Thetownend.com

Town starting XI: Vigouroux, Rossi-Branco, Thompson (C), Sendles-White, Barry, Kasim, Rodgers, Smith, Brophy, Goddard, Obika


Subs: Henry, Ormonde-ottewill, Spalding, Evans, Iandolo, Young, Stewart, Hylton


No Connor Thomas...

Immediately looks stronger with Obika playing, shame we have to persist with Rodgers though.

So the first XI, except Thomas must be injured...as I said before, it would be good to avoid a proper tonking, if Swans field a strong side rather than like Reading a B team.

I'm boycotting this.

Thomas does have a slight injury.

Swansea line-up Tremmel, Naughton, Fernandez, van der Hoon, Kingsley, Fulton, Cork, Gorre, Dyer, Routledge, McBurnie.

subs Nordfeldt, Rangel, Roberts, Amat, Fer, King, Barrow, Montero, Ayew, Rodon.

Is it on the radio tonight .....

Yes but not online

So not their A team.   I wonder if Gorre is  anyway related to the legendary Dean of hilarious CG sending off, was it v Uddersfield?

Son of.

 :) ha ha

A few more familiar names on their bench:

 Nordfeldt, Rangel, Roberts, Amat, Fer, King, Barrow, Montero, Ayew, Rodon.

And yes it was 'Udders in 2000, booked and sent off within seconds :)

I loved the Gorre sending off, but I don't remember it that clearly https://thewashbag.com/2015/03/11/the-best-ive-ever-seen-4-dean-gorres-strop-swindon-v-huddersfield-town/

Good find  :)

So Luke Williams' quote in the local rag that there would be at least one new player in by tonight was not true!

I'd imagine it was more a hope there would be, rather than a belief.

Shaky periscope from a Swans fan if anyone's interested.

https://www.periscope.tv/w/1ZkKzpnMnBoJv (https://www.periscope.tv/w/1ZkKzpnMnBoJv)

Any TEF correspondent at the game / by their radio to share the frenzy with us unfortunates please?

Ta!

more bullshit from the club :badmood:

Good save from Swans keeper from Goddard. Good save from Vigs from the aforementioned Gorre.

Loving it. It's just like being there!

unsurprisingly it's a tad dull. Goddard looks useful but we've not had enough sustained possession to really do much.

Swansea look the more likely, as they should.

Probably something Power told him to say to pacify the fans!!

Well, that's worked well!

I'd rather we get the right player next week than this season's Balmy now.

cracking double save from the swans keeper..

Indeed it was.

I have a live stream :)

Based solely on forum posts in recent weeks, I am slightly looking forward to watching Goddard

Apart from the double save by the Swans keeper we've been second best. Nathan Thompson our best player. Goddard couldn't do anything right but grew into things towards the end of the first half.

Little birdie told me Rodgers is having a great game

He/she is blind.

Any chance of sharing it?

branco down (groin) and subbed off. boo on.

Rodgers is not having a good game, he is having a typical Rodgers game

Branco off BOO on

Swans make 9 changes.

Fingers crossed the Swans put a seven figure bid in for him

1-0 swans, sloppy pass gave it away

Ayew scores

https://www.periscope.tv/ImNovak_/1LyxBbOPajrxN

2-0, deft flick on free kick conceded by Goddard

0-2

We look shakey as fuck at the back.

Thanks

Where's the stream link...that periscope thing is broken.

My word what an awful free kick by Swindon.

Working good for me mate.

That link works, cheers!

Who in fucks name just took that freekick?!

Not a surprise, we have the same shit defence as last season with the same crap Rodgers screening in front. How Power thinks one defender will solve the problem is beyond me. The squad is so weak at the moment its unreal. Remember Sendels White is some one we had on trial pre season last year and was judged not good enough. We had Williams and Turnbull after all. Now he is first choice. Same shit happened with Rodgers in midfield the season before last. The decline in quality of the team in 2 years is incredible.

Still window open for awhile yet, we will just have wasted pre season and a month of the season by the time our business is done.

That's the camera work.....

:D

Goal disallowed for offside...from a corner.....!

Who's no 7? He looks lively.

Swans are very quick on the break, there is a massive gulf in quality between us and them.

We look pretty quick going forward too, to be fair. The 10-15 minutes i've watched has been pretty even.

I agree....not much between them from what I've seen (ony 10 minutes or so admittedly...). We've hit the post and had a goal disallowed. Some nice passing as well;

0-3

this is my onest opinion this season i can see us going down cant see us surviving with this team unless power seriously buys or loans some decent loan signings,totaly agree sendleswhite and branco are not good enough aswell jermaine hylton he needs go out on loan  but i forgot we dont have enough players for him to be loaned out as for rogers what a waste of space hes only here so power thinks he in with a chance of loans from celtic from his dad.

Somebody restrain me.

Why? It's his opinion which is no less valid than anyone else's.

I can only say what I see, I think we have had some good passing and running with the ball but we have little quality in the final ball and defensively we look weak still...much like most of last season.

Good passing does not make a team, passing with purpose and quality makes a team....Swansea do that and their finishing has been so much better than us.

Not knocking how we play just the lack of quality in several key positions.

I think somebody's tried that defence on the Internet before. It's not very convincing.

Tonight's attendance: 3,306 (554 away supporters) #STFC

As it should be considering they are 2 divisions higher......can't argue about the defending though.

That's bollocks. Can you assure me 100% we wont get relegated?

I don't think we will. But that's just my opinion. Who the fuck knows.

It's what forums are for

I think he's not great BUT he's under contract I believe and that was signed when there was no Celtic connection.

You can see from space we need beefing up but it's not the astronauts that are doing the wheeler dealing. I just hope we don't get some severe dickings early doors to it off an already dwindling fan base.

What the fuck was Vigs doing there? lack of concentration?

Is Spalding one of ours now? I thought he was on trial. If not maybe he is the new signing?

That is ultimately the problem. We play a style of football that requires good players to work. We all know the quality of players we need in this league to be competing for a playoff spot which i assume is still the ambition. We are a long way off that at the moment.

I guess i need to lower expectations and have stay in league one as the ambition of this club now.

I agree. But we're a small League 1 team which is a long way from having finished its business, just like last year, and the year before.

And if you really thought all opinions were equally valid,  you'd spend your time on the special fb group page, not here. But you're better than that.

Youth team defender

Game over 0-3

i thought we scored?

Disallowed.

So then nobody can object to it?

Tbf, his  opinion was based on no signings coming in which if that came to pass, I'd agree that we've had it.

Of course you can. But objecting to it doesn't make that person's opinion wrong.

What's the difference between someone thinking we'll get relegated and someone thinking we won't.

It wasn't terrible. Usual flaws and all that.

So then why are you objecting to the objection?

Besides, for me I think it's a foolish opinion regardless of whether or not we do actually go down. It's not so much the conclusion (we could possibly go down), but the reasoning behind it. It's extremely faulty.

I didn't see all of it, but what I did see was decent enough.

About a month. And probably the same person.

At least some people have opinions and don't just get their jollies ridiculing those that do.

It was not an ad hom attack: It was the opinion that was being ridiculed, not the person stating it.

Isn't my opinion clear enough for you yet then?

If you gave one it might be clearer

As things stand, ignoring pre season results....we know that last season was a struggle to maintain Div 3 status.

We know that of that side atm about 5/6 or 7 regulars are still available, and we've lost 4 or 5 players.

Of those 4 or 5, so far we've brought in 2, so it's pretty obvious we will bring in at least 3 if not 4 or 5 reinforcements. That will be required to stay at last year's level....now some of the lads from last season may push on, or not. It's  hard to tell for a lot of them getting up to aceptable Div 3 standard was a big jump, can they take it on?  If they can and the reinforcements are of decent quality maybe, we could have a more comfortable season. It's easy to see why though, many are unconvinced.

Sorry, I didn't think I needed to spell it out letter by letter. My opinion, the validity of which is entirely for you to judge, is that end-July is at least a month too early to start making confident predictions of our impending demise in the coming season, on the basis of a very incomplete and imbalanced squad, before we've finished signing players and before any loans have come in.

There, an opinion. Clear enough now? Jeez.

Fuck me, I actually agree with something Reg has said!!! I reckon 5 players minimum will be signed between now & the end of the window. Tonight's result is the best thing that could have happened to us. A battling 1 goal defeat or an even more unlikely draw/freak win might have been enough to convince the powers that be that this squad is good enough when the majority know we need major reinforcements!!

In Colin Todd's pre season I seem to remember steamrollering everyone, including Southampton. Keith O'Halloran was a world beater. Then the season started.

On that basis, we'll be brilliant. I hope. Helped by the fact that it will be entirely different people wearing the shirt.


Sent from my iPhone

I missed the first goal as I wasn't paying attention, but the other two seemed the sort goals you concede in div 3 which is a worry. Nothing to write home about tonight.

Undecided on the seasons prospects.

A couple of nice spells, a couple of shitty moments and long periods of nothingness. Impossible to judge anything from that, other than it is absolutely clear the squad as it stands] is not strong enough.

Very worrying how easily we were undone by balls over the top/into the channels. Particularily after Branco hobbled off. That said, Swansea were obviously a class above up front at that time.

Well that was very reminiscent of many a game last year. Same game plan using the same players who lack the same technical skills. No improvement for any player in the choices they make, the weaknesses they have. I do wonder if our coach has been even attempting to work on things to improve skills. 

Rogers still plays the easy sideways or backwards pass, Barry all right foot cuts inside, corner and other set piece routines etc etc.

First goal given away with a careless flick in a tight space. Second goal attacker got across a sleepy defender at near post. Third goal, an accurate 50 yard pass from left back to right wing and smart one on one finish.

It's going to be a long winter.

no way jose

If you include loans, 5 is a fair enough number and similar to normal under power.

Sounds like Branco has a big problem

 
On Raphael Rossi-Branco...
We're concerned. He's had surgery in the summer and initially it looks like the same problem we thought we’d solved with the surgery. In the next 24/48 hours we should know more. He's very upset now. He had that surgery at the end of last season and it's taken him a long time to get fit enough to train. He's got himself up to the same level as the rest of the squad and he sacrificed a lot of his summer.
 

We were good in spells, Hylton hit the post after brilliant work by Kasim and we showed some nice football in the final third at times, mainly after the frankly hopeless Rodgers went off. I'd much rather Tom Smith in the side then Rodgers.

As others have said we are probably 6 short of a decent squad. First 11 is ok ish but we really need Power to start bringing in new players.

I'm assuming that the trialists from Saturday have all been shown the door.

Smith is worth a go in place of Rodgers. Nothing to lose and looks as if he doesn't mind getting stuck in.

Vigs distribution is dreadful, which is worrying given the emphasis on playing it out from the back.

Yes, he's no Foderingham with the ball at his feet unfortunately.

He touched the ball 3 times with his hands, each time to pick the ball
Out of the net.

Nathan Thompson was a class above tonight, superb performance.

I thought we looked quite good for a lot of it. Their finishing was better for sure. Have to agree though we need 5-6 players and good ones or it will be a similar season to last. Still time, and we aren't rubbish, there will be worse sides for sure, just a little frustrating we aren't ready to roll yet.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Crku62HFkCo

Highlights if you missed the live stream like myself. Seem to support what most are saying - looked good in final third, but the goals we conceded are piss-weak.

What the hell was that 2nd goal about?!

Definitely some promising signs going forward but the backline still as worrying as ever. I can't believe Power doesn't think a really decent centre half (or two) isn't a worthwhile investment. It could make a HUGE difference.

Overloaded with midfield types, that's for sure.

When BOO has to replace Branco you know you're in trouble.

Again, I hope there isn't any knee jerk signings like last year.

Vigs not exactly covering himself in glory with the goals. Kasim for Hylton's chance was pure filth.

Must remember, those who are suggesting our defence looked shaky (which I'm not disagreeing with), that Ayew earns three times our total wage budget...

Obviously our squad is not complete, and wont be until 23:59 on August 31. Same as everyone else. Cov have got two senior midfield players after flogging Vincelot to Moneyballs Bradford. Most squads at this level are in the same boat.

If we have the same collection of players on the morning of September 1, then I'll be concerned. But we won't. Spending a little cash on a good CB and a good ST would do us the world of good, but if we need to wait a few weeks to get a deal, or a player, that's right for the club then so be it.

Thanks for that.

Unbiased clips.

Second goal looked really bad.

In many ways playing these kind of pre-season friendlies is now counterproductive.  Traditionally your friendly against a name, would be a chance to see the new boys, see how they looked fitting in with old boys, and hopefully see something to raise fan hopes a bit for the coming season.

Now we just see an incomplete squad, getting taken apart by the name's B team. Swansea by no means the worst culprit probably have 30+ players who'd walk into our side.

It doesn't do us any good whatsoever...far better playing a few low key games against clubs of a more similar size.

Even if the panic button has yet to be pressed, you can hear the alarm bells tuning up and we haven't kicked a ball in anger yet....

Except most coaches now will pick a mixture of teams to fit different parts of the game you want to work on. One lower level game for confidence and to practice attacking phases but knowing it won't help your defence, 'keeper or shape. Then play higher level to work on playing without the ball, structure and shape. Then some of your own level for the contest - a mixture of attack & defence but with credible transitions.

Using pre-season for the fans could leave you under-prepared and either overly optimistic or unsure about how to transition.

Agreed. Most sensible way forward is to bring the transfer deadline to the eve of the season, but that still wouldn't help said issues massively.

All well and good, but historically this is a showcase sort of game, whereby the fans are supposed to get a look at the coming season.  If we now have to accept we won't have a squad in place until 31st of August, then not much point...the damage done to fan morale is considerable. As things stand just over a week away from KO, we don't look to have addressed any of last season's lessons.

Can you tune up an alarm bell? And today's winner for most mixed metaphors in a single line is ....

Probably not, but you can do a routine check to make sure it's in good working order for when needed....

Thought the second goal was a good flick,  but not going to come off very often.

The nature of the third goal was more worrying to me, it was a cracking pass with good pace and a cool finish. But a) we should be doing better wit two defender sleeping a bit and b) it was something they were threatening to do from the moment Branco went off injured - i.e. they had acres of space down the flanks.

Almost 30 years to the day we eased past Swansea in a friendly at The Vetch, a chance to admire new signing Duncan Shearer and co. A real sense of a team being assembled with thought and determination to build and succeed for the season ahead. As for last night.........hmm.........

I was at that one. Absolutely hammered it down and we won something like 5-1. How times change.

Chris Coleman lined up for the Jacks...it often rained at the Vetch

From memory, Deadly Dunc scored loads in  pre season, then struggled a bit once the campaign got underway, something like 3 goals before Christmas.

I got my first sight of him at The Hawthorns....we lost 3-1 he was terrible, Baggies inspired by Carlton Palmer, the sort of performance that probably inspired Patrick Viera and Yaya Toure.

Normally at the start of the season players look fit and healthy, sporting tans etc. Dunc looked pallid obviously due to his Sweatieness, but I thought he might have been ill.

Lou liked to play friendlies against teams he thought we might beat...

I actually thought that was the goal of the night, an absolute pin point pass with a great run and finish.  Ultimately if we had our back 3 in place we would of dealt with it as Nath would of been in behind covering but a back 4 we looked very limited and suspect of long balls in behind.  Ultimately we missed Branco because we had to change our shape.  Think we need 4-5 players signed to have a reasonable season.

Not sure you can entirely blame the back line, they aren't very good but they seem to be getting zero protection from midfield, on at least the first Ayew just seemed to be stood on his own in a space in front of our back line which is where I would expect a covering midfielder to be patrolling, equally for the third the midfield seemed to be missing in action?

I never put much store on pre-season friendlies but last night worried me more than usual. Yes Swansea played "reserve" teamers in the main and they are at a Premiership side for a reason, but apart from the odd flash of skill and a couple of good individual performances we were second best all over the place and the gulf should not be that obvious.

As said elsewhere on here there is a definite need for some additions to the squad, preferably a couple of "older" heads to bring out the best of the younger players but I am not holding my breath.

Good job!

Purple Ticker!

We will get a load in on loan I'm sure.

Me too.  It would take the patience of a hundred saints to think 'ah well, there's a month left, all will be fine'.  I just don't get why the model has changed so much, why there's an almost provocative refusal to learn - whether patterns of play, or types of players required.  The same mistakes are made again, and again, and again.  We have a nucleus of players (Thompson, Kasim, Goddard, Obika - OK then a start) who are good enough to take us upwards, if supplemented by 5-6 others of similar quality.  Otherwise, I shudder to think - yes it's July, yes other clubs may be in similar boats - but as a paying fan I found last night pretty desperate fare.

I'd love to be optimistic, but other than Nathan, who remains an almost embarrassingly stand out player, and Tom Smith, who shows some promise, it was tough to see where cheeriness is coming from.

Then I remembered that I spent three years sometimes cheering on the Swans from the North Bank at the Vetch, and felt much better.

 :nod:

Quite surprised by how many people a) pay any significant attention to friendlies and b) didn't expect this given how long Power's been here.

A few of my Swampea friends went down and were actually very impressed with us, I think the most critical remark was that our goalkeeper can't kick!

I don't get the general depression amongst our fan base including on here. We matched Swansea for large chunks of the game, the difference being their clinical finishing which is hardly surprising. I thought all bar Rogers had good games and Thompson and Kasim were outstanding. We could have scored two goals and our general play was excellent. We missed branch when he went off which changed the game. We will be fine for Coventry. Just need a centre back and forward which I am sure will be here before that game and please Williams play anyone in front of Rogers as when he went off our tempo improved significantly. Anyway stop bloody moaning get down the county ground and enjoy the fayre on offer - it's much better than some of the dross served up over the past 15 years and apparently being done without bankrupting the club. Rant over.

Who the fuck is branch I ask myself. I meant the imperious branco!

You might be thinking of Graham Branch. Tranny, Stockport, Burnley, Accy Stanley, legend.  Or perhaps not.

I don't think many Town fans expect much....just little things really, like this time last season we had our 3 loans in place having signed Anton...this year we haven't. Maybe Celtic don't have the quality. The Spurs link has gone, and Soton are in another period of turmoil.

Power obviously hopes that the "Swindon way" will entice other clubs to send their kids here, but what if the Leicester thing and Portugal winning the Euro has pushed the zeitgeist away from flick fanny football to something more industrial? Right now if I was a DoF, I'd be looking for defenders who can defend.

We certainly need a couple of central defenders in. One as competition for Branco/SWhite, the other for Thompson. I have no idea who would play sweeper if thompson breaks down and when you are building the team around playing that way you need to have a back up.

Jason Pearce has been released by Wigan. not sure what offers he's got but would probably be a good fit.

I imagine his wages are too high

 See that Nathan is having his tuppence worth on the state of play....backing up Willams, about the waffer thin squad. 

Especially now Branco has gone, even more relevant.

No idea what the Glovers pre-season has been like, but they nearly went back to their non league roots last season...so you'd think they might have done something to avoid a repeat, in terms of recruitment etc.  Venkman?

We could do with a solid performance tomorrow....otherwise we'll go into the Coventry game, with the very real prospect of their first league win at the CG since 1960.

The issue as I see it is that we have a decent 12/13 players but after that we are getting thin, we need strength in depth, competition for places, and as there is to be no transfer window we need a bigger squad to last season to cover for injuries and loss of form, the concern is that we have not got more players by now with the new season a week away.

I'm sure the squad will be peppered with 2 or 3 loans again and a lot of teams don't let out fringe players until after their first game or 2 so they know their own squad, and yes we know Power bring players in late - but wasn't it him that said we have to learn from the mistakes of last season where they left it late to build the squad ? - but we need a few more of our own players not just loans.

Not at the moment, I guess.

That's just about spot on. Power even said he wanted more of our 'owned' players. But as it get's further into the window it seems he is just hanging on for loans.

Another problem is Obika. Looks like we are going with 1 up front so what club is going to loan us a young striker who will only play if
Obika gets injured - the same goes for actually buying a decent Ajose replacement.

Of course, he may pull out something but it is so quiet I fear the worst.

Has anyone heard what the budget is this year? The lower transfer income vs last year and lack of info about ST renewals may indicate another reduction. Are we going to have to adjust our expectations accordingly? Again?

Depends what your expectations are...

Just saying. Quite likely less than last year though...

I'm sure even the happiest of happy clappers, must be having a bit of doubt atm about how things are shaping up.  The gloom could be lifted though with a 4 or 5 credible signings asap.

I sincerely hope that there is a special place in hell for people who use the phrase "happy clappers"

Budget reduction seems a reasonable deduction to me. It would explain the lack of permanent replacements.

my expectation (or hope) these days is just to finish above the relegation zone. anything more is a bonus. I hope I don't have to adjust further.

Have so few of you really not considered that perhaps they are trying to make permanent signings but their efforts just haven't come to fruition yet? That is a possibility and by no means a far fetched one. It does happen.

(http://www.reactiongifs.com/r/choofed.gif)

I'm ahead of my time.

I'm not sure how, as a fan of logic, you make that statement as a response to the ones above. I'm equally sure we're in the process of making some signings. In the interest of managing expectations though, I'm pointing out that, given the available evidence, these might not be as many or as stellar as some people are hoping for.

Not that that'll make any difference to their expectations.

I like you