Danny Graham opened his goalscoring account for the season on Saturday and admits that the team is more fluid then it was last season
Graham scored the third and final goal in Saturday’s win over West Ham which left the Swans in 2nd place in the Premier League at the end of the weekend having held first place for a period until Chelsea beat Newcastle in the evening fixture.
“The most pleasing thing is that we’re creating more chances than last year,” Graham told the Western Mail.
“The fluidity of the team seems a little sharper. We’ve worked hard in pre-season on that and it’s coming together nicely.
“My role hasn’t really changed, but the gaffer says to me to make sure I’m in between the two centre-halves.
“When there’s a chance to close them down, close them down, but not run around so much because maybe in one sense, I worked a bit too hard last year.
“When we got into the final third I was lacking a bit of energy.
“He’s stressed that to me and if that improves me and gets me a few more goals I will be delighted.
“I managed to get 12 last year and that was tremendous. The most important thing is that the team is winning, of course, but it’s great if I can help because you always want to better yourself.
“If I don’t and the team finish higher up then great, it’s not about how many goals I or someone else get.”
Graham was inches away from opening his account slightly earlier in the sexond half when he fired just wide having been set free with a perfectly timed run
“It was inches away and I admit, I should have scored,” he said. “But strikers miss chances and I got myself back in the box, I wasn’t hiding and I managed to get one.
“It’s about confidence as a striker and I have belief in my ability to score goals. It’s always nice to get off the mark early doors.
“It’s well documented it took me seven or eight games to get off the mark last year
“This time I’ve got one in the second game and we won which is great.
“It’s taken me two games and a couple of chances, but I’ve hit the back of the net and when the team’s winning it’s even better. We’ve got to move forward.”
Sunderland arrive at the Liberty next to face the Swans with the side knowing that a win should send them into the international break as league leaders
Graham went on: “We won 3-0, but we can’t rest on our laurels. We’ve got another game on Tuesday night which we want to win and we’ve got Sunderland next week which is tough.
“They’ve signed a couple of good players in Adam Johnson and Steven Fletcher so it will be difficult.
“We’ll move on and keep our feet on the ground.”
