Planet Swans ArchivesThe division’s least experienced manager takes on the most experienced one as both go in search of the points for their own individual reasons.
Monk takes charge of the Swans for the 10th time following the sacking last month of Michael Laudrup in search of the points that will increase the gap between themselves and the bottom three as the season reaches the home stretch.
In the other dugout you have Wenger, in charge of the Gunners for the 1,001st time and looking to secure the three points that will move them within four of Chelsea at the top of the division.
It really is a case of two teams at the opposite end of the table at the moment where only one outcome is expected and that is a home win for Arsenal.
The Swans team have looked nervous in recent weeks particularly in the second half of games but Monk insists that the attitude of his players is spot on as they prepare for the game and he told the Western Mail “Their attitude is spot on. They’re working hard, they want to do it which is key. They want to be out there every day, they want to work hard. They want to get out of this situation we’re in and that’s great for myself, them and the club.
“You have to worry about your own individual performances as well and really concentrate on what you’re good at.
“There’s no worse critic than the players themselves. They’re all an honest bunch in there. They know when they’ve made a mistake. They want to do it better and that’s the reaction you want from the player himself.
“I’m confident with this bunch. They’re confident that we can get out of this situation. It’s not as if we’re chasing trying to climb and chasing teams ahead of us in terms of points. It’s in our own hands and we have to make sure and be very careful we don’t make mistakes and cut them out of the games as quickly as possible.”
That confidence we have been told for quite a while is there but with just three league wins since the start of December (all of them at home) there is little signs of that confidence transferring itself to results on the pitch.
Good performances have been there in patches but we are not taking chances when we are on top in games and that is what we need to see happening and soon if we are to get out of the position that we are in.
And ironically it is not the games against the likes of Arsenal that will make the real difference (although a win would help massively) but it is the games against the likes of Norwich and Aston Villa that we have coming up at home that are the ones where confidence needs to be high and the performance and result needs to match that.
Monk is right in that we should be confident that we can get out of this position and the players should have that confidence as well but the confidence is wasted in the dressing room or on the training ground it needs to translate itself onto the pitch and into the results that we need.
