SURVIVAL SHOWDOWN FOR SWANS
CARLOS Carvalhal wants his Swansea City players to keep their calm amidst the maelstrom of their massive Premier league clash with Southampton tonight (7.45pm).
The Portuguese manager saw his side fall back into the relegation zone over the weekend, as their defeat at Bournemouth – allied to Southampton’s draw with Everton – saw the Saints leapfrog them on goal difference.
The Swans have just two games to save themselves and secure an eighth-consecutive season of topflight football in SA1 and this week’s games against Southampton and Stoke promise to be highly-charged occasions riddled with nerve-jangling tension.
The 52-year-old has cut a remarkably-relaxed figure since his December arrival, and that has not changed despite the gravity of Swansea’s predicament.
He went as far as to say he had no concerns following defeat at Bournemouth because his side’s fate is still in their own hands. If they win their last two games, safety will be guaranteed.
To achieve that, Swansea must snap a seven-game winless run, and find an attacking edge having scored just two goals in that time.
Carvalhal insists his external sense of calm should not be viewed as him failing to grasp how serious the situation is, or the torturous anxiety being felt by supporters and all connected with the club.
But he believes taking a more aggressive approach in the lead up to this game will be counter-productive, feeling calmness under pressure could be decisive with so much at stake.
“All the time it is serious,” he said
when asked how he could be so relaxed in the circumstances.
“I don’t need to scream at the players for concentration. If I must scream, I scream.
“But I am not like that all the time with the players. Don’t think I act like that all the time with the players.
“We must keep organised, we must be with the 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 try to get them to believe in themselves and believe in their colleagues. This is my target.
“These are the things that we must do. Again, 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.
“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.”
Carvalhal has experience of being involved in do-or-die scenarios before having been part of cup finals in Portugal, as well as a play-off semi-final and final with Wednesday.
This fixture will rank up there with the most important he has been involved in, with considerable financial implications for both clubs.
A study by Deloitte had estimated
relegation costs a club some £50million in distributed Premier League revenue alone.
“I have been involved in finals also,” he said.
“These games are nothing different from finals, not just the ones at Sheffield Wednesday but also in Portugal. The final of the cup, the final of the league and so on.
“This is an important game. We must have emotional control and we must act and do the proper things. Not to make mistakes. This is the way.
“But I don’t think about money when I manage a team. I try to think about winning games. My job is to try and win games and in this moment try and stay in the Premier
League. It is an important game, of course – a very important game.
“If you are asking if it is the most important game of my career, it is an important game.
“I can’t say it is more important because when you play finals, finals are finals. But it is important, of course.”
Carvalhal is expected to make changes to face the Saints, with Sam Clucas and Andy King thought to be in strong contention for starting roles after being on the bench at the weekend.
Mike van der Hoorn has a groin injury, but is expected to be OK, as is Kyle Naughton after a stomach bug, although it remains to be seen if Carvalhal might leave a defender out to employ an extra attacker in a game where a win would put Swansea on the brink of safety.