“I Want Us To Be More Creative And Clever”

But when that football manager is young and hungry then no stone is left unturned in terms of ensuring that he gets the maximum out of his players which in turn will lead the Swans to their best possible finish.

Whether that finish eclipses the 8th place we managed last season remains to be seen but it would be fair to say that we couldn’t be better equipped after what is pretty much the best summer we probably could have dreamed of.

The Swans have bought in four new players to give strength in depth in every position now and we don’t have any notable departures to have had to replace which means that there is no reason why the ambition of the manager off the pitch cannot be matched by the performances and results on it.

The one thing that we have seen with Garry Monk during his time as manager is that he is a man who knows what his game plan is all about and that he will work to get to the stage where he wants to be. He has done exactly what he promised to do over the summer and now it is time for him to start pitting his wits against the best that the Premier League can throw at him.

“I want us to be better as a team both defensively and offensively — I want us to try to take our football to another level

“I want us to be more creative, more clever.

“It’s difficult to master all the elements, but with the group we have now, we have great offensive players who can cause damage in this league and we have very good defensive players. Then we have some who can do a bit of both.

“It’s about trying to improve all the elements.

“We got to a good level last year in terms of the way we wanted to work, with the effort and commitment and what I expect of the players.

“But now it’s about improving tactically, physically and technically, and that’s what we’ve been working on.”