Swansea City

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Alan Sheehan rued Swansea City's lack of attacking threat as they were beaten at Middlesbrough on the opening day of the Championship season.

Swansea lost a game of a few chances courtesy of a set-piece goal from Boro centre-back Dael Fry early in the second half.

Sheehan's team created little, with their best sights of goal coming before the break when Liam Cullen's header from a tight angle was saved by home keeper Sol Brynn and Ronald flashed wide from distance.

The Swansea head coach acknowledged that his had side struggled in the final third, particularly after the home side went in front.

"We really lacked an attacking threat after they scored," said Sheehan, who is keen to strengthen his forward options in what remains of the transfer window.

"When we went behind, we took a while to recover, to get into our flow again.

"We tried to change the impetus, we made a few changes, but we didn't create enough."

Swansea gave full debuts to Cameron Burgess and Ethan Galbraith, while fellow summer signings Zeidane Inoussa, Melker Widell and Kaelan Casey came off the bench to make their first appearances for the club.

Casey replaced club skipper Ben Cabango, who played 75 minutes despite missing much of pre-season with a calf injury.

"Ben played as long as he could which was excellent for us - this is his mini-pre-season now," Sheehan said.

"He is a warrior for us. He leads the backline, him and Cameron. I thought the defence looked very solid."

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Alan Sheehan says Swansea City must contend with opening-day emotion as they begin the new Championship season at Middlesbrough today (15:00 BST).

Swansea's visit to Teesside marks the start of a new era for Boro following the summer appointment of Rob Edwards as head coach.

The former Wales international, who had been out of work since leaving Luton Town in January, took charge on a three-year deal following the dismissal of Michael Carrick.

Like Swansea, Boro are a club with work to do in the transfer market, with only three signings made so far this summer.

But Sheehan says his team must be prepared for a buoyant Riverside atmosphere as they look to start 2025-26 on a positive note.

"We had wonderful momentum last year, when we built good confidence within the group," Sheehan said.

"We want to be as competitive as we can at Middlesbrough.

"I think it will be a hard challenge. They have a new manager so it will be an emotional atmosphere at the start."

Swansea took 24 points from 13 games under Sheehan following the departure of Luke Williams in February.

The fine end to what had been a tricky season was enough to see Sheehan land his first permanent head coach role.

While the aim is to improve on last season's 11th-place finish, Swansea's squad looks light in a number of areas.

And Sheehan has warned that even the recruits who have arrived will need time to get to grips with the Championship.

"We want to evolve [this season]," he added.

"But we have new faces in the building so it's how we integrate these players into this system."

Rob Edwards makes his league debut as Middlesbrough head coach on Saturday (15:00 BST) as they host Swansea City.

The former Luton Town boss was appointed in June following the dismissal of Michael Carrick and will have promotion expectations on his shoulders after the club failed to break into the top six last season.

Meanwhile, the Swans will be hoping to reap revenge on the Teesside club for last year's opener, which Boro won with a penalty.

• Middlesbrough have won each of their last five home league games against Swansea City, with four of those victories coming via a one-goal margin.

• Swansea City won their last league game against Middlesbrough and will be looking to win successive matches against Boro for the first time since June 2020.

• Middlesbrough beat Swansea on MD1 of the last Championship season and will be looking to win back-to-back opening matches of a league season for the first time since 1994.

• Swansea have failed to win any of their last four opening day fixtures (D2 L2), with both defeats during that time coming on the road via one-goal margin.

• Middlesbrough's Riley McGree has struck three goals across his prior five league appearances against Swansea, his most against any side in the EFL.

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Cameron Burgess believes he can achieve further success at Swansea City having helped former club Ipswich Town reach the Premier League.

Australia centre-back Burgess was an Ipswich regular as the East Anglian club claimed promotion from League One in 2022-23 and then finished second in the Championship the following season.

He played 18 times in the Premier League last term as Ipswich were relegated but, with his Portman Road contract up in the summer, opted to join Swansea on a three-year deal.

Asked to explain the decision to swap Suffolk for south Wales, Burgess said: "I feel like I can contribute here. I know where the club wants to go and I feel like I can be a really big part of that.

"It was a really tough decision [to leave Ipswich]. I had four really amazing years there.

"But there are a lot of things to consider in a player's career and I felt this was the right team for me. Hopefully we can replicate some of the memories [from Ipswich] here."

Burgess will make his competitive Swansea debut as Alan Sheehan's team begin 2025-26 with a trip to Middlesbrough on Saturday.

While there is work for Swansea to do in the transfer market, former Fulham youngster Burgess says Sheehan's squad has the same kind of "culture, team spirit and work ethic" that brought Ipswich success.

And he sees "progress from last season" as the goal for the upcoming campaign, with Swansea aiming to improve on an 11th-place finish last May.

"If we can do that, it's a successful season," Burgess added.

"The club have made steps forward off the pitch and it's time to replicate that on the pitch."

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Alan Sheehan says Swansea City will "wait and see" whether Ben Cabango can feature in their Championship opener at Middlesbrough on Saturday.

Club captain Cabango's pre-season has been badly disrupted by a calf injury picked up during Swansea's training camp in Spain.

But the 25-year-old centre-back has taken some part in training this week, which is a welcome boost given Swansea's shortage of options.

Fellow defender Ricardo Santos is sidelined by a knee injury suffered in the friendly at Cheltenham, while promising youngster Filip Lissah has an ankle issue.

That leaves Cameron Burgess and fellow summer signing Kaelan Casey, who only arrived on loan from West Ham on Wednesday, as Sheehan's fully fit central defensive options on the eve of the new season.

Swansea are also monitoring the fitness of winger Zeidane Inoussa, another of their summer recruits, as he recovers from a stress fracture suffered at former club Hacken.

Sheehan said Eom Jisung is "not 100%" going into Boro because of a pre-season ankle problem, while striker Zan Vipotnik has missed training because of a toe injury.

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Ben Lloyd has been challenged to be Newport County's star man after joining on loan from Swansea City.

The 20-year-old midfielder will spend the season with the Exiles and has already made two starts.

Lloyd has made just a pair of brief appearances off the bench for Championship side Swansea, but he will now try to follow in the footsteps of Ollie Cooper and Brandon Cooper by heading east to impress in Newport with the League Two side.

"He can learn a lot," said Swansea head coach Alan Sheehan. "He's got to go there with the mentality of being the best player.

"Yes, he is from a Championship club but he's got to go down there and be the best player, on and off the pitch.

"He's got to be a role model, be a good example, show the work ethic and the grit to be a professional footballer and prove himself at that level.

"After that you move onto the next level and that's the goal for a lot of young players here."

Meanwhile, Newport midfielder Riley Lonergan has joined Cardiff Met on loan.

The teenager, who signed a first professional contract in the summer, will get a taste of senior men's football in the Cymru Premier until 12 January.

Lonergan is yet to make his Newport first-team debut after being an unused substitute in the League Two game at Fleetwood Town in the penultimate game of last season.

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Swansea City hope to seal at least one more signing before Saturday's Championship opener at Middlesbrough.

The Swans have so far added Cameron Burgess, Ricardo Santos, Ethan Galbraith, Zeidane Inoussa and Bobby Wales while Melker Widell is with them after being loaned back to Aalborg BK after signing in January.

However, Swansea's options are limited at centre-back and they are in the market for a striker.

Asked if a new signing was on the cards ahead of the trip to Middlesbrough, head coach Alan Sheehan replied: "All going well, yeah.

"We are in talks with players, but we are not going to just sign anyone, it's got to be the right fit for the football club in order to make us better.

"We've made good quality signings and maybe will make a couple more before the end of the window."

Swansea's squad remains thin after a long summer leavers list that included Harry Darling, Kyle Naughton, Joe Allen and Lewis O'Brien.

"There has been a lot of change, we have done good business, but we will also need to bring in more," said Sheehan.

"There's a recruitment strategy with Adam Worth onto us daily. We are as a football club quite active to bring in more players."

Swansea have been linked with Wycombe striker Richard Kone, who was left out of their squad for the League One opener at Bradford.

"There is a lot of noise about that, but it's not something I would comment on," said Sheehan.

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Swansea City were beaten 3-1 by French side Lorient in their final friendly ahead of the Championship season.

Alan Sheehan's side were downed at Swansea.com Stadium and were without the injured Ben Cabango, Filip Lissah, Ricardo Santos and Zan Vipotnik in their last tune-up for next Saturday's trip to Middlesbrough (15:00 BST).

The Ligue 1 side were in charge from the off and finally got their noses in front through Pablo Pagis' calm finish in the 23rd minute after Cameron Burgess had given the ball away.

Melker Widell should have swiftly levelled but scuffed his shot from close range and it was 2-0 on the half hour when Pagis scored from Gedeon Kalulu's pass, with Josh Key potentially having the final touch with an attempted tackle.

The third came from the spot through Mohamed Bamba in the 42nd minute after Igor Silva was brought down by teenager Arthur Parker.

Ronald should have made it 3-1 after 53 minutes but was denied in a one-on-one with goalkeeper Benjamin Leroy, then Lawrence Vigouroux did likewise at the other end against Pagis.

Liam Cullen got Swansea off the mark with a penalty in the 64th minute after Ronald had been fouled and then the Wales forward had a header chalked off for offside.