Daily Star

MONK’S PRAISED

- By MIKE WHALLEY

Swansea, Villa, West Brom, Leicester and Newcastle are among the Premier League clubs interested in rescuing the England internatio­nal.

Meanwhile, Mousa Dembele reckons Spurs’ boys have become men this season.

The Belgium midfielder has been a key performer in a run of 13 league games without defeat – Tottenham’s best for 30 years.

And he believes it was down to the new maturity instilled by boss Mauricio Pochettino in his youthful side.

“I think everybody can see our mentality and the way we are playing is different,” he said.

“I don’t want to say it, but we just feel we are now men.

“We are more confident and we are more of a group. That is something we have worked for a long time on.

“So we are really happy NEIL TAYLOR insists Garry Monk has already kick-started Swansea’s revival.

Boss Monk is battling to keep his job after a miserable run of just one win in 10 league matches.

His side were fourth in the table at the end of August but have slipped to 15th, just four points above the drop zone.

They didn’t manage a shot on target as they lost 1-0 at Liverpool on Sunday, and their next two matches are against the Premier League’s top two – Leicester and Manchester City.

But left-back Taylor, whose handball gave away the penalty with how it’s going. I think we are accomplish­ed enough to say now we can win any game – if we have the same mentality we have now, of course.

“We want to end up first, but I don’t try to think that far ahead.”

Spurs drew 0-0 at home to Chelsea on Sunday and Dembele said the fact they were so disappoint­ed not to beat the champions shows how far they have come.

He said: “That’s a positive thing. Before, maybe we might have been happy to draw with Chelsea, now we are disappoint­ed.

“We have grown so much in so many different department­s and we know we could have beaten Chelsea.

“There is such a positive vibe in the group. It is very important now to continue that good vibe.” from which James Milner scored Liverpool’s winner, reckons performanc­es are improving.

He said: “We played well at Liverpool. We turned the corner a little bit in terms of performanc­e.

“But we didn’t get the result, which was difficult to swallow.

“The performanc­e was good. The boys played really well, and overall I think we can be proud of what we did there.”

Monk only signed a three-year contract last summer, after guiding the Swans to eighth place – their highest league finish since 1982.

SUPPORT: Monk

 ??  ?? HOT SPAT: Townsend argues with Spurs fitness coach Nathan Gardiner IN WITH THE JUNIORS: Townsend battles with Boro’s Junior Mondal yesterday
HOT SPAT: Townsend argues with Spurs fitness coach Nathan Gardiner IN WITH THE JUNIORS: Townsend battles with Boro’s Junior Mondal yesterday
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