A NEW ERA: SWANSEA CITY 21/22 SEASON PREVIEW

Featured Image Credit - Sky Sports

After the heartbreak of last season's play-off final loss, Swansea City find themselves in the Championship for a fourth straight season after suffering relegation from the Premier League in the 2017/18 season.

When Steve Cooper left the job just over two weeks ago, it looked as if the season ahead would be a struggle. The Swans were being linked with every manager under the sun, some names that were being mentioned were John Eustace, John Terry and Jody Morris, but in the end the club settled with MK Dons manager, Russell Martin.

Russell Martin got confirmed as the new manager last Sunday. Martin is a new, young manager who has experienced EFL football with him being manager at MK Dons for a season and a half, with the 2019-20 League One season being cut short due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Martin will bring attractive football back to the Liberty, something that started way back when Roberto Martinez was appointed as Swansea City manager in 2010.

Swansea City start their 2021/22 season away at Blackburn Rovers on Saturday with Blackburn winless in their last seven league games against The Swans (D4 L3)

SWANS TRANSFER NEWS

The Swans have already signed Joel Piroe, Kyle Joseph and Liam Walsh, all three signings coming from when Steve Cooper was in charge.

Russell Martin has said that he has a ‘paper thin’ squad currently at Swansea, and has admitted that he needs to make a few more additions before the season starts.

On Friday, The Swans completed the signing of former Bristol City winger Jamie Paterson and are also interested in loan deals for Ethan Laird and James Garner from Manchester United.

Both will be very good signings, with Connor Roberts currently out until the end of September after suffering a groin injury whilst representing Wales in the European Championships in the summer. Laird would slot in at the right wing back role whilst Roberts is injured.

With Matt Grimes potentially leaving the club, our midfield options are very limited, James Garner would come in and be Grimes’ replacement for this season.

As for squad numbers, new signings Joel Piroe, Kyle Joseph, Liam Walsh and Jamie Paterson will wear the numbers 17,14,28 and 12 for the upcoming Championship season. Whilst Steven Benda, Ben Cabango, and Jamal Lowe have changed their squad numbers with Benda taking the number 1, Ben Cabango taking number 5 and Jamal Lowe taking number 10.

HOW WE WILL PLAY

Russell Martin was known for using a 5-3-2 formation during his time at MK Dons, which allowed the wingbacks Ethan Laird and Daniel Harvie to push up and delve into the attacking side of the game, but with Blackburn being Martin’s first taste of any action for Swansea City, it is unseen yet to how The Swans will line up.

Whether we stick with the 4-3-3 we used at the back end of last season or convert to a different formation is completely unknown yet.

WHO COULD POTIENTIALLY BE OUR KEY PLAYER

Of course, if we could keep Matt Grimes it would be unreal business from us, and he could prove to be really important to us this season, but other names that could get a mention are such as Jamal Lowe and Steven Benda.

Benda is a young german goalkeeper who has been in our academy since we signed him back in August 2017.