By Rob Cole
Carlos Carvalhal is already playing the percentages pretty well in his first week in charge at Swansea City.
In last Thursday’s press conference after being confirmed as the Swans’ fifth manager in two years, Carvalhal said he believed that if you asked 100 people if the club will be relegated at the end of the season then all 100 would agree.
After winning his opening game 2-1 win at Watford on Saturday he reckoned that number might have dropped to 98. If they can back up that win at Vicarage Road with a first win over Spurs in the Premier League then the believers might come flooding back.
“Maybe now a couple of people will look at us now and say we might not get relegated, but it is still a small percentage. We are still not in a good position, but the confidence is high,” admitted Carvalhal.
“Me, the players, the chairman and the fans are not part of the 100 – we believe that we can stay up. It is going to be very tough to the end of the season, but we’ve taken the first step.
“We changed the formation from 4-3-3 to 4-4-2, but you can’t expect a complete change in style after only two training sessions. But the commitment of the players was very good and we can only get better with more time.
“It is not all flower and birds because we have won one game. We know we’ve got a really tough game coming up against Spurs, especially as they didn’t play at the weekend and will have had time to rest – it’s a very short time to prepare for the game, but we will be ready.”
Carvalhal will be hoping that striker Tammy Abrahams will be back to full fitness after almost missing the game at Watford with a stomach problem. The new manager admitted he encouraged the England Under 21 cap to play at Vicarage Road.
“I pushed him a little to play and I was happy when he said he would. I asked him to do just 60 minutes if he could before we brought on Oli McBeirne,” said Carvalhal. “I hope it is nothing too serious – these are not easy days.”
Carvalhal confessed after the game at Watford to “knowing nothing about Tottenham “having been in the Championship for the past two and a half seasons”. But he pledged to “go deep into the analysis” to find out everything he needs to know about them by Tuesday night.
“If the players hadn’t played with commitment and heart then we wouldn’t have won. The fans were crucial and we felt them especially in the second half,” he added.
“We finished the game with two attackers and two wingers. We didn’t achieve in general what we wanted in the first half with five players in midfield and two roaming attackers.
“It was an important three points, but just because we won doesn’t mean to say that everything was perfect. Although even if we’d lost not everything would have been bad.
“Confidence will grow from this and we will give them a clear idea of the way we want to play.”
He may have helped Swansea end a run of four games without a win at his first attempt, but Carvalhal now faces a challenge than none of his predecessors as manager at the club in the Premier League have been able to manage – beat Tottenham Hotspur.
The relegation threatened Swans have never beaten Spurs in their seven seasons in the top flight, leaving the Londoners as the only team they haven’t beaten in the Premier League since joining the elite in 2011.
They picked up a point in a 0-0 draw at Wembley Stadium in what was the 13th Premier League meeting between the two teams on 16 September this season. The point was a triumph for Swansea, but the statistics proved the dominance of the home side.
They enjoyed 75% possession, had 26 shots on goal to the Swans’ eight and won 11 corners while only conceding one. Harry Kane hit the cross bar, but they simply couldn’t find a way to score.
Swansea goal scorer at the weekend, Jordan Ayew, believes the side will have picked up an enormous amount of confidence after picking up the three points at Watrford. He can;t wait to take on Spurs.
“Tottenham is a big game and we have nothing to lose. We need to keep on running and keep playing the Swansea way,” said Ayew.
“The win at Watford was a step forward and now we have to keep going and keep fighting. Football is all about confidence.
“We showed that at Watford. When you have confidence you can do better things. We worked very hard and we were rewarded.
“We only had two days training under Carlos, but he told us we had to run more and be more aggressive. Those were the key things.”