Captain Swaby, in-trouble Palace look forward to Chelsea test
Published:Friday | March 7, 2025 | 12:08 AM
REGGAE GIRL Allyson Swaby has settled into life at new club Crystal Palace quickly, donning the captain’s armband after just her third start.
Now, Swaby must turn her attention to Chelsea and another Reggae Girl in Rebecca Spencer when the teams meet in the Adobe Women’s FA Cup on Sunday.
Swaby, who joined Palace last month, was given the captain’s armband in the Eagles, a 1-0 loss to Liverpool in the Barclay’s Women’s Super League (WSL).
Speaking after the match in her new role as the team’s leader, Swaby applauded the team’s ability to quickly adapt to Liverpool’s change in tactics despite the loss.
“To be honest, we prepared for them to come out a certain way tactically, and they did something completely different,” she explained
“I think the biggest thing was just to see the adaptability of the girls and our ability to take a lot of information and do it pretty effectively for the first time. So I think that’s the thing that we can take away from it. It is just to be positive about how quickly we were able to adapt to the changes.”
Swaby acknowledged the dire situation at the club, with the team sitting at the foot of the WSL standings with six points from 15 games.
With seven games left in the season, three of which are against league leaders Chelsea, third-place Arsenal and fourth-place Manchester City, she is aware that they face an uphill task.
This is also compounded by the appointment of a new manager, Leif Smerud, who Swaby said will need his players’ full support.
“What I have been saying is just that we’ve got to buy in. If you waste any time deciding that you don’t know how you feel about the new manager, it’s just a waste of time,” she said.
“We don’t have a choice but to buy in if we want to see the results that we want by the end of the season.”
Crystal Palace’s next assignment will see them facing Chelsea in the FA Cup, a tough fixture that Swaby is looking forward to.
“Chelsea’s going to be a really tough opponent and a completely different dynamic, but there are actually a lot of positives for us to take. We just have to use as much momentum as we can.”
Spencer, Jamaica’s choice goalkeeper, joined Chelsea on an emergency loan last week.