Vitor Matos has explained why he left his players to soak up the applause after Swansea City's emphatic 4-0 win over Blackburn Rovers at the Swansea.com Stadium. The head coach deliberately headed down the tunnel at full-time, leaving his squad to acknowledge the fans.
Players take the spotlight
After saluting the supporters, Matos made way for his players to enjoy the moment, a decision he said was intentional. Goals from Stephen Eustaquio, Joseph Opoku, Filip Lissah, and Ross Stewart sealed a fully-deserved victory, bouncing back from a heavy defeat to Queens Park Rangers last weekend.
"I think after last week, they needed to have that feeling," Matos said. "They needed to live that moment because the responsibility is always mine when we don't win. When we win, they need to get the feeling and that's what I wanted for them. To have the feeling. To have the connection with the fans and that's what it was."
Character of the squad
Matos praised the character of his players, describing them as a squad full of "really good human beings." He said: "I think that's the most important for us. To have these type of players that really care about where they are and really care about the team, really care about each other, really care about the club. That's what we try to build and when you have this kind of answer after what happened last week, you can see that part."
"For me it was really about the performance more than the result and I think that's what I'm really pleased about. The way we did it."
Next up: Portsmouth
Swansea now turn their attention to a trip to Portsmouth on Tuesday night. Stephen Eustaquio will be assessed after being forced off during Saturday's win, while Marko Stamenic is another doubt after missing out due to a sickness bug.
