Planet Swans ArchivesThe Swans captain was pleased with the way the Swans handled themselves in the Welsh derby in midweek and wants that to continue as they face a tough test at Reading this afternoon.
Monk told the Western Mail “There was a bit of added steel there which was just as pleasing as some of the football we played
“A little bit of that may be because it was a derby game but it was good to see – we even had little Leon Britton tearing about the place!
“Yes, you need that in derby games where the passion is there, but we need it every week to some degree.
“We have got that side to us and it has to come out in the league. We’re not just a football team who can only play the pretty stuff, but we have to accept we’re not the most physical team either.
“There’s me and Ashley Williams who are perhaps the most physical but slowly we are getting used to it as a team, everyone is learning.
“A few of the boys have been a bit surprised about how direct it can be at times in this division. We’ve come up against sides that have got five or six 6ft-plus players used for that purpose whereas we can’t rely on that – but we’re improving even with the bodies we’ve got.
“You saw on Tuesday Leon going up for a header with Steve McPhail, he might not win it but he did enough to put him off and the header goes over. If it’s a free header it’s on target.
“With every game that’s passed I think we’ve improved in all departments – but especially at set-pieces
“We’re not quite there and there’s still a lot of work to be done, but we’ve definitely improved in terms of organisation and dealing with things like long throws. We’ve had some stick about set-pieces but it’s been good it’s been highlighted so much.
“Situations have come up in games where, in the back of your mind, your thinking I just can’t let my man score because it will be all that will be talked about, even if we win.
“Players realise that and we’ve all been trying our best to get it sorted. It’s all part of a learning curve. Before we might have just put the ball out of play, now we’re trying to get more distance on clearances, so the more direct teams can’t just launch it back into the box.
“Hopefully we’ll keep on improving in that respect because football-wise we’re up there in this division.
“The win over Cardiff was great but it’s good to be put away quite quickly, saying that, we can take the positives and the confidence gained from that performance and use them as a platform to go on from here.
“This is an important week for us because we want to get some points on the board before the international break.
“We’ve been threatening a very good performances for a few weeks but it hasn’t clicked as we would have liked.
“But I’ve said all along that if we can get the first goal then we can gain that extra belief and have something to hold on to.”
