Michael Laudrup lauds Alex Ferguson and talks about the Premier League - originally posted on Soccerlens.com
Read part one here.
When the current Wigan manager, Roberto Martinez, took over Swansea City in 2007, they were plying their trade in League One. He planted a seed in the Swansea-system which was then taken over by former Queens Park Rangers manager and Portugal midfielder Paulo Sousa.
Michael Laudrup sets targets for Swansea for next season - originally posted on Soccerlens.com
When the current Wigan manager, Roberto Martinez, took over Swansea City in 2007, they were plying their trade in League One. He planted a seed in the Swansea-system which was then taken over by former Queens Park Rangers manager and Portugal midfielder Paulo Sousa.
With the dust about to settle on another Premier League season, OTP looks at the top-flight teams' dodgiest transfer investments. 1. Chris Samba (QPR) QPR's super-heavyweight defender tops our list after his arrival in January. Brought in to bolster the R's brittle defence, he succeeded only in adding an extra dimension of calamity.
On an emotional day, Sir Alex Ferguson saw his side beat Swansea 2-1 in his last game in change at Old Trafford.
Fergie was given a guard of honour by both teams before the game and then watched Javier Hernández gave the champions the lead six minutes before the break.
When Michu scored his 18th league goal of the season six minutes into the halftime, and it looked like Swansea want spoil Fergie's big day.
Sir Alex Ferguson's final home match at Old Trafford played out in the most Alex Ferguson way possible. Starting with a unified guard of honor from the players and staff of both Man United and Swansea, a smiling Ferguson took his seat on the bench while the home fans all waved their plastic "Champions 2013" flags and Wayne Rooney watched in exile from the executive suite prison cell.
It is no secret that Arsenal are looking to bring in at least one central defender this summer. It could even be two, depending on what happens with the Arsenal captain Thomas Vermaelen. The Belgian international will be less than impressed at having lost his regular starting place to Laurent Koscielny and may decide he wants to move on, with Barcelona one of the teams apparently interested.
Sir Alex Ferguson is odds-on to step down as Manchester United manager before the end of the week. Both bookies and the rumour mill are confident that Fergie will end his 26-year reign at Old Trafford. The rumours seem to have their source with information leaking out of a United players versus coaches golf day [.
Wigan's Premier League status for next year is in serious doubt after two calamitous defensive errors sent them to defeat against Swansea City.
Wigan twice lead in the match through Roger Espinoza and James McCarthy, but three second half goals from Angel Rangel, Itay Shechter and Dwight Tiendalli gave Swansea the victory and left Wigan three points from safety with two matches left.
In a double-stacked week of Premier League fixtures, we're merely halfway through what the English top flight has to offer us this week when it comes to fixtures.
However, even with the extra dosage of midweek action waiting in the wings, this past weekend satiated our need for Premier League adrenaline quite nicely, albeit with a slightly-less-super-than-usual Super Sunday.
Sunderland manager Paolo Di Canio said he would not be watching tonight's Premier League match between relegation rivals Wigan and Swansea but then admitted he was telling porkies. After his side's 1-1 draw with Stoke last night, Di Canio was asked in his interview with Sky Sports whether he would be settling down in [.
Racking up the kind of points Premier Legue strugglers QPR and Reading would kill for, Swansea's Dutch midfielder Kemy Agustien has been banned from driving for a year by Neath Magistrates, according to the Beeb.
The 26-year old picked up his grand total of 39 points, 27 more than the limit of 12, after a catalogue of speeding and other charges, the big eejit.
Playing tiki-taka with the interwebs Sebastián Driussi scores a beautiful overhead kick for Argentina under-17. Shades of Trevor Sinclair. [101GG] Swansea midfielder Kemy Agustien has clocked up an impressive 39 points on his driving licence. He's now banned, unsurprisingly [Dirty Tackle] Manchester United utility man Phil Jones' doggy doppelganger [@paddypower] See how much debt each [.
In my weekly column on SWOL, I take a look back at the weekend's English Premier League and domestic cup action and the talking points that it throws up, as well as any significant news related to English football at large. Follow me @theredarmchair for regular updates throughout the week.
EPL Round 32 Recap: City Rouse, Villa Rise, Reading Ragged
Before we go further into the relegation battle, let's first reserve some praise for Manchester City.
Next in our series as we cover each and every Premier League team we have Swansea.
Now before any Swansea supporters comes on here and suggest that it is not the averages but the actual decisions that count (as some fans of other clubs have done) may we suggest you take a [.
The young Englishman was purchased by Arsenal from Southampton in the summer of 2011 for a fee believed to be in the region of £12million (plus add ons), and burst onto the scene against the likes Manchester City, Manchester United and AC Milan.
Bale and Vertonghen get on the board for Spurs and right their ship after several disappointing results as of late. For their part, Michu scores yet again for Swansea. Tottenham moves to 3rd in the league with this result and Chelsea dropping to hobbled Southampton. Video: MSN Sports
Poor Rafa. He blames a blogger in eastern Europe for his team's troubles lately. Wonder who he'll blame for Chelsea now losing to Swansea and dropping to 4th in the league today? Even a token Lampard goal couldn't save Chelsea. Swansea gets the deserved 3pts, 2-1. Video: MSN Sports
It would obviously have been one of Arsene Wenger's most painful moments of the season watching Arsenal put in arguably their worst performance of the season at White Hart Lane at the start of March. Not only was it a blow in the race for the top four, but it gave everybody connected with the Spuds, and most of the media, to continue with their anti-Arsenal garbage, using one lucky win to apparently `prove` that we had lost our position of dominance.
Arsenal vs Reading preview, match line up and score prediction by KJ
It's been a long two weeks since the Arsenal last played and it was probably the worst time to get the international break. Arsenal were back to winning ways with back to back wins against Bayern Munich and Swansea.
Squad rotation is increasingly common in modern football, and it is no different at Arsenal. Having said that, the captain Thomas Vermaelen would probably not have been dropped for the last two games against Bayern Munich and Swansea City if he had been playing well. The Belgian international knows that he now faces a struggle to win back his place in the starting line up, but he has vowed to put in the work in order to do that.
And so, 26 years, 6 months and 7 days after his appointment, Sir Alex Ferguson arrived at Old Trafford looking to oversee his final encounter in the stadium he has made home. A capacity crowd of 75,572 were in attendance to show their appreciation for the work of the greatest club manager the football world has ever seen.
Alex Ferguson's farewell speech at Old Trafford by footballdaily1 Sir Alex Ferguson said goodbye to Old Trafford with an emotional speech following Manchester United's win against Swansea in his final home game in charge. Fergie's unscripted talk was sandwiched between the match and United's title celebrations.
Sir Alex Ferguson will step down as Manchester United manager at the end of the season and become a director at the club. A club statement confirmed rumours that Fergie was planning to announce his decision to bow out ahead of Sunday's match against Swansea. Sir Alex said: "The decision to retire is one I [.
Continuing the Top 50 Players in the Premier League...
20.Moussa Dembele Tottenham Hotspur & Belgium
Moussa Dembele (Wikimedia Commons)
One of the hardest things to do this season in the Premier League is to get the ball off Dembele. The 25 year old Belgian international is big, strong, powerful and very technically gifted.
Spurs face a potentially tough trip to the Liberty Stadium to take on Swansea and are a top priced 2.38 with William Hill to get back to winning ways.
After being in superb form they have lost there last three matches in all competitions, but if the stats are anything to go by then they have every chance of coming away with all three points.
Wigan vs Swansea 2-3 Highlights 2013 Espinoza McCarthy Rangel Shechter Tiendalli Goals Video is a post from Soccer Blogger. Follow Soccer Blogger on Twitter
Wigan vs Swansea 2-3 Highlights 2013 Espinoza McCarthy Rangel Shechter Tiendalli Goals Video is a post from Soccer Blogger. Follow Soccer Blogger on Twitter Wigan vs Swansea 2013 ( WAFC Swansea VIDEO BELOW) Final score and result:- Wigan vs Swansea 2-3 ( Espinoza, McCarthy/ Rangel, Shechter, Tiendalli) DW Stadium, Wigan- 7 May, 2013- 19.
Swansea vs Manchester City 2013 Highlights 0-0 Dzeko Miss Video is a post from Soccer Blogger. Follow Soccer Blogger on Twitter
Swansea vs Manchester City 2013 Highlights 0-0 Dzeko Miss Video is a post from Soccer Blogger. Follow Soccer Blogger on Twitter Swansea vs Manchester City 2013 ( Swansea Man City VIDEO BELOW) Final score and result:- Swansea vs Man City 0-0 Liberty Stadium, Wales- 4 May, 2013- 15.
Chelsea vs Swansea 2013 Highlights 2-0 Oscar Goal Lampard penalty Video is a post from Soccer Blogger. Follow Soccer Blogger on Twitter
Chelsea vs Swansea 2013 Highlights 2-0 Oscar Goal Lampard penalty Video is a post from Soccer Blogger. Follow Soccer Blogger on Twitter Chelsea vs Swansea 2013 ( Chelsea Swansea VIDEO BELOW) Final score and result:- Chelsea vs Swansea 2-0 ( Oscar, Lampard pen) Stamford Bridge, London- 27 April, 2013- 15.
After Everton reportedly opened talks with Sevilla to try to sign Spanish striker Alvaro Negredo in the January transfer window, but the deal ultimately failed, Swansea are the latest club who have allegedly expressed an interest in signing the gifted centre-forward according to media in Spain.
With Spain's unemployment rate over 25% and Sevilla struggling financially, it looks very likely that Negredo will leave Spain this summer.
It has been an amazing first season for the new Swansea manager Michael Laudrup, who created history by winning the League Cup, Swansea's first major trophy. However the genius Dane has had a lot of history of his own as a player.
Let's turn the clock back to June 15 1964, where a young Michael was born in the suburbs of Frederiksberg, Copenhagen.
Swansea vs Tottenham 2013 Highlights 1-2 Vertonghen Michu Gareth Bale Goal Video is a post from Soccer Blogger. Follow Soccer Blogger on Twitter
Swansea vs Tottenham 2013 Highlights 1-2 Vertonghen Michu Gareth Bale Goal Video is a post from Soccer Blogger. Follow Soccer Blogger on Twitter Swansea vs Tottenham 2013 ( Swansea Spurs VIDEO BELOW) Final score and result:- Swansea vs Tottenham 1-2 ( Michu/ Vertonghen, Bale) Liberty Stadium, Wales- 30 March, 2013- 15.
Liverpool and Swansea City are on red alert after Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini hinted that Scott Sinclair's future could lie away from the Etihad Stadium. The 24-year-old winger has started just three games for City since his £6.2million move from Swansea last August. Sinclair has been linked with a return to the Welsh club while Liverpool is also interested in his services.
Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers is set to continue his efforts to rebuild Swansea on Merseyside with a summer move for Swans captain Ashley Williams. The centre-back has been in imperious form this season, sparking a reported £9 million bid from Arsenal in January. That offer was turned down, and The Sun reports that a bid [.
If you look at the league tablehow many teams would actually say they've had a good season?
Then ask the same question for "not big" teams.
There are two: West Bromwich Albion, who had a good year but also a big striker on loan from Chelsea; Swansea, who have made some very clever moves in the transfer market and are generally admired throughout the land.
Itay Shechter gets his first goal for Swansea as his shit flys past Joel Robles and into the far corner. Good response from the visitors. Swansea City FC (@SwansOfficial) May 7, 2013 Swansea scored one of the messiest goals in Premier League history last night if their Twitter commentary of the victory over Swansea [.
It was simply fantastic news for Newcastle United at the DW Stadium when after a full 9 minutes of added time Swansea beat Wigan 3-2 and Wigan remain 3 points behind Newcastle with the exact same goal difference of -23, the worst except for the two leaded relegated sides. Wigan players look a little [.
After selling Cesc Fabregas to Barcelona in 2011 and Robin Van Purse-y to Manchester United last summer, it is now being reported that Arsenal are trying to sign Swansea's Ashley Williams as a replacement for the out-going Thomas Vermaelen.
In recent weeks it has become apparent that Wenger now considers Vermaelen to be his third-choice centre-back after Laurent Koscielny and Per Mertesacker, but surely Wenger is not considering giving up on the Belgium international?
Swansea players have previously stated that their manager could easily still cut it in the Premier League, and we now have the clear evidence. One imagines that the This Is South Wales press XI probably had a rather easier game against Swansea City's staff team when Brendan Rodgers was in charge of the Swans, but [.
On a scale of Bothersome to Tickety-Boo this result is Quite the Cheeky Restorative, what? All rather frantic and wince-inducing by 16.50 GMT for sure, but ‘twas ever thus in the land of Mighty Hotspurs Seeing Things Through to The Closing Credits, and whichever way you dilute, swill, gargle and spit it out a 2-1 away win is a 2-1 away win, and for that we can dashed well click our heels.
He does just keep on doing it doesn't he? After a delightful assist for Jan Vertonghen's opener against Swansea yesterday, the Welsh wizard continued his one man goal of the season competition by smashing home from 25 yards to extend Spurs' lead. He picked up the ball and showed impressive footwork to get the ball [.
