Swans all out for the win !
Saturday, 3rd Feb 2024 08:00 by Liam Walters

This afternoon’s big game comes straight out of Swansea as they take on Plymouth Argyle : (KO 3pm) Luke Williams is extremely happy with the January transfer window, but urges caution on two of his new players starting the game.

Charles Saigo Jr and Przemysław Płacheta it seems haven’t reached a fitness level where Luke will rush in to their inclusion in the first eleven, his words not ours. Speaking yesterday he said, "Charles Jr is a young player with a bright future, he has the type of athleticism and attacking instinct that we were interested in bringing in. He is a top guy, and has the right ideas about how to be professional, so that’s really exciting. Sometimes you look at the young players and you feel 'maybe no' and then you see that player go somewhere. Then the next time you're interested in that player he's worth a fortune and you can't even get him” Luke went on to state that Saigo Jr and Placheta haven’t played too many games recently, the clue there they will start on the bench.

On Placheta, "It was a late deal in terms of it being deadline day, but not in terms of what we knew about him and the information we had. I am impressed with the process we went through. It goes down to deadline day because a chain reaction has to happen. Sometimes a club doesn't want to release a player too early and sometimes you have to wait for other things to happen for everything to fall into place. He’s a player I was looking at in early January. I think in the attacking positions, particularly wide. Really expositive athlete. Has really good quality in the wide positions. He is an explosive athlete with quality in wide positions and the athleticism to recover spaces behind him."

We do though remain hopeful that Ronald Pereira Martins will make his home debut later today. Having come on for the second half at Leicester City in midweek he certainly displayed enough to Luke Williams he is the real deal.

Forty seven year old James Foster (Ian to his mates) is the recently appointed Argyle manager, he played for a number of clubs during his playing career, including Kidderminster, Hereford and Chester City. Since his retirement he has managed three of the England age grade sides before being appointed at Plymouth. He linked up as a coach with Steven Gerrard at Al-Ettifaq last summer. His lowest win percentage whilst England manager for the U18,U19 and U20 sides was 70%. Collectively over thirty five games his win average was 74%. You can see why Argyle went for him.

The Pilgrims have started well under Foster winning two and drawing two. They retained Morgan Whittaker after interest from Premier A’League clubs and Lazio in Italy. Most now expect him to leave in the summer. A big loss for Argyle will be Luke Cundle being recalled from his loan spell back to Wolves. Ex Plymouth boss, Steven Schumacher was instrumental in getting Cundle to his new club, Stoke City. Cundle’s value to a team we saw last season when he was on loan at the Swans.

A few stats.
⚽️ The Swans have conceded 2 or more goals in 10 of their last 20 matches
⚽️ They have also failed to win any of their last 3 matches
⚽️ Plymouth Argyle have scored 2 or more goals in 10 of their past 20 matches
⚽️ They have not lost any of their last 3 matches this season.
⚽️ However, they haven’t won a game away this season in fourteen attempts

Swansea City have a raft of injuries. Harry Darling is out for around three weeks, Jamal Lowe up to four more weeks, Josh Key long term, Josh Ginnelly out for the season, Liam Walsh six weeks, Azeem Abdulai, unknown, and Sam Parker. It’s a shocking list. These are all players who could have featured today.

Luke Williams pre match interview below in full.