Swansea building to a bright future – Grimes
MATT Grimes is confident that Swansea will continue to improve under the current regime beyond this season.
The Swans have had an inconsistent campaign under Russell Martin, although they have collected 13 of the last 15 points on offer to surge towards the top half of the Championship table.
With just six matches left to play, Martin’s men are determined to finish the season strongly to ensure they can hit the ground running in the 2022/23 campaign.
And captain Grimes - who signed a new contract with the club in November - is fully confident that Swansea are only going to get better given their style of play.
“This is, and you hear this a lot, a building process,” said the midfielder. “We’ve shown this season how good we can be, and there’s no getting away from the fact that we’ve shown how poor we can be.
“But it’s just finding the middle ground and making sure our performances are as consistent as possible and making sure the gap between being very good and being very bad is not so big.
“It’s obviously going to take time. The more time we’ve had to work on it, you see the outcomes and the way we’ve been playing - it is a long-term process. It’s not going to be a quick fix.
“It’s making 22 players, staff and the whole club and city buy into something the manager is doing, and that is implementing this style. It’s going to take time.
“I think we’ve shown already this season just how well we can play and what we can do to teams playing in this way. I think it’s only going to get better and better.”
Meanwhile, Russell Martin has hailed the impact of Joel Latibeaudiere and Jay Fulton following their recent return to the first-team fold.
Both players have had to bide their time for first-team inclusion at points this season, sparking speculation over their respective futures at the club. Latibeaudiere attracted loan interest from elsewhere in the Championship back in January, while Fulton is believed to be on the radar of Nottingham Forest, Barnsley and Blackpool ahead of the summer window.
Former Manchester City product Latibeaudiere has since battled his way back into Martin’s plans, having started the last three games, producing some notably impressive performances in the process. In total, he’s started 15 games this season, with his versatility clearly highly valued by his boss.
Fulton, too, has done well in the last three games, the last two of which he’s started from the off. He still looks to be down the pecking order heading into the summer, while Latibeaudiere could yet be moved on should Martin find himself able to strengthen his defensive options.
But the Swans boss has nevertheless been delighted by the application and attitude shown by both players in recent weeks.
“Joel Latibeaudiere deserves huge credit,” Martin said. “He and Jay (Fulton) have shown the right attitude. When you come out of the team it is hard, they are difficult moments, but they are always involved in every bit of detail and we work together to try and help and explain what we are looking for.
“They have responded magnificently and they are able to put in those performances because they are incredible professionals and they train so diligently and work so hard.”