Swansea City have announced Carlos Carvalhal will leave the club at the end of the season having all but failed to avoid relegation.
The former Sheffield Wednesday boss will take charge of his final game against Stoke City on Sunday, after which his contract will not be renewed.
Much-loved for his colourful analogies, after the 3-1 win over Arsenal at the end of January, he declared his side were “close to going out of the hospital…not far away from the doctors telling us we can go home”.
If that comment reflected the mood in the dressing room, his players could not have been more wrong. Since that marvellous result, which followed another shock 1-0 victory at home to Liverpool, they have won just twice in the league.
Notts County were dispatched 8-1 in the FA Cup fourth-round replay, but things were about to unravel. At the most pivotal stage of the campaign, they are now without a win in nine. That run has included games against Manchester United, Manchester City, and Chelsea, yet there have also been countless missed opportunities to pick up points from those around them, against Huddersfield, West Brom, and Southampton.
Against the Saints on Tuesday night, it was all or nothing - the Swans produced the latter going forward and Manolo Gabbiadini’s 72nd strike effectively ended their six-year stint in the top flight.
Whereas frankly, it would have been criminal for the talent in Mark Hughes’ squad to find themselves going down, it isn’t all that difficult to see why Swansea are where they are. Jordan Ayew and Tammy Abraham are the only players to have scored more than three goals this season, while only Stoke and Huddersfield have a worse goal difference.
Carvalhal was right about one thing; that this was a team of “sardines”, not the lobster he dreamed of buying in the January transfer window. You know that feeling when you order surf and turf and it turns out the ‘surf’ actually means scampi? At that point, it’s best to be realistic about your prospects of a nice meal.
Instead, Swansea were so buoyed by their manager’s immediate impact when he arrived in December that complacency set in. For a time, it has to be said, the Portuguese was doing well. The win over Watford in his first game couldn’t be repeated against Spurs, but they put in a decent performance in some miserable conditions.
Ultimately, however, were it not for the upsets against Liverpool and Arsenal, nobody would have thought Swansea were ever doing that well. If they beat Stoke this weekend, Carvalhal will leave the Liberty Stadium with a grand total of six league wins under his belt. Darren Moore already has three and he only took charge of West Brom a month ago.
And so, to Swansea’s latest quest for a new manager. This is something they are no strangers to, having parted company with six coaches during their Premier League stay. Incidentally, there are already early whisperings of a return for Michael Laudrup.
The irony is that Carvalhal was brought in because he had impressed in the Championship. He will not get the chance to do so again with Swansea, but perhaps he will be much the wiser for what he has learned about the importance of mentality.
