Do you remember the last time Swansea
appointed an ex-Barca and Real Madrid player as manager? No, neither can I.
At this point in the season, as Swansea City sit comfortably
in mid table of the Premier League, there can be few doubters of the thought
that this Swansea team is nothing but Michael Laudrup’s. Although continuing
Rodgers’ hugely entertaining ethos and emphasis on recycling possession in the
middle of the park, the Dane’s stamp has become too large to be able to
recognize the history lying beneath. His shrewd transfer dealings evolved
Rodgers’ impressive yet at times uninspiring Swansea to a more modern, direct
eleven, far more consistent and at times purely devastating.
Leaving the summer transfer window behind him, no doubt with
a shrewd smirk on his face, Laudrup had added no less than 5 players who’d
prove to be valuable assets for any Premier League squad. Chico Flores, Ki
Sung-Yeung, Pablo Hernandez, Jonathan De Guzman and of course Michu have become
the faces of Swansea’s Laudrup era, each adding a small yet hugely important
piece of class to their respective areas of the pitch. Chico Flores, in his
intelligent positioning and distribution, added to his aerial ability, have
made him the ideal partner to Ashley Williams, whose brave tackles and
clearances may be making the highlights on Match of the Day, but even he would
probably concede it is his partner mainly responsible for Swansea’s defensive
stability.
Box-to-box midfield conductor Ki was intriguing at first, but
Laudrup’s soon-to-be reputation to hand pick talent proved itself to the
Liberty’s crowds without much hesitation from the Korean signed from Celtic,
whose passion and impeccable attitude are, rather unfairly, characteristics not
associated with players from the world’s wider regions.
De Guzman, a playmaker and occasional deep lying midfielder,
has been in a class of his own at times home and away for the Swans. His suave
runs into space before releasing an onrushing striker or relinquishing Swansea’s
wider threats have been rather unheralded, but bar one or two slight dips in
form, De Guzman has seemed to have been able to reignite the promise of his
earlier days, once more delivering him to the plinth of top class players in
England right now.
Patronisingly scribed down as a pace-based threat often
during his first 6 months in Wales, Pablo Hernandez composed play in possession
makes him capable of both finishing off a move, often running into space left
by a dropping Michu, or creating chances for his team mates, with a ridiculous
crossing ability matched with the intelligence to come inside to slide a ball
in behind.
And yes, the man who could probably have won games
single-handedly in the absence of the previous quartet, Miguel Perez Cuesta. Or
the name now infamous to most Premier League ‘keepers: Michu. Versatile in his
attacking talents, following instructions to either lead the line or support a
main striker perfectly at all times, Michu has raised more eyebrows than Mario
Balotelli’s on-going hairstyle drama. With a disguised amount of pace and
power, the probably soon-to-be Spanish international is a nuisance rivalled
only by the PFA player of the year in my eyes, even bettering the imperious
Dutchman in the one-on-one department where he has been flawless. Complimenting
those around him constantly, while being the driving force behind a large
percentage of Swansea’s point total, Michu completed Laudrup’s summer
masterpiece, and has laid the groundwork for what may be one of the most exciting
periods in the history of the league, without doubt the history of the club, at
least.
With the ability to assess a squad in such short notice and
improving upon it in such an adroit fashion, all the while turning a profit
thanks to the highly notable sales of Joe Allen and Scott Sinclair, Swansea’s
most exotic ever managerial appointment had begun to reap the results of his nimbleness
in a non-stop onslaught of a transfer market. Of course, his tactical
dependence was yet to be proven on such a stage, but the wait was not
long-lasting.
Victories in the first half of the season were not difficult
to come by, but with dominant displays over teams Rodgers may have been less
ambitious against came with an extreme amount of plaudits for the Dane and his
seemingly complete team. As Steve Clarke’s West Brom grew in admirers every
week, they faced their first true test away at Swansea, where they were very suddenly
decimated by the presences of Hernandez and Wayne Routledge, who had become
twice the player he had ever seemed to be possibly down to Laudrup’s influence.
Then, you can also look at Laudrup’s first trip to the
Emirates as Swansea manager, famed for only its final two minutes, when Michu
struck twice in quick succession, but the 90 minutes as a whole gave a much
better perspective on Swansea’s quick progression under Laudrup. There
were early warning signs for Arsenal as the visitors began playing with a
confidence borne from manager Michael Laudrup's instruction to express
themselves without the constraints of pressure. The short, precise, intrinsic passing of Swansea’s deeper
possessors of Ki, De Guzman and the little distributor Leon Britton, whose
passing stats of last season brought to light what an impressive team had been promoted
to the Premier League, thoroughly out played the internationally established
trio of Arteta, Wilshere and Cazorla as a superb City display forced Arsenal
into falling into their worst league start under Wenger.
But it has to be last weekend where the tactical nous of
Laudrup came to the fore, becoming the first Premier League manager since the 1st
of September to prevent David Moyes’ Everton from scoring. In a surprisingly
thrilling 0-0 draw at Goodison Park, Swansea set up from the outset to prevent
Everton’s dangerous left side, disrupting the affinity of Baines and Pienaar
with the application of essentially two right backs, with Angel Rangel pushing
into the midfield, as Dwight Tiendalli, a previously unmentioned acquisition of
Laudrup’s, filled in behind. Without ever seeming to be completely backs to the
wall, Swansea saw off an incredible amount of pressure. Dropping both possible
deep lying playmakers, Britton and De Guzman, a position which had seemed to
hold great importance to Laudrup was taken out of the picture, playing a double
pivot of the industrious pair of Ki and Agustien. He may have been rather
fortunate with injuries thus far, but if Laudrup doesn’t have a complete squad
of varied talents and roles, I’m not sure who has. Leaving this game with his
own personal plaudits, almost matching those given two the imperious
partnership of Chico and Williams at the back, it may be unsurprising that
Laudrup would probably still believe his winning formula has yet to be created.
With a back five often being the simplest part of assembling
a side’s ideal eleven, due to their being less tactics and roles involved, of
course all of Laudrup’s thoughts currently lie within his midfield and forward
lines. Just how essential are deep-lying playmakers? Does he need a sole number
ten? Who are his definitive two best wide men? And the question a lot of these
are directly related to, how can he get the best out of Michu? Constantly
adapting his team to its opponents each week, the answers to these questions
vary greatly, and that may be an issue.
Working most basically in a 4-2-3-1 formation, in the bank of
two Laudrup usually opts for using one industrious box to box player, either Ki
or Agustien, and one distributor capable of surging forward, Britton or De
Guzman, when playing what Laudrup considers to be opposition of a higher level,
most notably in very impressive league draws with United and Chelsea. With
this, Swansea become a balanced side, a model employed by a lot of modern teams,
but this is not to say he hasn’t experimented when playing weaker opposition.
The most intriguing and telling result of Swansea’s season,
however, is never one that springs to mind. For me, it was their 2-2 home draw
to a severely out of form. Desiring to totally dominate Lambert’s unconfident
side, Laudrup truly went for it in his line-up, playing De Guzman and Britton
together in this bank of two, supplying Routledge and the returning Pablo
Hernandez out wide, while Michu played just off of Danny Graham very
effectively. And for the first 44 minutes, Swansea were superb. Coming out of
the traps better than any side had all season, Swansea probably should’ve
scored 4 or 5 within the first half an hour. Unfortunately, only Routledge had managed
to beat Brad Guzan, but this was not without constant excitement through the
magnificent performances of De Guzman, Hernandez and Michu especially. You can
imagine it was rather disheartening then to go on to draw 2-2 with the team,
who were at that point, the league’s worst side. A lack of midfield steel may
have cost Laudrup dearly, even if it did bolster the style of play every fan of
football wants to see.
So with another half a
season to go, with Swansea three quarters of the way to Laudrup’s goal of 40
points, I suppose the real questions will fall into individual selection. The
resurgence of Danny Graham, the consistency of all three of Dyer, Routledge and
Pablo out wide and the pure class of De Guzman and Michu is leaving Laudrup
with a headache unrecognised by the media and TV pundits, which I’m sure
lightens his load somewhat. Following the successes of both Spain and
Barcelona, it would make sense for Laudrup to test how a False 9 could work in his
system, which he did rather effectively with Nathan Dyer playing ahead of Michu
and Pablo Hernandez for a period against Everton, which understandably crafted
a few chances for the onrushing Spaniards.
Other than this, there is a big question as to what may be
most effective between the options of De Guzman behind Michu, Routledge behind
Michu, or even Michu behind Graham with De Guzman deeper, which remains in my
opinion the optimal formula to getting the best from the sides top scorer.
After all of this though, it’s hard to analyse one event from
Swansea’s rather unrecognised successes this season without handing any
acknowledgement to the wise Danish hands the side has been placed under control
of. Swansea fans will hope rumours of Laudrup’s possible succession of Mourinho
at Real Madrid are far-fetched, but let’s face it, after his first half a year
in South Wales, you can see why they may not be.
