Swansea City head coach Vitor Matos has played down the club's position in the Championship table, despite the Swans moving joint-top following their 3-1 win over Burnley. However, he insists the club have shown they can beat anyone in the league.
Swansea's impressive start to the season continued as they sent Burnley to the bottom of the table, thanks to goals from Adam Idah, Moussa Yeo and Ronald. Their fourth victory of the season moved them back to second, only behind leaders West Ham on goal difference.
Matos focused on process
Despite a strong start to the campaign, Matos insists he isn't getting carried away.
“It was a good game for us and it was quite complete in different phases. We had really good moments when we had the ball, important moments that gave us the initiative and control in the right positions,” said Matos. “That allowed us to push Burnley back and deep.”
He added: “Nothing has changed for us. The most important thing is that we keep focusing on the process, on what we can improve, when we need to improve and then on the games. Then the results will speak for themselves. We need to keep improving our game and individually.”
Confidence in the squad
However, despite claiming not to know where the Swans are in the table, he says there's no one in the league that holds fear for the Swans.
“I think we have a team who can compete against every team in the league,” he said. “That's what we want. When we can compete against everyone, we know that on that day, at that particular time, we can have a proper performance and beat any opponent. If that happens all the time, we don't know, but we will work our socks off for that.”
Burnley's must-win clash
As for Burnley boss Nicky Hayen, he described next week's match against Derby as “must-win” as their winless start to the season continued. The Clarets are quickly becoming relegation candidates for the second season in a row, having slipped out of the Premier League last term.
Saturday’s game at Turf Moor will be the last before the international break and Belgian Hayen is hoping a victory will earn him a stay of execution after a disastrous start to his career.
“It’s a must-win game for us against Derby. There are no excuses, but there are clear reasons for our current situation,” explained Hayen. “We’re missing a lot of players and several new signings do not yet have the match fitness we need. I mentioned a few weeks ago that we had to survive until the international break, where we can finally work properly on the training pitch. But surviving means taking points and winning games, which we haven’t managed to do enough. That makes this a difficult period, but Saturday is a must-win.”
“Despite the results, we are growing as a team. What we desperately need is one victory to reward the performance and rebuild confidence. One win will change a lot for us — everyone is craving that feeling again. You can hold me accountable for not winning games, but there are also realistic factors such as injuries, lack of fitness and integrating new signings late. I’ll keep working exactly as I always do. I treat every game as if it were my last, because that keeps you sharp and injects energy into the squad and tomorrow I will put that energy back into the group.”
