Joe Allen | Senior players like myself need to help the talented young players we have

Joe Allen insists the onus is on he and Swansea City’s other senior players to help a young squad work through a frustrating start to the season.

Midfielder Allen will return to the bet365 Stadium on Wednesday night for the first time since leaving former club Stoke City to rejoin the Swans.

Russell Martin’s head to the Potteries following back-to-back defeats against Luton and Middlesbrough, and the disappointment of a draw against Millwall having produced a dominant display to lead 2-0 going into stoppage time against the Lions.

But Allen, a man with years of Premier League, Championship and international experience under his belt, knows better than most the ups and downs that football can throw at you.

And he feels it is important for the members of the squad who have been in the game over a longer period to provide guidance to the younger members of the squad so they can continue to grow and contribute.

“I think there have been games where we have not got what we should have from them with some of the performances,” he said.

“That is football, and it is those fine margins. You can look back at games and think about those what if moments.

“That is how it goes sometimes, but we are ready to set that straight as soon as possible.

“The ambition for us is to make sure we start to change good spells and good performances into results to get the momentum going.

“I think everyone can see it’s those couple of aspects in either box where we have fallen short in the last few games.

“We are working hard to rectify it, I think the shock of what happened in the Millwall game probably had more of an impact on us going into the next game than we expected.

“But these are all things to learn from, all teams go through those moments, and we are determined to work hard to improve.

“We have a squad with a lot of really talented young players who are going to have bright futures, a lot of them are picking up experience at a young age and the onus is on players like myself and others to help them along their path.”