Swansea City begin their Summer 2018 pre-season campaign at Yeovil Town on Tuesday night, and with a lack of signings so far – we’re wondering – what will manager Graham Potter’s starting line-up be at Huish Park?
As with any early Summer pre-season friendly, Potter will be experimenting with line-ups and formations and you’d expect an entirely different team to end the game compared to the one that started it.
In terms of formations and what Potter’s preferred system is, then it’s difficult to know where to start really. He’s a manager well known for wanting his team to be flexible and versatile – one that can easily switch between systems during a game. Therefore the players in his new squad for the 2018/19 Championship season may well be required to play in different roles.
It wouldn’t be at all surprising then to see certain players playing in different positions – maybe not in the same game but over the course of July when we play five friendly matches.
Before we go any further though, it’s worth mentioning that with injuries, player departures and players close to leaving, Graham Potter is limited for options, to say the least.
What formation(s) can we expect?
Potter used a variety of different formations during his 7 years at Ostersund so it’s tricky to understand exactly what his preferred formation is. Will he build a team around his preferred, favoured formation (whatever that may be), or will he simply use the Summer friendlies to decide what his squad suits best? We’ll have to wait and see.
Potter has used a back three and a 4-2-3-1 system at Ostersund as well as a number of other back-four variations – so it’s anyone’s guess really as to what his base / preferred system will be.
Players missing for the trip to Yeovil (14)
- Lucasz Fabianski (sold to West Ham)
- Ki Sung Yueng (end of contract – joined Newcastle)
- Leon Britton (retired)
- Angel Rangel (end of contract)
- Jefferson Montero (waiting for a work permit to return from loan)
- Leroy Fer (injured)
- Sam Clucas (injured)
- Kristoffer Nordfeldt (recently returned from World Cup so unlikely to feature)
- Martin Olsson (same reason as above)
- Kyle Bartley (unlikely to feature as he is close to completing a move to West Brom)
- Wilfried Bony (injured)
- Borja (in Spain, close to completing a loan move to Alaves)
- Andre Ayew (unlikely to feature as he is close to completing a loan move)
- Alfie Mawson (injured)
That’s some list, and when you see our formation below and the backup choices available in the positions (set up in a 4-1-4-1 formation), you can see just how few options Potter has at his disposal.
Possible Line-Up / Team Options
It’s a basic 4-4-1-1 formation, although it could easily be a 4-2-3-1 if you move the two wide-men further forward. A back three is possible but does Potter have enough defensive options to seriously consider it at this stage? In midfield, Potter is also lacking options with the likes of Fer and Clucas injured, and Ki and Britton no longer here.
You’d expect a number of younger players to be tested, with the likes of Byers, James and McBurnie possibly starting.
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