Potter full of praise for ‘unselfish’ McBurnie
GRAHAM Potter believes Oli McBurnie’s goal-scoring record in recent months proves the Swansea City frontman can become an established striker in the Championship.
The Scot bagged both of the Swans’ goals in the 2-2 draw with Leeds to take his tally for the season to three goals in four matches.
It means he has now netted 12 times in the Championship in 2018 having bagged nine goals during his loan spell with Barnsley in the second half of last term.
And Potter admits the striker has already proved he can cut the mustard in England’s second tier.
“I think if you look at his record in the Championship over the last few months he’s proved he can score at this level,” said Potter. “He’s done a lot of unselfish work for the team in the last few weeks and I think he got his rewards tonight.”
And discussing McBurnie’s impact against Marcelo Bielsa’s troops, Potter admitted that McBurnie was deployed in a slightly more advanced role than usual.
“He played a little higher today in fairness, but his two goals were of a real high level, especially the second one which was a fantastic header,” added the Swansea boss.
“I’m really pleased for him because he epitomises the group, he epitomises what we’re trying to do, he wants to get better, improve and he wants to play for Swansea City, so I’m really pleased for him.”
Connor Roberts also played further up the pitch, and Potter said he was impressed.
He said: “His ability to run is at a real high level.
“Connor covers sprints and recovers.
“We wanted to use his physicality to try and open up space for Bersant (Celina), and I thought he did that really well.
“He stuck to his task. Leeds attack with a lot of numbers. I felt he could help us there, and he tactically understood what we wanted him to do in and out of possession so it’s a good step in his development.
The draw means Swansea remain unbeaten this season while it saw Leeds’ 100% winning start to the 2018/19 campaign come to an end. ground,