Very hard to argue we were in a better position than Swansea

They had an established 'continental' style with a playing staff matched to that (i.e. high technical quality) which made it easier adapt to Prem style football and, crucially, to blend in technically proficient foreign imports.
We had suddenly come up two leagues very quickly with basically a lower league style of play (lots of frenetic running about and quite dependent on direct balls into the box and set pieces) and frankly lower league quality playing staff (how many of the players we came up with that year, or signed that first season up, are still playing Prem football?). There was no real foundation to build an established Prem squad from. We essentially had to start from scratch and predictably we've found it very difficult.

Posted By: mr carra, Oct 27, 13:20:15