Boss plans to keep on smiling

20th February
First team

Carlos Carvalhal reckons smiles on faces have helped Swansea City give their fans something to cheer during his eight-week Liberty reign.

The Swans have been a team transformed since Carvalhal was appointed manager at the end of December.

They head to Brighton this weekend looking to extend a 10-game unbeaten run in all competitions.

The Swans’ dramatic upturn in form has seen them climb off the bottom of the table and up to 16th, while they also remain in the Emirates FA Cup.

And Carvalhal believes that mixing some fun with football has played a part in improving results.

The Portuguese is a lively presence on the Swans training ground, while he has made headlines thanks to his colourful media interviews.

“Your body language and the way you talk have an impact,” Carvalhal said.

“But I don’t do anything artificial – it is just the way I am.

“Being a football manager is my job. I have done it for many years and I am not afraid to be myself.

“I do not prepare what I say to the media. I just talk normally. I think the analogies must be because I am from Portugal – we use them a lot there!”

A number of Swans players have mentioned Carvalhal’s ability to raise smiles as a factor in their recent revival.

But the key to their progress has been work done on the field.

“When I came to Swansea, the club wanted me to change things,” Carvalhal added.

“In the position we were in, we had to have a strategy to move things. We took a risk – we changed the formation and we created a new dynamic.

“What we are doing is a big surprise to the people on the outside, but to us it’s not a surprise.

“If you had asked me if we could change things so fast, I cannot lie – I would have said you never know.

“But I said when I first arrived that the most important thing was not to look at the table but to try to improve the team.

“I said then that if we did that, we could get a run of results and things would look different.

“There is still a long way to go, but we have done that quickly.”