Please explain Laudrup's sacking to me...

Ok, so Swansea have lost 6 of the last 8 in the League and are only two points above the relegation places, but how do you sack the guy that won you the League Cup last year and got you to the last 32 of the Europa League?

He won you your first major trophy and less than a season later he's been sacked.

Good luck to the new manager who has to come in and change things, even though he can't buy any players until the summer. Michu may return from injury to help them do that, but how are Swansea going to persuade their best players to stay now that Laudrup has been fired? I'm not saying another manager can't get good players in, but Laudrup's acquisitions from Spain are going to want out.

It's a strange one. The Danish manager was a bright spark in the League, playing attractive football and charming his way through interviews. And he could manage too. He may have struggled to juggle the competitions this year, but Swansea are a decent side. League results haven't been as good as last year, but they dumped Manchester United out of the FA Cup and generally play good football.

Swansea play Cardiff this Saturday and also face Everton, Liverpool and Napoli (twice) in February. The management obviously thinks an outsider is going to better with this squad than Michael Laudrup could. I'd be surprised - especially if newly appointed coach Garry Monk gets the job, because he has zero experience at any level.

So another Premier League sacking. Alan Pardew will be off soon if results at Newcastle continue, and then Arsene Wenger will be the only one left who has spent more than 3 years in charge of one team.

The League Cup - why not win a trophy?

Ask West Ham fans, Stoke, Leicester, Sunderland or Southampton fans - they want to win it. Swansea won it last year and are enjoying themselves against teams like Valencia (and hammering them to boot).

It may not be much to Chelsea or Man United fans, but I don't see why Spurs, Liverpool or Arsenal don't go all out to win it.

It's the Capital One Cup now, but has been the Milk Cup, Littlewoods Cup, Rumbelows Cup (or something like that), but let's call it the League Cup.

It's a trophy. A piece of silverware.

You don't get one for 14th in the league, or 2nd, 3rd or 4th for that matter. The Champions League is great and staying in the Premier League pays a fortune, but fans don't remember teams unless they won something.

I bet Birmingham fans love the fact they beat Arsenal in the final in 2011, and hate that they got relegated and are struggling in the Championship now. Wigan won the FA Cup last year and got relegated, and also don't look like coming straight back up. But they won a trophy, and they will get back to the top flight - as will Leeds, Sheffield United, Wednesday and Burnley. Fans have short memories, but most would take a win at Wembley even if it means playing Scunthorpe away next season.

Those teams have history and the way to measure that is trophies. Playing in the top flight is great, but will Stoke fans look back in 10 years and say how great the Premier League was, or would they love to have a Cup win to remember this (relatively) successful period in their history?

Arsene Wenger has got Arsenal into Europe for 15 or so consecutive seasons, but they haven't won anything for a while. Fans want to win, not qualify for Europe again just to lose in the quarter-finals. I can't guarantee it, but I think most Arsenal fans would take a League Cup win over bowing out of the Group stages of the Champions League this year. Playing Napoli, Dortmund, Barca or Bayern is huge, but winning something/anything (except the Emirates Cup) is huge.

So go all out to win everything, fielding weaker teams isn't the way to go - any trophy is better than playing for mid-table every year.

Allardyce mocking Flores? Why not?

Chico Flores is a big guy. So is Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale, Luis Suarez - and if they were small guys, they still deserve to be laughed at and mocked when they dive.

Maybe Sam Allardyce was laughing at his cunning plan to sneak into the Swansea dressing room and eat all the post-game food while other people were sleeping watching the 0-0 draw, but I hope he was laughing at another pathetic dive.

Jonjo's had a rough night, but that's nothing new

Jonjo Shelvey scored one and had 3 assists in the 2-2 draw with Liverpool - he could be forgiven if it was a one off (after all, he does love his glasses celebration and may genuinely be confused as to what team he was playing for).

He gave Alex Ferguson some abuse last year after he was sent off - something he blamed on Fergie's badgering of referees - so we can't hate him.

Plus, it's not like he hasn't had issues in front of goal before...

Liverpool just waiting for Suarez to ruin it for them.

Interesting match up in the Premier League tonight - and it's only been pushed to Monday as the league wanted teams that never qualify for the Champions League!

Calm down, I want to keep my rims and tires next time I go to Liverpool.

Brendan Rodgers is going back to Swansea with his team having won 3 straight, and Daniel Sturridge scoring the solitary goal in all three of the 1-0 wins. He's back in the team after missing England duty with a 'really serious' injury as Liverpool seek their best start since 1994-95.

Swansea are a very good team and play some nice stuff under Michael Laudrup, but I think they're going to struggle to score goals as Michu won't get the space he did last year. They'll be annoyed Kolo toure is out tonight, as he guarantees you at least one chance a game.

 And don't forget, it's not long until a certain Mr. Luis Suarez is back.