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Manager Ready For Swansea Challenge

Posted on: Thu 26 Jan 2012

Manager Owen Coyle has confirmed that new signing Tim Ream will not feature against Swansea City in the FA Cup this weekend.

The central defender has immigration formalities to complete following his transfer from New York Red Bulls, meaning that he will not be available for selection until next week.

"We had to make sure that we secured Tim's work permit, which we did in the early part of the week in London," said Coyle.

"However, he has now gone back to the States to have his passport stamped and that means that he will miss out on Saturday afternoon.

"We will have to see whether he is back in time for the game against Arsenal on Wednesday."

For the two previous FA Cup ties against Macclesfield, Coyle shook-up his team, making a host of changes to the side named in the previous Premier League games.

However, the Bolton boss remained tight-lipped as to whether he would be doing the same for the visit of the Swans this Saturday.

"Time will tell on that," said the Bolton boss. "It's a big cup tie and it follows on from an outstanding performance against Liverpool.

"The story was that Liverpool weren't at the races, but they weren't allowed to be at the races. They showed last night their quality - they are into a cup final - but last week we played ever so well, passing and moving the ball and scoring three goals.

Owen Coyle Brendan Rodgers

"As a player, coach, manager, I have loved the FA Cup and I hope my players share that same enthusiasm.

"Saturday gives us an opportunity to reach the last-16, and I'm sure that Brendan (Rodgers) will feel the same at Swansea.

"They have been outstanding, beating Arsenal the other week - it was probably similar to us and the result against Liverpool - and they have talented players and individual match-winners.

"For me, it's a good game to look forward to. We showed last week, and it was long overdue, what we can do at the Reebok.

"We have to continue with that because after Swansea we face another tough game against Arsenal. We've got to repeat the form.

"I've said before that we have been on a decent run, but being in the lower reaches of the league then people don't often recognise that.

"As good as Swansea have been, we've actually taken more points from the last six Barclays Premier League games than Swansea. We've recorded ten compared to their eight.

"So it will be a terrific game between two good sides."