Call for character as Swans seek return to winning ways
GRAHAM Potter wants his young side to show they have the character to put a wretched week behind them and get back to winning ways at Brentford this afternoon.
The Swans head to Griffin Park on the back of defeats against Championship promotion hopefuls Norwich, West Brom and Derby; the first time they had lost three in a row under manager Potter.
The sequence – which saw the Swans suffer defeats to an aggregate total of 8-2 – have punctured some of the optimism that had been felt following three wins from the four fixtures immediately preceding it.
It is a new experience for many of the squad, with several playing their first full season of senior football.
Indeed, in terms of players used in the Championship this season, Swansea have the fourth youngest average age.
But Potter does not want that to be an excuse, and has every faith in his players ability to get back on track and quickly.
“We are disappointed and rightly so because it has been a tough week. But you have got to be big enough as individuals and as a team to absorb that and say ‘Okay, that’s done, we have to keep on here,’” said the former Ostersund boss, who will be without injured winger Daniel James in west London.
“That’s the most important thing to me. We can shout and scream all we want about losing a football match, but you have to deal with that in the right way, stick together and carry on trying to be positive because we need to be.
“Things can change very quickly, we had three wins out of four before this run, and we have to respond because that is what football and life is about.
“But the mood has been good. We try to be consistent, you can’t think you are the best team in the world when you win and think you are the worst team in the world when you lose because neither of those things will be true.
“You have to have some stability and the one thing you can always do is try and get better and that’s what we are trying to do.”
The Swans will face a Brentford side who have won just once in their last 13 games and have struggled for form since head coach Dean Smith left for Aston Villa and was replaced by Thomas Frank in October.
And Potter knows the fixture will be a big test of the resolve of the two sides.
“I think we have some strong characters,” he added.
“No-one likes losing football matches and certainly not three in a week.
“But we can’t feel sorry for ourselves. We have to get on with it and the players have said ‘Come on, let’s get down to work’ and we have to go to Brentford as see it as an opportunity, because I am sure that is how they will see it.”