Swansea City: Steve Cooper's miserly team aim to defend with the ball
BBC Sport
Swansea City's tally of 10 goals conceded in 18 Championship games this season makes them the meanest team in the country.
They already have 10 league clean sheets in 2020-21 - only three short of their tally for the whole of the last campaign - yet their style is not defensive.
Head coach Steve Cooper, like a number of his recent Swansea predecessors, wants to defend by keeping the ball.
"If we get it right, if we play well, you will see a team that's dominating possession, playing high up the pitch, trying to score goals and working as hard as they can," Cooper said.
"We want to keep clean sheets and I don't think many coaches will think 'let's concede today lads and try to score more than we concede'.
"But listen, we want to play with the ball and manage games with the ball."
Swansea have conceded fewer goals than any other EFL club in the opening three months of the season.
Tottenham Hotspur can match their record of 10 league goals conceded, although the Premier League leaders have played only 12 top-flight games.
Swansea's resilience is all the more notable given that they sold Wales defender Joe Rodon to Tottenham in October having lost two more centre-backs, Mike van der Hoorn and Ben Wilmot, at the end of last season.
But Ryan Bennett has proved a fine replacement for Rodon after joining from Wolverhampton Wanderers, while on-loan Chelsea youngster Marc Guehi looks a Premier League player in waiting.
Academy product Ben Cabango appears capable of following Rodon to the top flight, while experienced full-back Kyle Naughton has found a new home in Cooper's back three with Connor Roberts and Jake Bidwell thriving as wing-backs.
In goal, Freddie Woodman continues to impress having returned to Swansea on a second season-long loan from Newcastle United.
Swansea's central midfielders - the likes of Matt Grimes, Jay Fulton and Korey Smith - have played a part too, yet Cooper is a coach who wants his team to impose themselves rather than worry about what opponents might do.
"The last game (last Saturday's 2-0 win at Cardiff) for example, we're 1-0 up at half-time, but the message wasn't 'see this out', it was 'this is a chance to go and score some more goals'," Cooper said.
"I think if we just sit off, it doesn't suit our mentality. If anything it creates a bit of worry and indecision.
"If we are winning 1-0, we want to go 2-0."
The next test for Swansea's rearguard comes on Wednesday evening at Derby County, whose tally of eight goals scored is the lowest in the Championship.
The first challenge for Cooper's players will be to ensure their mentality is right following the high of south Wales derby success.
"I've made that point very clear with the boys - just make sure we're absolutely full on with our concentration and commitment to the next game," Cooper said.