Bob Bradley had admitted he is a worried man after Swansea City slipped further into relegation trouble at Stoke City on Monday night.
Former Swans striker Wilfried Bony scored twice as Stoke won 3-1 to leave Bradley’s side second from bottom of the Premier League and five points adrift of safety.
“It’s definitely concerning,” said Bradley after his third match in charge, during which the team have only taken a single point.
“When things are going in the wrong direction it takes a really strong effort from everybody to turn things around. We need some results.”
The defeat leaves Swansea winless since the opening day of the season and having conceded six goals in their two away games under the American.
“We had periods where we were okay, but, by and large Stoke gave us a good challenge physically and they got the best of us in some moments.
“We made some critical mistakes. When a team is going through a tough stretch and trying to regain some confidence there is no easy way.
“There is not enough belief at half-time when the game is at 1-1 and the game is still to play for. We started the second half a bit slow. Leroy Fer and Alfie Mawson end up going for the same ball and that leads to the starting point for the second goal. Those are the mistakes that are costing us.
“These mistakes are an indication of not enough confidence.”
The defeat was Swansea’s ninth match without a win, their worst run since promotion to the top flight in 2011.
Their next four matches are Manchester United at home, Everton away, at home to Crystal Palace, and a trip to Tottenham.
“It’s a test of everybody’s character and determination every single day,” said the former United States coach.
“Let’s face it, that’s where we are. When things are going in the wrong direction, it takes a real strong effort from everybody to turn it around.
“When a team has gone through a bad stretch, there’s no magic way of getting some confidence back.
“It’s a huge job we have. I knew that from the start. Let’s be honest, when there’s a managerial change, it’s because things have not gone well.
“In the Premier League, there’s no free points. To win games you need a combination of your football and your mentality, and I don’t think we were good enough in either category,” Bradley added.
“We were a little fortunate to go in level at half-time, but then we talked about needing belief and needing to raise our level.
“We said we had to be able to match them physically better than we had in the first half, but I think that was a factor in the game.
“We also made mistakes. There are a lot of things we need to work on.”
