As we have a few days until we play Liverpool at Anfield, I thought it would be a good idea to take a look at some of our players who might be of interest to… um… players of a popular Football Management simulation game for example.
We’ll begin right at the back with Lukasz Fabianski, our Polish goalkeeper between the sticks who has saved our collective bacon seemingly every game.
Fabianski has been a model of consistency in our league campaign. When you have different ambitions in the Premier League, you need a different style of goalkeeper. If you are up at the top end of the table then the attributes you look for in a custodian are distribution, concentration and anticipation. If you, like us, having ambitions a little lower than that and expect you’ll be fighting against relegation then it’s a shot-stopper with good reflexes and one-on-ones.
Lukasz scores highly as a shot-stopper and is a solid all-rounder, he’s not spectacular and the reports from inside the club indicate that he would be a leading player for most Sky Bet Championship sides but for a team that has faced a lot of shots this season, he’s our best option ahead of Erwin Mulder and Kriistoffer Nordfeldt.
Bearing in mind that as a club we are in eighth place in the Premier League, Fabianski comes in joint 15th with Matt Ryan of Brighton in terms of goals conceded (52) and 13th when considering clean sheets (7). You’d say that those are average statistics, at best. Where the Pole comes alive in is saves held, he’s up in second behind Asmir Begovic of Bournemouth in that regard. In saves parried, he’s seventh – a place that reflects our league position).
Twice this season Fabianski has been named in the Team of the Week and received two player of the match awards. He has now made 145 appearances for the Swans, joining in 2014 after spending time with the Gunners, Legia and Lech.
As a previous FA Cup winner with Arsenal, we’ll be looking to rely on his experience as we see out the remaining two games of the league season and then take on Stoke City in the FA Cup final.
If you enjoyed this player profile you can also find out about the best players of FM 2008 and where they are now here.