Matt Grimes | Consistency will be the key

29th July
First team
Matt Grimes press conference

Matt Grimes says consistency will be the key for Swansea City as they seek to take a step forward in Russell Martin’s second season at the helm.

The Swans will kick-off the 2022-23 Championship campaign with a trip to face newly-promoted Rotherham United at the AESSEAL New York Stadium.

Swansea finished 15th last term, but their conclusion to the season included a nine-match unbeaten run that underlined the positive strides they made over the course of the season; following the appointment of Martin and his coaching staff on the eve of the campaign.

And that sort of consistency will be key, according to skipper Grimes, with a full pre-season under the belt and the squad better able to handle the physical demands of a high-energy style of place.

“We are buzzing, pre-season has been good and we have got a lot of work in. We are looking forward to getting going,” said the midfielder.

“I feel like we struggled last year to keep the intensity up with way manager wants to play. There’s a lot of physical and tactical detail.

“We were not unfit, we were just not used to or conditioned to play this way. This time we have had five or six weeks to build that, and it will stand us in good stead.

“We are in a better place 100 per cent. If you play a certain way you ned to be trained in that way. If you are not, you cannot do it as well, that’s a fact.

“You have to train the way you play. We were not ready for a full season last year, we showed in moments and in certain games we could do it, but often in the third game in a week we would struggle as we would not have the energy levels to go again.

“We are now fit and ready to play the way the manager wants to play.

“We need to go about our business and try and improve our performances and results. Consistency will be a massive thing for us. We were inconsistent at times last year.

“I think we are better equipped this time.”