Sunday, December 22, 2024

Swans have faith in forwards – but always looking for new faces

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Luke Williams led Swansea to 14th in the Championship last season after taking over in January [Getty Images]

Luke Williams will show “absolute faith” in Swansea City’s forward players – but reckons they should always be looking to strengthen their squad.

The Swans have not scored in any of their last four Championship matches and have seen a number of attacking players struggle to score and create goals this season.

“As a group of staff we’ve got to show them that we believe in them, that starts with me, and I do believe in them,” said Williams.

“Eventually when they start scoring goals, we’ll forget that they ever misfired.”

Swansea’s tally of eight league goals is the lowest in the division this term, although they do boast the joint-third best defensive record in the second tier.

“We’re reviewing all the time, the footage, and we try to create the right training sessions and fine tuning actions,” added Williams.

“There’s been plenty of changes. Tactically we have to be very careful.

“Trying to score goals and conceding goals at the other end would be a disaster.”

Summer signing Zan Vipotnik has scored just once since joining the Swans from Bordeaux while Ronald and Eom Ji-Sung are yet to score in the league.

Despite their lack of firepower at present, Williams has faith in his side’s attacking options.

“The likes of Vipi arrived quite late on in the pre-season and hadn’t had a particularly good time previously in terms of training schedules and conditioning because Bordeaux were in a very bad position,” he explained.

“He’s had to adapt very quickly, but he will be up to full speed and I’m sure he’ll be a goal threat, I’ve got no doubt about that.

“Eom Ji-Sung, he’s starting to look more threatening all the time, and of course he picked up an injury.

“It gives a great opportunity for Azeem [Abdulai] and Myles Peart-Harris to pick up more minutes, potentially.”

Ronald has shown plenty of promise since joining the Swans in January, although his output in terms of goals and assists has come under scrutiny.

“Ronald, he’s so close to scoring and assisting more times,” said Williams.

“When you go through and break his game down and look at his actions individually, he can misfire as well, but the amount of good balls he does put into the box and the amount of times crosses are contacted but don’t find the back of the net.

“But he’s very close to being able to score goals and create goals more freely. That’s exciting.”

Striker Liam Cullen’s tally of two Championship goals is the most of any Swansea player after 11 matches of the 2024-25 campaign.

But Williams remains convinced that the Wales international will hit the goal trail on a more regular basis at some stage.

“Liam Cullen will find a rich vein of form as some point, scoring goals, I’ve got no doubt,” added Williams.

“We’ve got the guys there, but we need to find that finishing touch and things will change a lot.”

Jamal Lowe, Jerry Yates and Mykola Kuharevich all left the Swans in the summer, leaving Cullen and Vipotnik as the only senior strikers in the squad.

Williams has made no secret of his desire to bolster his forward options during the upcoming transfer window, and he has stated plans are already underway for the club to bring in new recruits where possible in January.

“We have to be looking at strengthening the squad continuously,” he said.

“We have to be preparing, and as far as I know, that is happening so that if the right player becomes available and it’s achievable for us that we can go very strong and try to bring that player in.”

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