Vitor Matos | We want to pick up where we left off last week
Head coach Vitor Matos wants his Swansea City side to pick up where they left off when they welcome Sheffield United to the Swansea.com Stadium on Saturday afternoon (3pm).
The Swans began the new Championship campaign with a 2-1 comeback victory at Stoke City last weekend, with Joseph Opoku and Adam Idah overturning an early deficit to secure three points at the bet365 Stadium.
Now, Matos wants his side to carry that momentum into their first home game of the season and build on the progress made during the second half of the previous campaign.
The victory at Stoke took Matos’ tally to 50 points from his 31 Championship games since taking charge in November, while Swansea also secured just their third league win at Stoke this century.
That said, the Portuguese is focused on maintaining the standards that have been established rather than looking too far ahead.
“It’s not about [starting with two wins], it’s about being competitive and that’s what we want," he said.
“Now we have Sheffield United, which is a really good team. Chris Wilder is a really experienced manager and knows the league really well.
“They are really competitive and they have a clear plan of what to do on the pitch, so we count on a difficult game.
“We know that we will have to handle the aggressiveness, the verticality and the quick attacks. That’s something that we need to be aware of, and we need to find a way as well to impose our game. That’s what we will try to do.”
The 38-year-old oversaw a significant improvement in Swansea’s results during the second half of last season, winning 46 per cent of their Championship fixtures under his guidance and helping establish one of the division’s strongest home records.
Matos has spoken regularly about the importance of creating a team supporters can identify with, believing the connection between the players and the stands can play a major role in Swansea’s performances at the Swansea.com Stadium.
“It’s more about having this feeling that we want to make our stadium a proper place for us, and for that we need the fans. We need that connection with the fans and with the squad," he admitted.
“It’s up to us as a team to give the energy and give the first step by showing energy, showing intensity, showing hard work and showing our football.
“Then I think the fans give it back. That connection is really important for us and was really important last season, and I think of course it will be really important this season as well.
“We want to be a team that no one feels comfortable to play against, especially at our stadium.”
That connection was evident during the opening-day victory at Stoke, with the travelling Swansea support playing their part as the Swans fought back to claim all three points.
Matos was full of praise for the backing his players received, and wants his side to give supporters plenty to cheer about this weekend.
"It's always good to win the first game, whatever it is," he continued.
“I thought our fans were outstanding and having them there with us, we felt their support and the connection straight on.
“It was a big win but it's only one game and now we have the responsibility to keep improving and developing.”