When Carlos Carvalhal left his position as Sheffield Wednesday manager, many people would probably have expected him to end up at another Championship club or to go back to working in Europe or further afield.
Instead, it was long term admirers Swansea City who moved quickly to secure his services with the possibility of relegation a very real and live threat. Many where surprised and even underwhelmed at the Portuguese head coach’s appointment but it’s proved a master-stroke so far.
The first thing you could tell that Carlos had installed was a bit of confidence and belief.
His first game in charge saw him take Swansea to Vicarage Road to take on Watford, then managed by fellow Portuguese Marco Silva, and it was the Hornets who were 1-0 up inside 11 minutes thanks to Andre Carrillo.
The Swans never gave up though, they stuck at, and they got their reward when Jordan Ayew equalised in the 86th minute. Things got even better when Luciano Narsingh nicked a late winner in the 90th minute to grab Swansea a vital three points.
There’s been much more to Carlos just giving players the belief that they can go out and beat some of the best sides in the division though.
He has got his tactics spot on, especially in the games against Liverpool and Arsenal. He’s not daft, he knows that a lot of sides in the league have better players so this is why getting the preparation right and ensuring the system is correct is vital.
Swansea fans will take solace in the fact that he has the confidence to take the club forward, and fans wishing to check out the latest news and online betting opportunities should visit the home of online betting: Betting.com.
After the Liverpool game he spoke of how Formula 1 couldn’t run very fast in London traffic at rush hour. His side were structured, they were organised and they made life very difficult for Liverpool in how they closed space and defended well in numbers.
The key point is that Swansea, even though their set up was defensive, won the game.
The game plans Carlos and his staff are putting in place change to suit their opponent, as was evident eight days later when they beat Arsenal 3-1 at the Liberty Stadium.
In the Premier League since Carlos Carvalhal arrived at Swansea they have won 4, drawn 2 and lost just once. It has so far been a remarkable turnaround for a side who had only won 3 games in 20 under Paul Clement prior to his departure.
While The Swans are far from safe as things stand, they are now out of the relegation zone after being rooted to the foot of the table for a long time. They’re also only 3 points off of 11th place too, which shows just how tight the division is.
Carlos’ arrival has certainly been like a breath of fresh air for Swansea and also for football fans in general. The players look more confident and also more understanding of the task at hand and what is being asked of them.
You can certainly see them continuing to move in the right direction now further up the table and that, in some ways, will largely be down to Carlos.