Swans Not Firing on All Cylinders

The 2010/11 season has sparked a thought into many Premier League and Championship fan's minds - could this be the season that see's a Welsh side promoted to the Premier League?

Cardiff City have certainly come the closest in the past two seasons, in 2008/09 narrowly missing out on the final play-off position after an unpredicted 1-0 defeat against Sheffield Wednesday on the final day of the season, whereas they were pipped to the near £90 million post by Ian Holloway's superb Blackpool side last season.

[caption id="attachment_347" align="aligncenter" width="310" caption="Rodgers: The Ulsterman has made a very promising start at Swansea"][/caption]

However, this season it seems apparent that Brendan Rodgers' Swansea side will certainly be in the mix-up come the end of the season.  Last season the Swans suffered a similar fate to that of their South Wales neighbours, by throwing away an almost certain play-off spot due to a terrible run of form at the tail-end of the season.  One significant factor in this bad form - their lack to score goals.

In the 2009/10 season under Paulo Sousa, Swansea had 2nd meanest defence in the league, conceding only two goals less than league winners Newcastle but also only managed to score 40 goals - the lowest in the league.  Fast forward to the start of the current season and Sousa was recruited by Leicester (who's reign lasted a measly 3 months) which paved the way for former-Reading, Watford and Chelsea youth team boss Brendan Rodgers to take the helm at the Liberty Stadium.

Rodgers suffered a bumpy start, losing 2-0 to ex-Premier League Hull on the opening day of the season, but began to show potential in a 4-0 win against Preston followed by a string of good results later in the season including 1-0 wins over Burnley and local rivals Cardiff.  Currently they sit in 4th position, comfortably in the play-off places and only off the automatic promotion spot by goal difference.

Whilst the Swans fans are extremely happy with their progress in the league, they fear an old enemy in the form of lacking a clinical goalscorer will be their demise.  They will be eased by the fact that Swansea are only 9 goals off meeting their number goals scored last season, but the points they have lost out on due to the lack of a out-and-out goalscorer does not bear thinking about.

Home results such as the 1-0 loss to Bristol City, the 2-1 loss to Portsmouth and the 1-1 draw to Millwall are all games the Swans felt they could've won if they had a player with an eye for goal.

Rodgers has attempted to solve the striker solution with various players.  Frank Nouble was recruited from West Ham, scoring 1 goal in 6 appearances before being recalled by the Hammers.  Marvin Emnes joined on a months loan from Middlesbrough, proving reasonably successful with 2 goals in 4 games (including a South Wales Derby winner) but was recalled by new Boro boss Tony Mowbray after his impressive spell.  Recently Rodgers has resorted to looking down the leagues for a short-term solution, bringing in Welsh international Jermaine Easter from MK Dons on loan-deadline day - a move that was not met with optimism by the fans after being linked with bigger names such as Carlos Vela, Daniel Sturridge and Eidur Gudjohnsen.  Recently Easter has returned to his parent club after a disappointing spell with only 1 goal in six appearances.

[caption id="attachment_345" align="aligncenter" width="310" caption="Sinclair: Leading the way for the Swans [Empics Sport"]"][/caption]

It is one of Rodgers' signings that has provided goals for Swansea though, ex-Chelsea player Scott Sinclair has provided the Premier League-esque flair and willingness to the squad, contributing 14 goals in all competitions thus far.  But the squad can't rely on the England Under 21 star for all their goals.  The total of goals scored by other attacking players Darren Pratley (6), Stephen Dobbie (4) and Craig Beattie (3) don't even equal the number of goals scored by Sinclair.

The fans at the Liberty will no doubt be yearning for another player in the mould of ex-Swansea players Jason Scotland or Lee Trundle both achieved a 1-in-2 goalscoring ratio during their time in South Wales.

[caption id="attachment_346" align="aligncenter" width="320" caption="Moore: Will it be Moore the merrier in South Wales?"][/caption]

However, they will be hoping that Rodgers' eye for talent has shone once again after the club bought striker Luke Moore for an undisclosed fee from Premier League side West Bromwich Albion.  Moore was bought by WBA for £3 million from neighbours Aston Villa in the summer of 2008 and climbed up the ranks with players such as Gabriel Agbonlahor at Villa.

Rodgers' is slowly clearing the deadwood in the Swansea side, loaning out inefficent striker Gorka Pintado to Cypriot side AEK Larnaca, terminating the contract of holding midfielder Jordi Lopez by mutual consent, casting doubt on the future of winger Cedric van der Gun and giving no involvement to Finnish striker Shefki Kuqi who recently returned from a loan deal at Derby.

Surely these cuts would be suggesting that the Swans are not finished in this transfer window, with fans keeping their fingers crossed for more attacking players to join the ranks at the Liberty Stadium.  Thus far they have been linked with out of favor Stoke players Eidur Gudjohnsen and Tom Soares in addition to Southampton attacker Jason Puncheon who recently had a very successful, goal-scoring spell at Millwall.  But with the recent long-term injury to captain Garry Monk, Rodgers' will also be casting his eye on a short-term replacement in the back four, with names like Chelsea youngster Patrick van Aanholt and promising Motherwell defender Mark Reynolds on the shortlist.

Swansea have already established themselves as one of the top teams in the division, if not by position, by the style of play they implement.  By combining this reputation with the fantastic knowledge of youth players in the Premier League from Rodgers' tenure at Chelsea and some diamonds in the rough are sure to be found.

For example, Scott Sinclair was always going to be an unknown quantity in a full season in the first-team due to only having played at most half a season at numerous different clubs, but has shone under the manager's guidance and confidence in the player.  The fans can only hope that this would be the case with new recruit Luke Moore, as Rodgers' looks to bring out the best in another young prospect who has yet to fulfil his potential.

With just over two weeks remaining in the window, only time will tell if Moore is the solution to another potential goalscoring problem at the Liberty, or maybe it will be another signing who becomes the catalyst for the Swans' promotion bid.