We can win OUR league - Swansea City manager Michael Laudrup
MICHAEL Laudrup reckons Swansea City can win the league this season — by finishing eighth.
Laudrup reckons it is unrealistic to expect Swansea to finish above any of the Premier League's current top seven — the two Manchesters, Spurs, Chelsea, Arsenal, Everton and Liverpool — over the course of the season.
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Laudrup
And though he believes Newcastle United's resources mean they should be next in the pecking order, Laudrup reckons Swansea could end this campaign as the best of the rest.
Swansea are currently eighth, and take on ninth-placed West Brom at the Hawthorns tomorrow.
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"In the other league, we are top of the table right now," said the Swansea manager.
"And I think trying to finish eighth is a good ambition for us to have now.
"Just to be up there competing for a place in the top ten is great for a team like us.
"Look at the teams above us. For another team to finish in that group, they would have to a fantastic season and one of the top teams would have to have a very bad season.
"For a club like us, eighth or ninth should be the maximum we can hope for. For us it would be like winning the league."
Laudrup admits Swansea will have almost no room for improvement if they do end this campaign in eighth spot.
"That's a problem," he said through a smile.
"In general, when you have success people like the taste of it, and it is only a small gap between getting the taste and then getting used to it.
"But even to be a mid-table Premier League club normally takes years and years, and we have been here for only 19 months."
Laudrup reckons the Baggies will be desperate for victory tomorrow as they attempt to make a late surge for a European qualification spot.
Albion are boosted by the return to fitness of skipper Chris Brunt tomorrow, but striker Shane Long is very doubtful because of an ankle injury.
"They have talent and they have speed, especially in (Romelu) Lukaku," Laudrup said.
"We have to be careful because we always like to have the ball, but they are very good on the counter-attack. With two or three passes they can go from their box to ours."
5 Comments
by carpmeister
Friday, March 08 2013, 8:41PM
“Crojack; Judging by the rubbish you post, your mentality hasn't progressed from the kindergarten stage. If you have no interest in the history of the Swans do us all a favour and move 40 miles or so east along the M4 because you are not a Swans fan, just another pot hunter. There are huge numbers of Swans fans who have been through good and bad times over the years and would not have wanted to miss any of them at all. Swans are not all about Laudrup and Michu and Chico, if it wasn't for the likes of Martinez, Souza and Rodgers along with Monk, Rangel, Tate, Britton and many others along the way we would not have attracted the new manager and players, and would still be playing a much lower standard of football.”
by bigphil1959
Friday, March 08 2013, 4:37PM
“Well said hacker jack agree with you 100%”
by CroJack
Friday, March 08 2013, 3:50PM
“Hacker_Jack, so people who have different meanings should shut up? Is that called a freedom of speech? Is that welsh kindness to tell other people to shut up?”
by hacker_jack
Friday, March 08 2013, 10:41AM
“Shut up croJack.
Nobody is suggesting we dont try to take higher, they are suggesting that finishing above every club not considered to be in that top 7 would be a fantastic achievement and the most we can realistically aspire to. Anything more than that is a bonus.
We are simply not capable of competing in real terms with the 7 clubs mentioned on a season by season basis. Yes occasionally we may be able to finish above a couple, just like other clubs have done in the past but until we can finance wage bills in excess of £70m (2-3 times higher than at present) then we would be punching far above our weight in doing so.”
by CroJack
Friday, March 08 2013, 7:06AM
“This is small club mentality. Why don't we try to take 7th or 6th place? We are only 2 points behind Liverpool and 5 behind Everton. It is realistic. According to Laudrup we should never try to fight for Champions League places because we are a small club. That's wrong. We have a strong team but sometimes I think we underestimate how good we are. And stop talking about where we were 2 or 10 years ago. That is a history.”