Swansea sacked Paul Clement after a run of terrible form, now they’re allegedly after Slaven Bilic. Here’s why that’s a terrible idea:
Swansea are in utterly atrocious form and have been for over two months. They have won just twice in their last 14 games, drawing once and losing the other 11 – leaving them rock bottom of the Premier League.
Sacking Clement made sense, however depressing it may seem for their long-term vision under the Englishman. But it came out that Swansea were pursuing Ronald Koeman and Slaven Bilic as replacements.
Luckily for them Koeman has ruled himself out of the running, but there’s still Bilic. Neither of these would be good appointments for Swansea. Koeman has proven at Everton that whilst he is a good manager, he’s not a great one. Moreover he is perfectly capable of alienating talented players for little reason e.g. his treatment of Ross Barkley.
Bilic is an enigmatic maniac of a manager, and it’s easy to see why Swansea would think that his energy and personality could motivate and drive the Swans out of the relegation zone.
But Bilic proved at West Ham that his instability eventually leads to ruin. Moreover, because of his lack of a defined style, there’s very little for his predecessor to build on. The problems David Moyes is having at West Ham are perfectly illustrative of why Bilic is a bad idea. Koeman at least has a set style of play, Bilic has none.
There is one man who Swansea should be targeting, however. One out of work Premier League manager that would not only lift Swansea out of the relegation zone but establish them as a firm force in the Premier League.
That man? The maestro of the mid-table: Tony Pulis.
Think about it, Pulis’ style of play is often criticised for being dull, but never for being bad. No one can argue with the kind of results he can produce. His Stoke side were a monstrous defensive unit that were truly intimidating at home.
And he turned West Brom from a yo-yo side into a powerhouse mid-table outfit. A solid side whose only undoing was its ambition. The same thing that happened as Stoke. Eventually his sides become so good, so solid, that they eventually want to build on that and play great football, something beyond Pulis’ skill-set.
But even that isn’t a concern, as when he does eventually hit his peak, he will leave behind him a solid and stable defensive outfit who can easily be built upon if the next manager is the right now (i.e. not Alan Pardew).
Sure, the “limited” nature of the football under Tony Pulis could be seen as a drawback, especially when compared to a more dynamic figure like Bilic who offers a more expansive vision of the game.
But look around the Premier League, “limited” is what you need to get out of the bottom half: Everton with Sam Allardyce, Crystal Palace with Roy Hodgson. Defensively regimented “limited” football is the order of the day. And isn’t that just Tony Pulis all over?
There’s also the issue of experience. None of the five previous Swansea managers had any managerial experience in the Premier League, and that could explain the Swans’ fall from grace. Pulis is positively dripping in Premier League experience, and the vast majority of it is really good.
Simple, solid, and productive. Tony Pulis would keep Swansea up and then transform them into a rugged mid-table side, which is exactly what Swansea need right now.
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