CARVALHAL ISN’T HURT BY POISON PENS NOW

SWANSEA manager Carlos Carvalhal has got over his penalty heartbreak at the hands of Huddersfield.

The former Sheffield Wednesday boss (above) was cruelly denied a place in the play-off final after a second-leg shoot-out defeat by David Wagner’s side.

But Carvalhal is fully focused on taking Swansea to the brink of survival in today’s relegation six-pointer in Yorkshire.

“After the game we were disappointed about the penalties,” he said. “But we were conscious that we did everything to try to win the game.

“We did our best and when you give everything you are only upset in that moment about what happened.

“It was a question of luck when it came to penalties – and the luck went to the other side.

“Now we are trying to progress, limit mistakes and play better and better, which means we win more than we lose.

“If we stay in the Premier League in the view of you all it would be a miracle, not in my view, but we have a lot to do.”

The semi-final loss signalled the beginning of the end for Carvalhal’s Wednesday reign.

He was sacked seven months later and took over at the Liberty Stadium, where he has guided the Swans off the bottom and up to 13th place.

Another three points against relegation rivals Huddersfield would put them two wins away from safety.

But Carvalhal insists he is not getting out his calculator just yet.

“I don’t do the accounts, we just have to try to achieve the best we can,” he added.

“There are negatives about trying to account for these things. If you say you need three wins from games against certain teams, you can focus on that, but if you lose then you have big problems.

“We don’t look at those things, we look at the next game. I am not two-faced, I never talk to the players about points we need or future games.

“It means nothing, all that matters is the points we have and the gap to the relegation zone.”