Exeter gaffer lauds style and drive of the Swans
Exeter City manager Paul Tisdale has welcomed the opportunity to host Swansea City on Sunday, and tipped his hat to the South Wales side for their phenomenal achievements in establishing themselves as one of the top sides in English football.
Having completed their Dutch tour, the Swans will now travel to the West Country – first to take on Yeovil on Friday, before arriving at St James Park for the Sunday 3pm kick-off.
“It’s a fantastic game for us,” said Tis. “They are a fully-fledged Premier League side now, playing football in a wonderful fashion and with a big, big European name [Michael Laudrup] as manager. He was a wonderful footballer at that, and always speaks so well and so rationally.”
Swansea have made a habit in recent seasons of bamboozling defences and retaining the ball effortlessly against some of the top sides in the country, and Tis feels that their dominant nature and the apparent gulf in class will make the Grecians’ objectives much clearer.
He continued: “The culture at Swansea for the last ten years has been of proper football and it’ll be great to have them at St James Park – it’ll be a good opportunity for our players to defend!
“I’m not saying it’s an easy game – but for me, in terms of setting the side up, it’s a simpler and more straightforward task against a side that’s going to have the ball, rather than when the ball’s in the air. At least you know where the ball’s going to be – that’s not to say you can cope with it, nor deal with it very well, but it gives us a certain type of practice.”
“It won’t be akin to League 2 football, but it’ll be a great opportunity for our supporters to see some top Premier League players and play the sort of football we all want to see. Swansea have stuck to their guns over the last ten years and decided what they are and how they’re going to do it. They’ve been very pragmatic about it and have had extremely good success from it.”
Tis also revealed that he would send a strong side down to Buckland Athletic the day before. The Grecians kick off against the Bucks at 2pm at Homers Heath, and the City will be sending along a squad of professionals to gain more match fitness.
“Against Buckland, we’ll be using players that won’t be starting against Swansea and not likely to play a large part or at all in that game against Swansea,” he continued. “They’ll get their minutes this weekend against Buckland and then perhaps sit on the bench are maybe participate latterly.
“It’ll be all professionals and then one or two young players making up the squad numbers.”
Tickets to see Exeter City v Swansea City at St James Park are available from £2 for under-18s and students, from £6 for over-60s and from £12 for adults. For full ticket prices, click here.