Luke’s ways are starting to shine through – Swans have turned that corner

Luke Williams arrived at Swansea City with a pretty tough run of fixtures to start him off.   Early league fixtures in his time in SA1 against Leicester, Southampton, Leeds and Ipswich did not help neither did a trip to Bournemouth in the FA Cup but we have seen over the past two weeks just what his sides are capable of doing.

Credit has to be given to Williams for adding pace to the squad in the January window and whilst it was not the window that we probably needed in its entirety the addition of Ronald and Placheta to the squad has made a massive difference to the way that the Swans play.

In both the first halves at Sunderland and yesterday at home to Blackburn we have seen the benefit of a team playing with width and pace and with every passing game the team are utilising that more and more.   On more than one occasion yesterday we saw the other players looking to play the ball into space for the wide men to run onto and there was no doubt that it caused the Blackburn defence concern each time it happened.    As the game pattern changed in the second half it was noticeable that the wide men were used less and less and Blackburn’s confidence increased – there are lessons to be learned there for certain.

Luke Williams has talked plenty about wanting his side to play with a high press and this is becoming  more evident as the players get used to the style with which they are playing.   The most classic example of this yesterday was the Swans second goal which came from Matt Grimes winning the ball back very high up the pitch and his perfect tackle fed through to Jamie Paterson who scored the second goal.   It was not the only example though of the high press and certainly something that Williams is imposing more in his teams.

Then we look at the midfield.   The re-introduction of Joe Allen into the midfield is making a difference.    Not only does Allen have an ability to read the game more than most of our midfielders, his presence is creating a naturally more attacking intent within the team.  The biggest beneficiary of this is Matt Grimes.   The Swans captain has been given a new freedom in the midfield having been stifled a little in the early days under Williams.   All of a sudden we see him playing a much more forward role and as a team we are benefitting as he picks up and creates space for others to work with.   There is definitely something more about Grimes in recent weeks as well and yesterday it was also noticeable that he was showing more direction on the pitch and talking to his team mates in breaks in play – again something he has been criticised of not doing enough of in times go by.

Credit must also go to Williams for sticking with Wood and Cabango as his central pairing.   It would have been easy to bench either of them at the height of the criticism but Williams has shown faith in the players and they have started to repay that.   There were still some worrying moments in the Swans defence yesterday but Wood and Cabango are also vasty improved and far less exposed as the play in front of them is getting better.

The Swans are far from a finished article though and I am sure that Luke Williams knows that he has a big summer ahead of him to build the squad that he wants to be able to seriously compete in the Championship.   However, he is starting to get a tune out of the squad that he has and this just intensifies the belief that I have held that we will not be relegated this season.   All of a sudden there is a time again where the Swans are good to watch and that means we can look forward to the remaining games of the season as the manager stamps his style on the squad more and more.

Williams can now take the progression of his squad and build on it even more which should see us heading to Watford and Bristol City in the next wee with a renewed confidence knowing that more wins and we will lift ourselves closer to the middle of the table.   There is no reason why there cannot be a good return from those two games with both sides just two points ahead of the Swans at this moment in time.

Credit has to go to Williams for his work in a relatively short period of time and there is every reason to believe that things will continue to get better the more time he has to work with his squad.    What we are seeing now is the early stages (we hope) of the transition into his style of play an with the addition of width, attacking intent and pressing the Swans are good to watch again.   And it has been some time since we have been able to say that?

Long may it continue.