New boss Carlos gets straight to work

Carlos Carvalhal drove through the night to start work at the Liberty Stadium as he bids to “do something special” at Swansea City.

Having agreed a deal to take charge of the Swans late on Wednesday night, the former Sheffield Wednesday manager left his Yorkshire home at 4.30am on Thursday to ensure he would be in Wales in time for training.

Carvalhal was desperate to get to work at Fairwood as he sets about trying to rejuvenate a Swans side who sit bottom of the Premier League table ahead of Saturday’s trip to Watford.

And the Portuguese reckons the first job is to try to increase his new side’s attacking threat.

“We will try to do that – that’s our first challenge,” Carvalhal said.

“I think we have good players. We have players with quality who can score goals and create chances.

“There is no magic – things will not change in a few days. But we need to move very fast, that’s why I am here today.

“I agreed to come last night and I am here today to take training because we want to go in a good direction as soon as possible.”

Carvalhal’s Owls side were known for playing stylish football, and the new man in charge in SA1 wants the Swans to play a passing game.

“I like to play more in attack,” Carvalhal explained. “We have to manage the ball very well and have ball possession.

“But we don’t just want ball possession, we want possession to try to score goals.

“Our teams usually score a lot of goals. We like also for our teams play with discipline and defensive organisation, so we will try to get a balance.

“We have to understand the abilities of the players. We will try to build a game model with our ideas and with the players we have.

“We must go to the pitch without any fear. We have to try to compete for three points against every opponent. To do that, we must have courage and be strong.”

Carvalhal inherits a side who are five points adrift of safety having won just one of their last 12 Premier League games.

But he is adamant the Swans can pull clear of relegation danger – and he hopes the Jack Army will soon be enjoying watching his team play.

“At two clubs I have worked at recently, the same thing happened. When I arrived at Besiktas, even though I worked at Sporting Lisbon, a massive club in Portugal, nobody knew me,” he explained.

“There were a lot of doubts among the fans.

“But after three months they started to sing my name in the stands. They knew me very well by then.

“When I arrived at Sheffield Wednesday it was the same. They did not know me in England.

“When I arrived people asked lots of questions – who is this guy? But after three months, they started singing my name again.

“That’s something I appreciate. When I arrive people don’t know me very well, but it’s about the work we do and the way the team play.

“It’s what I expect here in Swansea. I like this kind of challenge.

“Let’s work hard, let’s try to get our team playing football and get the fans on our side, and let’s try to do something special.”