Swansea City took on FC Köln at the Thermenstadion in Bad Waltersdorf, Austria this afternoon in their first real genuine friendly of the season.
FC Köln had already been around the wheel having played four friendlies before this encounter.
The opening fifteen minutes was only noticeable for the competency which Andrew Fisher displayed when he twice kept out the ‘Billy Goats’ attack. It wasn’t long though before Köln caught Harry Darling napping to go one ahead. A nicely controlled pass turned Darling inside out as Tim Lemperle (below) latched on to the ball and fired high into Fisher’s net (pun). If the keeper could be blamed at all the ball flashed in to his net at his near post. A second goal seemed inevitable and it came on the third of the half when Tim Lemperle was again put through with the Swans defence sleepy he slotted the ball past Fisher for number two.
Despite this being the Swans first friendly of note, Luke Williams will not have been pleased at this start. It was lethargic and littered with errors, yes testament to what we see at times during a first real summer run out. But management from the sidelines was needed. On twenty three minutes what looked like a scheduled switch was made by the Swans with Lawrence Vigouroux coming on for Fisher. He signed permanently from Burnley for a nominal fee yesterday on a two year contract with a one year option.
Maybe there were thoughts in the back of Luke Williams mind that this side had already score thirty three goals in four previous friendlies ? Not against the best of opposition though.
The Swans picked up after the halfway mark of the half, things were looking slightly more fluid, their pace increased and numerous chances, one from Liam Cullen was cleared off the line. It was from a set piece corner that Ben Cabango stole in just before the break. His header thundering in to the Köln net. On the latter balance of play it was deserved, and before judgement can be made on the overall first forty five we must remember it’s the first competitive game this summer.
The half ended with Köln 2-1 up.
The second half was faster but really the Swans showed very little in front of goal. New signing Eom looked a yard short of pace, but again the impressive Azeem Abdulai was assured on the right of the pitch. Portuguese signing Franco also had a second half run out, and he did disrupt play in the centre of the park, but he again will need some more crucial minutes if he is to be ready for Middlesbrough away in a few weeks time. In Eom’s case he does cut in well from either side but his physicality needs to be better especially in the Championship. There was a better passing accuracy and there will be plenty to work on for the Swansea coaching staff. The training camp is for just that, let us not read too much in to this result.