Swansea City manager Luke Williams acknowledged that his team must sustain their intensity levels after a hard-earned 2-1 victory against Blackburn Rovers at the Swansea.com stadium.
The Swans surged to a two-goal advantage with strikes from Joe Allen and Jamie Paterson before halftime. However, a goal from Sammie Szmodics just after the hour mark made for a tense finish.
Despite the pressure, Swansea held firm to secure Williams his first home league win in charge, but once again, the Swans found themselves defending resolutely, just as they did during the win over Sunderland at the Stadium of Light last weekend.
Reflecting on the game, Williams recognized the need for his team to maintain the positive momentum they displayed in the first half throughout the entire 90 minutes.
He emphasized the challenge of ensuring that his side can sustain their high level of performance consistently.
“I think that’s the bit that we need to try to improve, that we can we can see the game out in a more comfortable way,” he said in his post-match interview.
“It was more anxious than I would have liked but I’m really proud of how courageous the players were in the latter stages of the game because the opposition had nothing to lose, threw everything forward at us and we stood up to a lot.
“We started on the front foot again. We started the game really strongly so that pleased me. But we need to improve how, rather than defend the lead, we attack a lead.
“If we play the same way in training and we play the same way in the games regularly, hopefully we can become more accustomed to the type of conditioning.
“But then, as I’ve said before, some of it is about feeling anxiety. Not wanting to step up the pitch. Feeling anxiety and now wanting to make a forward run or complete a pass correctly, because anxiety leads to snatching at the ball at times.
“Anxiety makes a player feel restricted in running forward or take a positive touch. Anxiety makes players feel like they don’t want players to step forward and leave players offside.
“So all these things are both physical and psychological things that we have to try to increase. That’s the idea going forward.”
Here is Luke Williams’ full post-match reaction following the Swans Blackburn Rovers:
Feature image credit: Swansea City Football Club