Garry Monk says his team should have more respect as they look to break into the play off positions this evening

The Swansea City captain can lead his side into the top 6 of the division for the first time this season with the right result against Birmingham at the Liberty and he thinks that despite the lofty league position there is still not enough respect for his side.

Victory for the Swans would lift them up to 4th place for now at least and that in itself should make more people sit up and take notice as they close in on the sides deemed as the "divisions big boys"

But despite that Monk believes that more people could respect his side and the way they go about their business

“I don’t think teams respect us that much because we are a team that has just come up,” he told the Western Mail. “But that is up to them, hopefully Birmingham will make that mistake as well.

“It’s not so much the players we are up against, but the managers. A few comments after games have been complimentary, but I still don’t think they fully respect us.

“We have to earn it, though, and we will.”

He continued: “We have been playing well at home so far. We will be going into tonight’ s game as underdogs, but, with our crowd and the way we play, we will take it to them.

“We don’t fear anyone in this league. They are just names and, it may sound like a cheesy rhyme, but names don’t win games.

“At the end of the day, with the way we play, it’s always going to be difficult to keep a clean sheet,” he explained.

“We don’t have defensive-minded players.

“It comes with the territory in this team though. We work as hard as we can with the midfield and keeper, but we know it’s tough to avoid conceding in this league playing the way we do.

“But we make up for it in attack. And, while we might be busy, it will be the same for their defence.”

As for Birmingham’s threat, he added: “They have got attacking options all over the pitch. So it’s going to be one of the toughest games we have at the Liberty all season.”

Photo: Action Images

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