Don’t be disheartened Swans fans, it’s a long old season

It has been a case of one step forward, two steps back for the Swans so far this season.

A 2-0 victory away at Crystal Palace looked like a huge result for Paul Clement’s men but the Welsh outfit then fell short at home against Newcastle United in their most recent clash.

Jordan Ayew v Newcastle

In time, this Swans side has the potential to climb the Premier League table but it could be a difficult few months at the Liberty Stadium.

At the time of writing, bet365 football betting markets have Swansea at 2/5 to avoid the drop this campaign. On paper, the Welsh side have enough talent to stay up but football is not played on paper.

In his short tenure as manager, Clement has convinced fans that he is the right man for the job in the longer term and the former Real Madrid assistant manager needs time to prove his worth.

You cannot knock Swansea’s efforts in the transfer window. Clement used his contact book to perfection in August, re-signing Wilfried Bony could turn out to be huge come the end of the campaign.

The Ivory Coast star bagged 35 goals in 70 appearances for Swansea before his move to Manchester City in 2015 and if he can regain his best form, Clement’s side will be climbing the table in next to no time.

But perhaps most impressive of all was the acquisition of Renato Sanches. Less than two years ago, Sanches was regarded as one of European football’s brightest young talents and Bayern Munich were willing to agree on a deal of up to €80 million to sign the starlet.

But after a difficult year in Germany, Carlo Ancelotti was willing to allow Sanches on loan. For the rest of the season at least, Bayern’s loss is Swansea’s gain.

At times, the 20 year old Portuguese looked out of his depth on debut against Newcastle but we’ll put that down to nerves.

Sanches lost possession 14 times in the opening 28 minutes of that clash and it would be fair to state that most Swansea fans were very disappointed with his performance on that day.

Given time, the former Benfica star should settle down and he has the quality to take control of Swansea’s Sigurdsson-less midfield.

With a decent run of fixtures approaching in October, picking up as many points as possible is imperative ahead of the busy festive period.

Swansea will face Manchester City, Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur in the space of two weeks in December and Clement will not want to be playing catch-up in the second half of the season. If Bony can hit the ground running, Swansea may be set to build momentum and confidence ahead of this difficult run.

There are plenty of reasons to be optimistic though, that Newcastle game was hopefully just a minor blip in what may turn out to be a successful campaign in south Wales.

Paul Clement is a significant upgrade on former Swans boss Bob Bradley and he should get the best out of both Bony and Sanches in the coming months.

With over 30 games remaining, the Jack Army shouldn’t hit the panic button just yet.