Michael Duff | The application of the players has been fantastic

Head coach Michael Duff believes his first week in charge of Swansea City has been a productive one for himself and his squad.

It has been a whirlwind first eight days at the helm for the 45-year-old, after confirmation of his appointment last Thursday evening.

He then met his players for the first time when they reported for pre-season testing the following day, and then joined them in boarding a flight for Spain ahead of this week's intense training camp at the La Finca Resort.

But the Swans boss has been impressed by the players and his staff so far.

“The week has been great for me and I think the players have enjoyed it because of the surroundings and facilities, but for me it’s been a chance to put faces to names,” he said.

“Obviously, a lot of the team I know, but there’s a lot of the younger ones I don’t know, so you get an idea of the way they play and their personalities.

“It’s a big operation with the number of staff here so it’s been about getting a feel for the club, I’ve been able to get my hands dirty with a bit of coaching and get some droplets of information, nothing too detailed at the moment. It’s been a really beneficial first week.

“I feel like I’ve got a pretty good idea of what we’ve got and what we don’t have from a footballing point of view.

“The attitude of the players has been great, one thing you can see is that they’re a young group who will do what is asked of them and they’ve run themselves into the ground.

“They’ve had double sessions every day and gym in the afternoon and their application has been first class. Some of the runs have been hard but that’s what pre-season has been about.”

As well as the work on the pitch during the week, Duff also made some additions off it, with Martin Paterson and Alan Sheehan joining his coaching staff.

The pair were confirmed as assistant coaches and joined the team in Spain on Wednesday.

“Alan Sheehan and Martin Paterson will add detail to the coaching. They’re two good people who have been on completely different coaching journeys,” he added.

“They’ve spent a lot of time together this week because they don’t know each other, so we’ve spent a lot of time together thrashing out different systems, different ways of playing, and coaching sessions.

“They’ve been great and they will be good additions to the football club. I worked with Pato last year, so I know his personality, and Alan is very much of the same ilk.

"We’ll work together as a group – along with Kris O’Leary – and add a goalkeeper coach at some point.

“All the other departments are good, so hopefully the football coaching department team will be just as good.”