It’s a very conservative head coach this Tuesday morning. Plus there’s the free agent situation, and what could be stopping a new player coming in. We also look forwards to the game against Bristol City this coming Sunday (3pm) at the Swansea.com stadium.

Initially, we have felt a bit more confident compared with the lead up to the Norwich City game some ten days ago. It wasn’t the best game of football you will ever witness, but it came with a determination and some of that courage we haven’t seen so far this season. The crucial part was that early goal (below) and the domination the Swans exerted on the opposition. Both sides had chances to score more goals, and at times Norwich did look the better side, however the Swans won 1-0. That was a big tick for head coach, Luke Williams and his team. To date this season we hadn’t seen a performance like that.

It’s all about momentum, and again last weekends game away at Coventry City (below) was one not too many Swans fans felt over confident about. What we saw though for a third of the game was a dominance and style of football we all knew was in there somewhere, it just needed dragging out. Much applause for Luke Williams and his coaching staff for finding that inner belief, both mentally and tactically that secured another win, the first one on the road this season.

New Swans Indy recruit, Trystan Bending pinpointed that in his Sunday evening feature.

Click —> ⚽️ The final word

The previous two away games had only been lost 1-0, and both of those games told their own story. There seemed to be a fear that early season games sometimes present, but also a lack of belief that the Swans had the skills within to win games. Overall both Middlesbrough and West Bromwich Albion deserved their wins. However, we should be thankful that the game at the Hawthorns came around so early in the season. That second half was the turning point, despite not scoring from the opportunities that came around, and they were there, the Baggies only won the game by one goal, it could have been five. Irrespective of that they didn’t, and as the second half wore on the Swans could have easily collected a point.

It’s the away performances that will determine the Swans success this season, how they mentally challenge themselves during the build up to games is crucial. And this will apply to the next away game, a midweek fixture at Sheffield United, a week today. That’s where Luke will get to see just how his side is developing. As he states himself. “A few more games we will be able to understand if we are good, or if we’ve been somewhat fortunate when we’ve hit the opposition in a bad moment. I don’t know yet. I’m waiting to see my group, to show me over ten or twelve games”

There’s a reason for that comment.

The head coach has already seen one of the worst games of football dished up by a Swansea City side in this years league cup second round against Wycombe. That was so bad - memory to recall an equivalent game is difficult. He is clearly being cautious, if his side reverts back to that type of performance, and as we saw in the 1-1 draw against a poor Cardiff City side, they fail to really beat down the opposition, you can understand his apprehension. He see’s the good, the bad and the exceptionally ugly on top of all that in training. He has players who he states. "I think we have a number of players with quite limited Championship experience. Young guys that don't have a huge amount of experience full stop. We know we have some players that need more experience and more time to understand how to compete at Championship level."

Those comments he made some fifteen days ago, but it’s another reason to understand his caution. Mentally it’s also telling the players publicly that no goals have been achieved as yet, and they need to brace themselves for a higher standard of performance.

On the extra players he wants, Luke only has one avenue until January, and that’s the free agent market. He has already confirmed the club have engaged with agents regards a couple of possibilities, but we are in mercenary territory here, they are generally players at the end of their careers, and they want top dollar. That experiment went okay initially with Yannick Bolasie last season. In the end that fizzled out as the demands of what the club wanted from him were possibly too much ?

No player really wants a short term contract say to January, although perform well and that is easily extended. That could be said for, Przemysław Płacheta, despite his injury and time out the Swans put a huge effort into him to get him up to scratch. Even after that the club didn’t offer him a contract, he is now at rivals Oxford United. Sadly he hasn’t played since the end of August. The three games he did appear in at the start of the season brought no goals or assists.

That’s the gamble, what are agents expecting ? What do they expect a very frugal Swansea City to spend ? What signing on fee is expected, and of course what salary ? Some of these players contacted will either have to accept the Swans terms or stay unemployed for now. There hasn’t been any ‘name’ players picked up as yet.

Bristol City come to the Swansea.com this Sunday, a televised main feature game on Sky Sports, kicking off at 3pm. The Robins sit slightly uncomfortably in the Championship, but as we can see they are only two points behind the Swans who are in seventh. That’s how close it all is at this stage of the season, they’ve won two, drawn two and lost two. However, they really haven’t faced any big sides yet. They lost one of their top players to Middlesbrough (Conway) in a reported five million pounds move, and were unsuccessful in getting anywhere near Harry Darling in the summer transfer window. Weimann was surely another loss to the squad when he moved to Blackburn Rovers.

Fally Mayulu has bagged two goals this season, he and Armstrong (QPR) joined the Robins in reportedly three million pound deals. So they have plugged the gaps in a way. Luke Mcnally from Burnley, a defender has also been signed.

More on this game and more Swans news on the Indy to come.

Photographs licensed from Reuters

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