With the back slapping continuing within the confines of Swansea City attention has to be drawn to this game later on this afternoon ( KO: 5:30pm ) at the Swansea.Com Stadium.
Team news is in -
⚽️ Swansea City: Andy Fisher, Kristian Pedersen, Joe Allen (captain), Jerry Yates, Yannick Bolasie, Charlie Patino, Nathan Wood, Kyle Naughton, Ollie Cooper, Sam Parker, Azeem Abdulai.
Substitutes: Carl Rushworth, Matt Grimes, Jamie Paterson, Mykola Kuharevich, Liam Cullen, Nathan Tjoe-A-On, Bashir Humphreys, Kyrell Wilson, Filip Lissah.
⚽️ Morecambe: Adam Smith, David Tutonda, Jacob Bedeau, Farrend Rawson (captain), Yann Songo'o, Joel Senior, Jordan Slew, Chris Stokes, Jake Taylor, Charlie Brown, Oscar Threlkeld.
Substitutes: George Pedley, Tom Bloxham, Eli King, Michael Mellon, Adam Mayor, Cammy Smith, Gwion Edwards, Max Melbourne, Saul Fox.
Alan Sheehan has been busily preparing the squad for the fixture whilst news has been somewhat diverted with the arrival of Luke Williams and his coaching staff. This will be his final team selection before Williams and co settle in to their roles and fight to bring some hope back to the global Swansea support.
We have covered Morecambe during the run up to this game.
Click ⚽️ Pre match build up
However, here’s some more context for the Jack Army afternoon.
Ged Brannan has a plan
"It's great, Saturday is all about the FA Cup and the lads are looking forward to it," he said. "They're really excited about it. We're going to go there and give it our very best. We're going there with no pressure on us, we're the underdogs and we will see what we get out of it. The lads will go there full of confidence, we've had two really hard games in the FA Cup already this year. We've beaten Lincoln and Wycombe, so bring on Swansea, let's see what happens there. They're going to be quality, they're going to be top notch. They're all great on the ball, proper athletes. It's going to be a really tough game. We'll go with a gameplan, and hopefully it works."
David Fitzgerald will be at his first Shrimps game since being appointed in to a coaching role at the club.
Referee Tom Nield will take charge on Saturday afternoon for the sixteenth time this season. In his last fifteen, he has given out sixty one cards - one red alongside sixty yellows. Sadly again the Swans have no pre match build up, the events of the past few days clearly overshadowing this game. But it’s not for the first time this season. The OS media team even contradicted Chairman Andrew Coleman regards Sheehan’s involvement this afternoon.
Williams has made a comment or two. "It’s an incredible thing. It’s going to be quite a moment. I’ve experienced some fantastic moments at this stadium before and to be back is just incredible. It’s an incredible feeling. Whoever we play, we want to get off to a positive start. We were competing against each other just last week, but I recognise a good team when we see one, so we will have to play well against Morecambe.”
Charlie Patino is again in the news with Italian sources reporting Juve recruitment officers at the stadium today to watch him. They must know something about his involvement today.
There will be changes, hopefully not too many. Let’s get this season started.
Team news here at 4.30pm UK time.