Connor Roberts enjoying set-piece responsibility

2nd November
First team
Connor Roberts Birmingham

Connor Roberts is relishing his new set-piece responsibilities after setting up Ben Cabango’s opener in Saturday’s win over Blackburn.

The Wales international has enjoyed a fine start to the 2020-21 season, and now has two assists to his name as he Jake Bidwell and Ryan Manning have embraced their wing-back roles.

The Swans have varied their set-piece takers over recent weeks, with Morgan Gibbs-White, Kasey Palmer, Roberts, Manning and Yan Dhanda joining Matt Grimes in delivering from set-plays.

Roberts says it’s an area of his game that is still a work in progress, but he has provided a number of threatening balls into the opposition box, and he could barely have placed his corner any better for Cabango to hold off Darragh Lenihan and power the Swans ahead at the weekend.

"I'm enjoying being on set-pieces. For a few years now, I've been wanting to almost add that to the game and chuck a few set-pieces into the box,” he said.

“Since I've been on them, I've put in some decent balls. There were one or two that weren't so good against Blackburn and I need to keep working, but it was nice to get the assist.

Connor Roberts Ben Cabango Blackburn

“Hopefully, I can get a few more assists over the next few games, although I’m not sure I could have missed Ben’s head to be honest. It’s a bit like having Alun Wyn Jones in the box!”

The Swans now move on to face Brentford at the Brentford Community Stadium on Tuesday night.

The sides met in a hotly-contested play-off semi-final last term, but Roberts’ focus is very much on the here and now.

"Obviously, it's going to be a tough game; they've still got some really good players even though a couple of their players from last season have moved on,” said Roberts.

“They play really well and are a very good side. The Championship is proving that every game's a tough one. We played Stoke, who were decent, Blackburn were good, and it's not getting any easier really."