Monk Looks Forward To Bouncing Back At Norwich

Swansea City travel to Norwich City on the weekend and supporters should be reminded of what happened the last time the team exited a major cup competition losing the chance of a big money pay day.

That was back in January and the Swans had just been humiliated by Havant and Waterlooville in a FA Cup replay.  Two home wins later they travelled to Doncaster for what was billed as one of their toughest tests and they returned with a 4-0 victory in a game hailed by many as one of their best performances of the league winning campaign ironically on the weekend that they would have been playing at Anfield had they won the cup tie.

And it is just that kind of “bouncebackability” that the Swansea captain will be interested in this weekend as he tried to put the poor performance to the back of his mind.

“Naturally, we were very disappointed to lose against Watford because the carrot was to draw one of the big boys in the next round,” said Monk in today’s Western Mail.

“But we’ve got the characters in the changing room to bounce straight back in the league.

“We did it after the Havant & Waterlooville replay last season, and we’ll do it again.

“I’m sure you’ll see a reaction at Norwich City on Saturday

“We know we have the mentality to go away and get a result there where maybe people don’t expect us to. We’ll be positive and retain the attitude of wanting to win every game.

“I’d like to think we’ll reap the reward for resting players in midweek.

“And we know if we’re right on it, we’ll get a result.

“We were expected – and we expected – to win against a side we had already beaten,” he said.

“But we win as a squad and we lose as a squad.

“If you’re being honest, you’d say that the changes may have upset our rhythm slightly and that was why we lacked our usual sharpness.

“But that was going to happen with a some lads who hadn’t played that much football at that pace.

“We lacked fluency, but that only comes with games.

“It certainly wasn’t down to a lack of effort.

“It was difficult for those players coming in.

“It’s hard for them to get into the side because the team is doing so well, and it was a chance for them to make a statement.

“Unfortunately, they didn’t quite do that, but it was good to see them out on the pitch because they’ve worked hard.

“But football can be a crazy game – one week you’re in, next week you’re out.

“We just all have to keep going as a squad.”