Michael Laudrup’s Spanish brigade and the white duckling

Michael Laudrup is stocking his Swansea side with an eye for Europe next season

Creating beautiful triangles at the centre of the pitch, passing around the opponents until they give up and stand off, and finally creating the perfect goal for an attacker who perfectly breaks the offside trap; these were the traits that were associated to a certain club in Catalonia.

Right from the torch-bearers of the club in Cryuff to his current day avatar in Guardiola, it is widely accepted that the tiki-taka flows through the veins of this football club. And lo behold, within a matter of a couple of seasons, we have a club newly promoted to the English Premier League, who though not having a distinguished history of allocates, are now seen religiously practising the rituals of the so-called sect.

While Arsenal and more recently Spurs have been acclaimed to be playing the beautiful game, the North Londoners are quite often seen to change tactics in accord to the situation. But that definitely is not the case with the Swans of Wales; Swansea, or ‘Swansealona’ as they are now called, have been seen following orders regarding their style even in tightest of situations, which has in hindsight often lead to their downfall in the game.

Pep Guardiola had famously said after winning the CL in 2010 against Manchester United that “midfielders are a superior breed” according to him, and this allows him to play them in most of the positions on the field. This saw the rise of Fabregas as an attacker, Mascherano as a Central defender and Iniesta as an inverted winger.

Guardiola’s playing career at Barca pretty much coincided with Michael Laudrup’s time at the club, and from the Dane’s tactics until this point, it seems that the duo have been instilled with the same mentality.

While up to this point this article might seem to be a comparison between the club that won the La Liga with a club that finished eighth in the EPL, this writing expedition is just a look into Swansea’s mentality of football and Laudrup’s tactics in the transfer market.

First of all, right from the lips of a graduate from Barcelona’s team B under Guardiola, new signing Chico Flores says: “Laudrup is a great coach and very similar to Guardiola. He knows what he wants in a locker room.”

Here lies the making of a manager whose playing career saw people like Guardiola and Raul call him the best they have ever played with. And yes this bloke played for both Barca and Real Madrid.

Swansea’s last season might have been their best in their history, but the club’s management had taken several big risks at the start of their romantic journey.

Brendan Rodgers’ exit meant that Swansea had lost the man who won them more than just a promotion in his tenure and had established, with little help from Roberto Martinez, a typically attractive but risky brand of football.

Even though the club had ensured that the Irishman does not take away any of the stars from the team, Liverpool and Rodgers were able to frisk away Joe Allen. Allen was easily Swansea’s shining light of the 2011-12 season, but his debut season at Liverpool was far from ditto; an analogy I often use for most of Arsenal’s departed stars.

Though Allen’s departure was down to a few financial crunches, there were a few more tactical and injury-related changes that would have surely affected any normal club. Laudrup’s somewhat surprising arrival coincided with Michu’s entry at the club, but the credit for the transfer surely goes to the club management in this regard.

Jordi Amat has been brought in to replace Ashley Williams

The Spaniard from Rayo turned out to be Laudrup’s trump card, as the Dane in a very Guardiola-esque way converted an attacking midfielder into a full No.9. This might seem the order of the day today, but Laudrup’s call over Michu also meant that the club’s top scorer from last season Danny Graham was completely ignored and eventually disposed of.

Unsurprisingly, a key part of Laudrup’s set-up was a player very similar in style to Pep, ‘Ki’ from Celtic. His presence in midfield next to Britton meant that Laudrup’s next transfer from Spain, Jonathan de Guzman, had a very dynamic role at the head of the midfield triangle.

A team that presses well in midfield always needs pace upfront, and this was ideally provided by the duo of Dyer and Routledge.

Apart from all the tactics that Laudrup introduced, Neil Taylor’s injury at left back meant that the manager needed to promote 19-year-old Ben Davies and bring in free-agent Tiendalli to cover up.

One look at last season showed that Swansea lost their sting especially when Michu was injured or suspended, as Shechter was the only other option because he was an out-and-out striker which rarely suited the Swans style.

Michu is pretty fast, a good header of the ball and is suited to breaking the offside traps while starting from deep positions. The second half of the season saw Laudrup playing Michu much more advanced in order to latch on to the good crosses from Rangel and Dyer. Just like we saw his impressive goal at Old Trafford.

But the Welsh outfit still needs an out-and-out striker, whose presence would allow Michu to run into the channels more easily. Enter Wilfred Bony of Vitesse Arnhem, scorer of 30 goals in his last 31 games, and a target for Liverpool, West Ham and Spurs.

Swansea’s £13 million bid seems to have done the trick for now. Apart from the usual stresses of the Premier League, Swansea’s silverware last season has seen them gain a spot in Europe next season.

To avoid calamities similar to those at Newcastle and Spurs last season, Laudrup seems to be gearing up pretty well. And, here again the Spanish sense seems to be working up.

With his midfield already fully packed, Laudrup has now captured three more Spaniards: Alejandro Pozeulo, Jordi Amat and Jose Canas.

Out of these Amat seems to be the most important one as club captain Ashley Williams looks set to leave Wales. This would see Amat pair up with Chico at the back, thus completing the Spanish armada at the back.

It is the capture of the other two, Pozeulo and Canas that indicates the direction of Laudrup’s thinking. Pozeulo is an attacking midfielder in pretty much Michu’s mould, and with the further signing of last season loanee Jonathan de Guzman, Laudrup’s midfield has options into the third tier of substitutions.

Jose Canas is a traditional defensive midfielder and is often seen sitting firmly in front of the back four and allowing the other midfielders to attack. This creates a direct competition between him and club star Leon Britton whose passing rates are comparable to the likes of Xavi and Alonso.

Even if one can try to make sense of these signings as part of the Guardiola mentality, Laudrup’s recent signing of Jonjo Shelvey from Liverpool for £6 million is the icing on the cake. Shelvey is by definition a tough tackling attacking midfielder, and the young Englishman has a knack of long range shooting, pretty similar to De Guzman.

Further, Shelvey has often been experimented by Rodgers at false No.9, a position that now has Michu, Pozeulo and Bony. Shelvey’s signing was followed by encouraging remarks by ex-coach Brendan Rodgers, but the Englishman’s playing time amidst his Spanish teammates seems to be threateningly low in prospect.

Swansea’s signings this season, though surprisingly similar, have been pretty low-key. They have got the quartet of Shelvey, Amat, Joseulo and Canas for within £10 million.

But the biggest hurdle for the Welsh club was successfully evaded when Michael Laudrup extended his stay at the club amidst many contrary rumours. Though Laudrup is not a household name in football management, he has done a pretty thorough job of carrying forward a club on its ideals, which turned out to be similar to the ones he preached in his playing career.