 Friday, 26th Mar 2010 11:47 Town boss Roy Keane has hinted at changes to his side for Saturday’s visit to Swansea’s Liberty Stadium. Keane was disappointed with Tuesday’s “sluggish” display as the Blues lost 2-0 at home to Plymouth. Speaking at Thursday’s pre-match press conference, Keane, who fielded an unchanged team for only the third time this season against the Pilgrims, says he’ll consider the condition of his players at Friday training: “We’ll see how the players react to the game the other night. No doubt they will be disappointed, we looked a bit sluggish. “Connor Wickham would have had a good chance of being involved for Saturday. We’ll have a look at the players on Friday, they’ve got a day off today, they were in on Wednesday for recovery and we’ll sleep on it before finalising the team. But there could be some fresh legs in there.” Wickham misses the game as he’s with England’s U17s but will be back in time for next week’s home game against Reading. Keane says he didn’t consider withdrawing the 16-year-old from international duty as he misses just the single Town match: “There was never a danger he was going to miss out on those games. “If there was one England game to go and we desperately needed him I’d maybe ask [England U17s coach] John Peacock, but this is all part of Connor growing up and learning his trade.” Town have swapped their habit of drawing most of their games for a run of wins followed by defeats, which Keane says has helped ease relegation worries but is just as frustrating: “That’s been the case the last five or six weeks. Up to then it seemed to be draw after draw. “We’re better off winning-losing, winning-losing because the draws were taking us nowhere fast. At least now we’re getting three points every second game it’s getting us up the table a touch. “The fact that we’ve been so inconsistent is unbelievably frustrating. But when you give away two goals like we did the other night, you can tell why.” The Irishman says his players’ endeavour wasn’t in doubt against Paul Mariner’s men: “As much as it was disappointing the other night in terms of how sluggish we were, I was pleased with the players’ efforts and as frustrated as I was with the two mistakes we made, we still had opportunities to score goals. We had three or four good chances and we didn’t even hit the target. “That’s been a big problem for us all season, the fact we’re giving bad goals away and we don’t take our chances and that’s not a good combination to have.” Town’s inconsistency goes back beyond Keane’s time as manager and the Blues boss wonders whether it’s time for the club to change its traditional ‘nice’ image: “I think the club is set in its ways a little bit. Tradition is fantastic, I think I’ve played my part in that over the last few months, but maybe that needs to be looked at. “We’re talking about the football club, the traditions of the club, they way we are and maybe we have become too nice. ”I don’t mean we should be ranting and raving every two minutes like some managers are against us. “We’ve got great staff downstairs, you get a great welcome, that’s something we should be proud of, I’m not saying all of sudden change all that side of it, but it might be the characters in the dressing room. I think we’re too nice on the pitch.” Town’s inconsistency is illustrated by their ability to lose to strugglers such as Plymouth and Peterborough but gain points from sides higher up the division. Keane says Town can beat Swansea, as long as they avoid the suicidal tendencies which were so evident on Tuesday: “I know we’re capable of going down there and putting on a good performance, but as we saw the other night, we’re also capable of shooting ourselves in the foot. The two goals we conceded the other night were shocking. “Players are going to make mistakes, I’ve no problem with that, managers make mistakes, everyone makes mistakes. But if you make the same mistakes week-in, week-out, something has to be done about it. It’s not just about the players but about the manager and the staff and how we prepared the game. “Having said that, we look at the mistakes we made [in defence], but there are also the strikers. When they get chances they have got to hit the target. We had two or three very good chances, despite us having an off night, which I don’t mind as we’re going to have off nights. But when you have off nights, if you get your one or two opportunities, you take them.” Despite skipper Jon Walters admitting he has been underperforming, Keane says he has been pleased with the former Chester man’s leadership: “I think Jon’s been very good for us all season, the way he leads the game. I think he’ll be disappointed that he didn’t score the other night with the header. “Jon’s led the way and it wasn’t about Jon Walters the other night or Damien Delaney, it’s about everybody. Whatever we want to achieve at the club will be because we’ll stick together. “We were sluggish the other night, but I wouldn’t necessarily point the fingers at the players, the manager and the staff have to take responsibility.” Keane has been impressed with Saturday’s opponents, despite their 5-1 loss at Blackpool in midweek: “Swansea are having a brilliant season, they play really good football. “It probably wouldn’t be an ideal result for us that they conceded five. Generally speaking, with the system that they play, as much as they’re very good going forward, they don’t concede many. “That was a bit of blip for them, but that happens. However, you look where they are in the table, they’re still having a fantastic season. We have to go down there and look after ourselves and we have gone to teams near the top and have had some decent results.” Keane feels Swansea’s January signing of former Blue Shefki Kuqi has paid off: “He seems to have done well since he’s gone there, he’s been a very good buy. “You always need a player like him in your pack, he’s something a bit different with the physical strength he has and obviously he did quite well when he was here.” The Blues boss says everyone at Town needs to come together at the Liberty Stadium: “The players have to bounce back, roll their sleeves up, as do the staff, the supporters have to get behind us and we get ready to go again.” Brian Murphy will keep his place in goal against his old club, while Shane O’Connor looks set to continue at left-back. Arran Lee-Barrett will be on the bench having played in the reserves in midweek but with Richard Wright pressing for some involvement after recovering from his knee ligament injury. Damien Delaney seems unlikely to lose his place despite his error on the first goal against Plymouth, although Tommy Smith will be standing by to take over from the Irishman alongside Gareth McAuley if Keane decides on making a change. Liam Rosenior could be in line to come in for David Wright at right-back. In midfield, Grant Leadbitter could come back into the starting line-up, probably alongside David Norris with Jack Colback moving to left midfield. Jon Walters appears unlikely to be left out and may go back to his right-sided role in place of Carlos Edwards. David Healy could return to the Town starting line-up up front alongside Daryl Murphy in place of Pablo Couñago. The Swans currently sit in fifth in the Championship, 14 points and 11 places above the Blues, with a home record of won eight, drawn eight and lost three. The Welshmen could welcome back skipper Garry Monk after a calf injury, while midfielder Joe Allen is training again after a knee problem and could also return to the squad, Full-backs Albert Serran (hamstring) and Federico Bessone (knee) and midfielder Ferrie Bodde (calf) are all definitely sidelined. Over the years the results between the sides are neatly balanced, Town having won nine (seven in the league), Swansea also having been victorious on nine (nine) occasions, with eight (seven) matches ending in draws. Earlier in the season, the sides drew 1-1 at Portman Road. Craig Beattie put the visitors ahead in the sixth minute, but Pablo Couñago equalised eight minutes later. At the Liberty Stadium in February, Jordi Gomez added Swansea’s third goal in a 3-0 victory after Jason Scotland had netted the first two. Town keeper Brian Murphy played for Swansea between 2003 and 2006 but made only 18 appearances before returning to Ireland and joining Bohemians. Pablo Couñago held talks with the Welsh club in the summer after the Blues and Swans agreed a fee before deciding against the move. Striker Shefki Kuqi is the only former Blue in Paulo Sousa’s squad, promising not to do his trademark celebration if he scores against his old club on Saturday. Recent Swansea loan signing from Burnley, David Edgar, is a close friend of fellow Canadian Jaime Peters, the duo having played at various international levels together. Saturday’s referee is Craig Pawson from South Yorkshire, who has shown 68 yellow and four red cards in 28 games so far this season. Pawson has never officiated a match involving either Town or Swansea before and is taking control of only his sixth Championship fixture. Squad from: B Murphy, Lee-Barrett, R Wright, D Wright, Rosenior, O'Connor, Delaney, McAuley, Smith, Leadbitter, Norris, Colback, Garvan, Walters, Edwards, Peters, Martin, D Murphy, Healy, Couñago.
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