BIG WEEKEND FOR SWANS & BLUEBIRDS
BRIGHTON’S recent victory at West Ham robbed today’s Liberty Stadium meeting with Swansea City of a certain symmetry.
Had Chris Hughton’s men not managed to take all three points in emphatic fashion at the London Stadium they would have headed to south Wales seeking a first top-flight away win since March 1983.
That triumph more than 34 years ago had come against Swansea at the old Vetch Field. Goals from Michael Robinson and Jimmy Case giving the Seagulls a 2-1 triumph as Bob Latchford’s strike was not enough for the hosts.
Both clubs would be relegated at the end of that season.
If Brighton match that result at the Liberty Stadium then some Swansea City supporters with longer memories will really begin to fear a case of history repeating itself and their club heading through the trap door come the season’s end.
It’s still early in the campaign, but there would be a tangible sense that the exhaustion of another long season stretches ahead, with little to offer other than a battle for survival. It’s a scenario that wears fans down like it does players and managers, albeit in very different ways.
A Swansea win would provide some reason for optimism heading into the international break, a timely boost for Paul Clement, his staff and his players.
Lose, and there is a danger the vultures will start circling.
Not that the head coach is unaware of that, and it was noticeable that even before the Arsenal game he made several mentions of the importance of this fixture. It is similar in feel to the Huddersfield game of three weeks ago. That felt like a game Swansea had to win, so does this.
He was bullish then, he has been similarly so this week.
They delivered that afternoon, providing some energy and attacking intent that has been sorely lacking, particularly when the situation demands it on home soil.
The frustration is that had they performed better at home Swansea could easily be up in the top-half of the embryonic Premier League table.
A couple of wins is all it would have taken to back up some good showings away from the Liberty, but you could not make a case that the Swans would have merited six additional points from their displays.
There are factors in mitigation. Injuries to summer signings who are taking time to settle, coming in the wake of the sales of Gylfi Sigurdsson and Fernando Llorente, chief among them.
There has been talk of whether Swansea are boring or ugly to watch; ultimately it comes down to being effective.
Swansea were not pretty to watch in the second half of last season under Clement, but they were effective in playing to their strengths in Sigurdsson’s pin-point delivery and Llorente’s aerial prowess.
They cannot play that way without the pair, the challenge is to find another way and for players to step up and offer solutions, as Tammy Abraham has done to the extent that he is celebrating his first senior England call-up.
The hunger and courage to assume the responsibility needs to be there.
“I think we need that courage to make things happen in the game against Brighton,” said Clement.
“Be it from a personal duel, a strong tackle, a forward pass, winning a header. Whatever that may be, we need a little catalyst early on in the game.
“We did that against Huddersfield – they kicked off, passed back and we were after it straightway. That’s the kind of start we are going to need.
“It will be a difficult game, though. At the same time we want to be positive we are going to have to be patient and it’s getting that balance.
“Maybe the crowd will be willing us to go forward. But the players have got to make the right choices when is the right time to attack, because if you play forward at the wrong moment, the next minute you’re getting caught on a counterattack and we’re in danger at the other end.
“We’ve still got to defend well, keep things tight and play with good offensive spirit.”
Not that anyone would have been expecting Brighton to be pushovers. They have been well-coached and well-drilled under Chris Hughton, a coach Clement knows well from their time in the Republic of Ireland set-up and believes to be under-rated.
Their £3million summer signing Pascal Gross has made an impressive start to life in the Premier League, performing like the sort of smart, bargain acquisition Swansea were once renowned for.
His quality in the final third has made the difference in games, getting them on the right side of some of the fine margins Clement has often spoken of.
Five of Swansea’s six defeats this season have been by a solitary goal. Those are fine margins, indeed.
Burnley are seventh in the table yet have scored just two more goals than Swansea. Again, fine margins.
But those fine margins are nothing new, the gap between eighth and 20th in the top-flight has been shrinking for some time now and, by its very nature, professional sport is about razor-thin degrees of difference.
Swansea need to start putting themselves on the right side of those equations.
Clement says he and his players “want this”. No-one doubts that, it’s about finding the actions to back up those words and banish any omens of history repeating itself.