to get in behind and cross the ball accurately to one of two big target men! The proof is in the pudding, and Norwich's tally of goals from headers and crosses (as well as, obviously, their league position) shows they've been successful in this area up until now, and it's up for other teams to figure them out. Hopefully Swansea can retain possession and starve them of these opportunities, otherwise we could see a shaky opening.

    I'd expect the Swans to start the game by looking to soak up Norwich pressure and draw them out. I know that sounds obvious but I mean even more than normal. Away at Carrow Road the Swans' complete failure to do this meant surrendering the match almost before it began, and the Swans will want to hold onto the ball to both boost their confidence and frustrate Norwich, who will be keen to complete a clean sweep against their fellow newly promoted sides. If Norwich score in the first 20 minutes, I can see them scoring a couple. If they don't, I see a 2 or 3 goal Swans win complete with a clean sheet.

    Ladies and Gentlemen, the floor is yours.

    Iechyd Da.

    Scott
     
    #1
  2. CanariesSoccer

    CanariesSoccer Well-Known Member

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    Goodness me, there is a lot more factual accuracies in this thread than in any of mine!

    Do you guys still want me to write a match thread or leave it with this (excellent) version?
     
    #2
  3. exiledswan

    exiledswan Active Member

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    Exellent matchday thread Scott as usual and yes Canaries, i reckon you should have a break this week and we can all contribute on this one - Swans and Canaries fans seem to get on well enough to enjoy the banter.
    Really looking forward to the game tomorrow, theres been alot of hype about us recently and i hope that we dont get complacent- we ll have to be on top of our game against Norwich especially defensively. Were creating more chances than ever these days and if we can maintain that intensity im going for a Swans win 3-1 to even it out for the season.
    Having just watched the Notts forest play off highlights again (Pratleys goal still brings a tear to my eye) im going for a sneaky Leon 20 yarder!
     
    #3
  4. CanariesSoccer

    CanariesSoccer Well-Known Member

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    Fair comment, I'll leave it to the one thread, no need to split the debate, it's part of what makes matchday on not606 great!
     
    #4
  5. It'sChicoTime

    It'sChicoTime Well-Known Member

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    Scott, how do you do it mate? Another excellant match preview.

    And with that, my prediction will be 2-1 Swans, but I'll take a draw any day.
     
    #5
  6. Dangerous Marsupial

    Dangerous Marsupial Well-Known Member

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    It'll be interesting to see how Swansea cope with our long balls up to Morrison and/or Holt, because let's face it, that's what we'll be doing.
     
    #6
  7. It'sChicoTime

    It'sChicoTime Well-Known Member

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    Can't see it being much of an issue with WIlliams and Caulker in the centre, but from set pieces, anything can happen.

    P.s. We stopped the hoof ball when Stoke came, so hopefully we can do it again lol.
     
    #7
  8. Dangerous Marsupial

    Dangerous Marsupial Well-Known Member

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    In honesty, it's hard to imagine anything other than a home win here. I don't think I need to remind you your team is famed for starving the opposition of possession, and in matches (Away from home even more so) we have been guilty of conceding possession cheaply and too often, and we sure won't get it back for a long time. However be warned that we can play the counter-attack pretty well, so there is a small chance we might nick something if we are clinical enough.
     
    #8
  9. KIO

    KIO Well-Known Member

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    Iechyd Da. ............????????

    WTF ??????
     
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  10. Dilligaf

    Dilligaf New Member

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    Excellent again Scott as usual, I think you missed your vocation in life.

    Iechyd Da means good health in Welsh
     
    #10

  11. Crackerjack

    Crackerjack Active Member

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    We didn't have Caulker last game , Buck's experiment playing Routledge in the middle ended with the final whistle against Norwich & now we have Sig .... 2 - 0 Swans !
     
    #11
  12. Scottswan

    Scottswan Active Member

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    What do you mean? I couldn't be happier cold-calling the populace trying to offer people insulation inbetween being sworn at!

    I might go cry a little...
     
    #12
  13. KIO

    KIO Well-Known Member

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    <ok> ........;)
     
    #13
  14. canarie-chippy

    canarie-chippy Well-Known Member

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    When you look at this one, your home form suggests a straight forward win to the swans, but we will have learnt from our visit last year and i think it might be much tighter, if we play 100% we might nick this one 2-1, but alot depends on wether or CB's are fit for the game.
    Should be a cracker <ok>
     
    #14
  15. Yankee_Jack

    Yankee_Jack Well-Known Member

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    Spot on SB.
     
    #15
  16. DragonPhilljack

    DragonPhilljack Well-Known Member

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    Great match day thread Scott, as always! The prediction pot down my local was passed around last night, with many Jacks going for a 3-0 win to Swansea, but I don't think this time round that Norwich will make quite the same mistakes, anyway I predicted a 2-1 win, last night and will stick to that on here, though some did predict a draw too, but I don't see that happening, as the game will be an open encounter in my view, need to really watch Norwich on the counter attack though!....................
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  17. CanariesSoccer

    CanariesSoccer Well-Known Member

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    On paper, it's difficult to look past a Swans win, but "on paper" doesn't take in to account the tactical genuis of Paul Lambert, I would be very surprised if he hasn't already worked out a game plan which could beat Swans..."on paper".

    At the end of the day, "On paper" and "recent form" mean nothing in matches like this, both managers will be going hell-for-leather to win this one and be crowned best of the new boys.

    I can't predict the result, but I can pedict that this match will be more asthetically pleasing than Kylie Minogue's bottom and Holly Willoughby's chest COMBINED.
     
    #17
  18. I_Clean_holtys_boots

    I_Clean_holtys_boots Active Member

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    In last seasons match, was elliot ward who had a mare at the back... I hope its martin and barney at the back!?

    Good thread SS and hope for a good match, hoping for a draw but i think a defeat is on the cards here...

    Also this isnt the last battle between us this season by looking at the Fair play league...
     
    #18
  19. CanariesSoccer

    CanariesSoccer Well-Known Member

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    Huh? Swans 2nd Norwich 8th? Don't understand where you're coming from?
     
    #19
  20. Phuketcanary

    Phuketcanary Well-Known Member

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    had a dream on tuesday that we won 2-1. jackson scored a peach. that said i also had the ability to levitate above the stadium, so this wasn't exactly factual.
     
    #20

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