Michael Laudrup has departed Swansea City; still very much the enigma he was when appointed to manage the Welsh club in the summer of 2012. So extreme has been the decline in the Swans’ performances this season and particularly across the past two months that, by the time it came, the Dane’s sacking was inevitable. The only surprise was the club’s chairman, Huw Jenkins, delaying the move until four days after the closure of the January transfer window.
Laudrup’s stay of execution perhaps speaks of the goodwill felt towards him at the Liberty Stadium; a debt of gratitude owed for the progress he oversaw during his first campaign in charge. What’s more, Jenkins is not a man prone to making snap decisions. Not since Brian Flynn’s removal in March 2004 have Swansea dispensed with the services of a manager. Indeed, Jenkins is rather more accustomed to being the jilted party. Recent incumbents of the Swans’ hot-seat, most notably Roberto Martinez and Brendan Rodgers, have left the club of their own accord.
Jenkins has been rightly lauded for his astute hiring of managers and, specifically, an intuitive ability for correctly identifying men to sustain and evolve the team’s attractive playing philosophy. Under Kenny Jackett, Martinez, Paulo Sousa and Rodgers, Swansea have remained true to their passing, attacking principles, while always progressing on the pitch. Sousa was the only one of that quartet not to achieve a promotion during his spell in south Wales.
One of the most gifted footballers of his generation, Laudrup was never likely to tear up an ethos that his predecessor, Rodgers, had employed to establish the Swans in the Premier League. Few at the club, however, envisaged that the former Barcelona and Real Madrid star would oversee the team’s development to an extent where their captivating brand of football matured further still, and brought with it tangible reward.
Some grudging commentators have suggested that Swansea were fortunate to face League Two opposition in the 2013 League Cup final, a match in which they ruthlessly dismantled Bradford City 5-0. Even if that aspersion contained an element of truth, there was nothing lucky about being drawn to play Liverpool at Anfield, nor in having to see off Chelsea in a two-legged semi-final on their way to Wembley. Those obstacles were hurdled in some style; Liverpool were dispatched 3-1 and Chelsea, unable to score across 180 minutes of combat, paid the price for a 2-0 defeat at Stamford Bridge when the return in Wales ended scoreless.
In retrospect, the victory over Chelsea might be considered the starting point for when Laudrup’s leadership began to drift. In the period between that last-four tie and the final in which the club won the first major silverware in their history, Swansea’s Premier League efforts were decidedly limp. The month leading up to their Wembley date culminated with a risible 5-0 hammering at the hands of Liverpool.
A proud and pragmatic man, Laudrup made no secret of his desire for the Swans to target a domestic trophy. His sound reasoning was that while improvement in the league is essential, knock-out competitions offer the only route to genuine glory for all but a few elite clubs.
Their manager’s approach won’t have come as a revelation to the Swans’ hierarchy. After four predominantly fruitful years in charge of Brondby in his homeland, Laudrup spent a year in the number one job at La Liga outfit Getafe. It was his spell in Spain that established the reputation of a man who had won a league title and two domestic cups with Brondby. Keeping the club securely in mid-table was a notable accomplishment, but it was Getafe’s runs to the Copa del Rey final and last eight of the UEFA Cup that marked Laudrup as a genuine managerial talent.
Subsequent assignments with Spartak Moscow and Mallorca, lasting just seven and 14 months respectively, pointed towards a likely fleeting stay at the Liberty. If matters under his command aren’t entirely to Laudrup’s satisfaction, he is not disposed to hanging around. The end came at Mallorca after a season in which, despite off-field unrest and financial trouble, the 1992 European Cup winner had kept the Island club afloat in La Liga. At the following campaign’s outset, Laudrup’s assistant Erik Larsen’s sacking precipitated the manager’s walkout.
He arrived at Swansea, then, with a point to prove and, possibly, with the lifting of silverware eight months into his reign, felt that his remit was fulfilled. Aside from a win against Newcastle United one week on from the League Cup success, the remainder of the Swans’ 2012/2013 season petered out in meek fashion. The team that had opened its campaign by scoring eight goals without reply against QPR and West Ham United, and went on to record a conclusive triumph at Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium, won one of its final 10 matches.
It is a similar run of form that has seen the curtain drawn on Laudrup’s Swansea reign. Admittedly hindered by the protracted absence of the imperious Spanish attacker Michu and involvement in the unwieldy Europa League, the Swans have never approached the thrilling heights of a year ago.
Laudrup adorned the playing staff bequeathed him by Rodgers with an array of inventive, mobile and skilful footballers. Jonathan de Guzman, Pablo Hernandez, Sung-Yong Ki and, primarily, Michu, made light of Scott Sinclair and Joe Allen’s defections. Home-grown left-back Ben Davies was introduced into the side with terrific effect. Already pivotal figures such as Ashley Williams, Wayne Routledge and Nathan Dyer flourished in a unit that added purpose to its guile and, despite their poor run-in, finished 9th in the top flight.
Today’s picture is somewhat different. The devotion to possession football remains, but the intent is gone. While, of late, Laudrup’s team have struggled, there has been no noticeable change to the method that is producing the same, negative results. Swansea continue to see plenty of the ball but, without the verve and panache that made them such difficult opponents, they look lightweight and passive. In what transpired to be his final match at the helm against West Ham United, Laudrup’s men were bullied all over the pitch. Even the unjust dismissal of Andy Carroll did nothing to shift the momentum of a Hammers’ procession.
The highs this term; beating Manchester United at Old Trafford in the FA Cup, outplaying Valencia on their own turf in the Europa League and, in league action, comfortably seeing off Newcastle United, have been far outweighed by a series of displays to rank alongside the one at Upton Park. Southampton and Tottenham Hotspur have taken maximum points from the Swans without the need to break into anything more than a trot.
There have been many incidences during this season of matches in which possession statistics and eventual results tell corresponding stories. On Monday night, Chelsea deservedly won at Manchester City despite seeing only 35% of the ball. Aston Villa pulled off the remarkable feat of leaving Southampton’s St Mary’s Stadium with a 3-2 victory despite the Saints enjoying 78% of possession.
Ki, the scorer of Sunderland’s winning penalty at Everton on Boxing Day, a match in which the hosts dominated every facet of the action to no avail, is a living example of Laudrup having dropped his guard. With his every assured performance in Sunderland’s stirring revival, the South Korean is making increasingly baffling the decision to allow him to move north for the term.
Laudrup’s recruits ahead of this campaign, with the exception of Wilfried Bony and, intermittently, Jonjo Shelvey, have not had anything close to the impact of his initial raft of signings. Alvaro Vazquez, Jordi Amat, Alejandro Pozuelo and Jose Canas have been at best peripheral, at worst completely ineffective.
The January loan acquisition of Marvin Emnes, a player whose purchase Laudrup vocally opposed last year, suggested that the 49 year-old’s time in Wales was coming to a close. Stories have been circulating of a disaffected playing squad and widespread discontent with the manager’s distant manner. These leaks only occur, though, when everything is no longer running smoothly. There were no such rumblings when Swansea were at their scintillating peak under the Dane’s initial stewardship.
Laudrup was accused during his playing career of not consistently replicating his imperious club form when on international duty; the popular explanation being that an authentic world class performer was frustrated when surrounded by lesser mortals.
It is conceivable that, faced with a similar scenario as a manager, and feeling he has achieved as much as is realistically possible with Swansea, Laudrup simply lost motivation. Regardless, with the team plunging submissively into a relegation battle, and a crucial derby encounter against Cardiff City looming, Jenkins had to act.
Laudrup will surely retain the affections of the Swans’ faithful. Furthermore, he has cause to reflect on a largely happy 17 months at his Welsh stopping post. Afforded the benefit of hindsight, it is clear that Michael Laudrup and Swansea City was always destined to be a marriage of convenience, rather than a relationship for the ages.
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