Freddie Woodman praises defence, but feels there is more to come

Freddie Woodman added another clean sheet to his Swansea City tally last weekend, and the goalkeeper believes it is a sign of the strides made by the club’s young defensive unit.

The shut-out in last weekend’s win over Preston was Woodman’s 13th in Swansea colours, and was the ideal way to kick-off the 2020-21 Championship campaign.

The 23-year-old had 20-year-olds Ben Cabango and Marc Guehi in front of him, as well as 22-year-old Joe Rodon.

Add in the work put in by wing-backs Jake Bidwell and Connor Roberts, plus midfielders Matt Grimes and Korey Smith and Swansea looked rock solid without the ball at Deepdale.

The challenge now is to build on that encouraging start, and no-one will be underestimating the visit of Birmingham this weekend after the Blues saw off last season’s play-off finalists Brentford in their opening league game.

But Woodman believes the experience gained by himself and those around him last season has the potential to lead to even better things this time round.

“It’s great for a goalkeeper when you see three big centre-halves willing to head, kick and put their bodies in the way,” said the on-loan Newcastle stopper.

“It’s brilliant for me to have Ben, Marc and Joe in front of me. It feels like we are secure.

“I feel like we’ve come a long way in the last few months. I think that’s what this club is about – developing, getting better and learning from your experiences.

“I feel like we’ve done that over this past year. It’s a good start, but there’s obviously a very long way to go.

"You have to keep improving, we know one clean sheet does not mean we have cracked it."