Keep calm and keep us up
Cool Carlos won’t flap as Swans fight to stay afloat
SWANSEA boss Carlos Carvalhal insists he will not be turning into a ranter and raver despite the pressure for Premier League safety. The Swans face their biggest game in years as they host Southampton tonight in the mother of all ‘six-pointers’. But Carvalhal, known for his coolness on the touchline and jovial demeanour off it, is remaining relaxed. “All the time it is serious,” said the Portuguese. “I don’t need to scream at the players with concentration. “If I must scream, I scream. But I am not like that all the time with the players. “We must keep organised, we must be with confidence, emotional control. “It is not a time to scream. It is a time to be focused and do the proper things. “I believe in myself. I believe in my players. My target is to try to get them to believe in themselves and believe in their colleagues. These are the things that we must do.” Swansea received criticism for the way they went about their game at Bournemouth with suggestions they prioritised this fixture. The Swans are now back in the bottom three on goal difference but they know wins in their final two games, with Stoke visiting the Liberty Stadium on Sunday, will be enough to see them to safety. It is still a much better position than when Carvalhal arrived in December, when they were bottom of the pile, five points adrift. “I would be talking in a completely different way if, for example, we had to win on Tuesday and had to wait for two or three results,” he said. “This is something really bad. When it is in your hands to do it, let’s do it. This is the way. And I believe we can do it.
“The calendar says that we have two home games against teams that are fighting with us.
“So I don’t look at things in a negative way. I just look at things in a positive way.
“In a normal situation, we were completely out of the running in this moment.
“We are in sight because we achieved this situation. So if you achieve this situation and have the things in your hands, you can do it. This is the main point.
“It is the same for our opponents. All of us are in different circumstances. When we arrived, some of them had 10 or 12 points more than us.
“How many points have we recovered to be in this position? When we achieve this situation, you think you can do it. I believe we can do it.”
Midfielder Ki Sung-Yueng insists the players are just as calm as they approach such a critical game.
“This is going to decide who stays in the Premier League, the biggest game in our season. It’s going to be winner takes all,” he said.
“But we are OK and not worried. We are still in an important situation.”
The South Korea international is refusing to panic under the pressure despite Swansea failing to score in their past three matches.
“We produced a good second-half performance against Chelsea, they are a top-five side and were champions last year,” Ki said. “We have to maintain that level of performance in the next two games.
“I don’t think there is a problem with scoring enough goals, everyone has to help the strikers and attacking players – it’s not just their responsibility.
“We have players who have the ability to score.”