I think about the best defence that I can give for Laudrup is what happened with Newcastle United last season. They were also playing in the Europa League, and predictably found things in the Premier League tough going. It was certainly a tough season for them with Alan Pardews position as manager being called into question on a number of occasions. However, with the team finishing fifth the previous season, the Newcastle board obviously took the decision to give their manager time. Pardews a quality manager, and its managed to come out the other end by guiding the Magpies to eighth in the league so far this term. Its a remarkable achievement considering the team have had a virtually non-existent transfer policy in the summer and January. This is largely the bigger picture that I was talking about in the previous point; its a shame to me that the Swans werent able to take a similar approach with Laudrup. Obviously, time will tell on how this will all turn out but I would fear that Swansea may now go backwards with the excellent progression they have made in the past few seasons, sometimes its wise to give a manager time and I think this was one of those occasions.