By David Williams
Luke Williams has urged his Swansea City team to toughen up when they leave the home comforts of their own stadium.
The Swans currently sit 11th in the table and whilst most of the attention in Wales has focussed on rivals Cardiff City’s disastrous start to the season, the Swans’ progress has gone under the radar.
It has been steady rather than spectacular, but a feature of their seven points collected from their five matches is the fact they were all earned in front of their own fans.
The away record consists of two matches and two 1-0 defeats and Williams has admitted: “We need to be more resilient on the road, that is clear.”
Luke Williams has no new injury concerns as the Swans prepare to face Coventry City at the CBS Arena.
— Swansea City AFC (@SwansOfficial) September 19, 2024
After rarely looking likely to pick up anything in those defeats to Middlesbrough and then West Brom, Williams’ men are at Coventry City on Saturday and the head coach wants to see more of a fight.
“We need to see a convincing performance, we need to show the evidence that we are close to and able to pick up results away from home,” says Williams.
“If we have that, then I think we can really start to feel optimistic. I think we could have had a couple more points on the board, we could have had a better return.”
https://twitter.com/SwansOfficial/status/1836797398720368655
The Swans have shown they have the capacity to dig in and grind it out, as they showed in last week’s 1-0 home victory over Norwich City.
But away from home, something in their psyche seems to drain their self-belief and it’s a weakness that pre-dates Williams’ appointment.
There was a brief period of away day defiance under Michael Duff last season – when the Swans won at Millwall, Plymouth and Blackburn in successive road trips – but other than that, the visiting blues affected Russell Martin, Steve Cooper and Graham Potter in the Championship.
https://twitter.com/Coventry_City/status/1837088723823120874
Those wins under Duff were not the prettiest and the challenge for Williams is to get his team to win on the road by producing the same free-flowing football they are often capable of at the Swansea.Com Stadium.
That, of course, is easier said than done, but when Williams talks of “courage” and “defiance” it is the determination to play their normal style he is chasing, rather than simply demanding more physicality.
“We now need to try to learn from our previous away games and how we can do better,” added Williams.
“We have had two 1-0 defeats against very good sides, so we have not been a million miles away.”
A Coventry side who have reached the play-off final and FA Cup semi-finals over the last two seasons will represent a tough test.
Whilst the Swans focus on their away form, Cardiff are seeking any kind of upswing – home or away.
So far, Erol Bulut’s side have failed to earn more than a single point and score more than a single goal in five matches.
That has left them at the bottom of the table and another defeat at home to Leeds United on Saturday could be enough to push Bulut over the edge, courtesy of a long-distance prod from Malaysian owner Vincent Tan.
Bookmakers DragonBet make Swansea underdogs at Coventry at 41/20, with the Sky Blues backed to win at 8/11.
Even though they are at home, Cardiff are even bigger outsiders at 47/10 to beat Leeds, who are 8/13 for the win, with the draw at 14/5.
https://twitter.com/CardiffCityFC/status/1836404819084611727
Wrexham had something of a wake-up call on Monday with their first defeat of the season at Birmingham City, but the Dragons are still top of League One with 13 points from six matches.
The Birmingham game was all about Hollywood and superstar references on both sides, but Saturday’s opponents who visit The Racecourse Ground – Crawley Town – are more back office than box office.
https://twitter.com/Wrexham_AFC/status/1836814448058662948
It looks like a significant weekend for Newport County in League Two and a trip to Barrow.
County were flying after three consecutive wins, but two heavy defeats – to Port Vale and Swindon – where Nelson Jardim’s team conceded four goals in both – has left them looking vulnerable.
Newport did enjoy a midweek 1-0 win over West Ham’s U21s in midweek in the EFL Trophy and Jardim will hope they have stopped the rot.
Wrexham are priced 2/1 to beat Crawley, with DragonBet, whilst Newport are far less fancied to win at Barrow, at 6/1.
https://twitter.com/BarrowAFC/status/1837076741229269442
