Planet Swans ArchivesThe Swansea City captain leads his team into the second half of the season at Blackpool this weekend knowing that a win could be their first in seven after five successive draws followed a home defeat by Birmingham.
The Swans though remain very much in touch with the chasing pack and Monk believes that with three fixtures in little more than a week they have the chance to really push on and stake a claim to a play off spot.
Speaking to the Western Mail, Monk said “This Christmas period can really determine how your season goes, you need to try and keep in touch with the play-offs.
“There’s so many points to play for over the next fortnight or so. If we can go through to mid-January still there or thereabouts, it will give us a really good chance.
“Last Christmas was a big turning point for us. If we could do something similar this time we would be right up there.
“The Leeds game (a 3-2 victory) was a big springboard for us. Hopefully today’s game will be the same and allow us to really kick on.
“It’s important we get a win in the bag at the start of the Christmas period, especially after drawing our last five games. We need to get three points on the board today.”
As for the Swans current form, he continued: “We know it’s time we got back to winning ways. But I don’t want to make too big a deal of it because, at the end of the day, we have still been performing really well.
“We have definitely deserved more points than we actually have at the moment. Things just haven’t gone our way at times.
“Having said that, we all realise that five points from five games isn’t good enough in terms of the standards we set for ourselves. We put more pressure on ourselves than anyone else can so we know it’s vitally important we get three points.
“We are good enough and we are performing well enough,” he said. “It’s just a matter of time before the results follow.
“If we can get that one win it could change everything. We will push on and really challenge for the play-offs.
“We know now that we are far too good to go down. We won’t get complacent or anything, but we certainly aren’t looking down anymore.
“We want to get better every year. We said that last season and, while it’s a much harder division, that won’t change.
“We won’t look over our shoulders now. We will be trying to push the teams above us all the way.
“It’s going to be a really tough game,” he said. “They are a good team and people really underestimate them.
“They had some really good results this season and Simon Grayson has done a terrific job on a small budget. They are like us in that respect.
“So we know we have to be at our best up there. It’s a very difficult place to go.
“It all depends on the weather as well because it’s a fairly open pitch. It the wind gets up the ball will swirl everywhere.
“They are still one of the teams we have to beat. But, if we don’t come out and play to our best, they will turn us over.”
