By James Dow
Swansea City manager Luke Williams believes his side were “a penny short of a pound” after their 0-0 draw at home to Stoke City.
Ronald and Ji-Sung Eom had two great chances each to take the lead in the first half, but were denied by the woodwork and some great goalkeeping from Stoke City goalkeeper Viktor Johansson.
The Swans now sit in 11th place in the table after nine matches, but Williams thinks his side should be sitting in a higher position – and their failure to convert more of their big chances is to blame.
“We are having the same talk in the changing room, we have had three games at home that we should have won, if we were able to convert those draws into victories we could be even closer to the play offs,” he said.
“The first big challenge was for us to create more big chances and we certainly did that today and to create big chances away at teams like West Brom and Sheffield United who are teams at a very high level shows there is progress.
“I think today was a much more even match in terms of the squads at this moment in time, but we created a lot of good chances so it is encouraging but we need to turn it into a reality by converting these chances.
“We are sat in a mid-table position, but I think that we are performing slightly above mid-table. I think that if we can turn the margin of games slightly in our favour we can push even higher up the table.”
Williams also admitted that it is his job to try and give his players more confidence when they are in front of goal, and it has to start by changing their mindset when it comes to opportunities.
“I have a job to do as a sports psychologist to convince the players that when given an opportunity, they do not see it as a threat and that the world feels like it is closing in on them,” he said.
“If this is their mindset they will not fulfil their destiny, but if you see it as an opportunity the net will bulge.
“I have worked with both types of players in my career and their mindset can easily change, which I need to help them with.
“The quickest route to changing that is by the player feeling the satisfaction of hitting the back of the net and all of the spoils that come with that.”
Williams gave his full support to his strikers Liam Cullen and Zan Vipotnik, amid thoughts from fans who think the club should look towards the free agent market to bring in another out-and-out goal-scorer for the rest of the season.
“It is really important for me to say that we have Zan and Liam who are our recognised number nines and I am backing them completely and have full trust in them,” he added.
“If a free agent becomes available who would fit in perfectly then that is something we could consider, but I am not desperate to bring someone in and replace these guys because they will become everything that we want them to become.
“They have the quality day in and day out, but we need to help them bring this quality into the games when the stakes are higher and they will be able to do that for sure.”
Williams also stated that once he can find a solution to converting more chances, it could be the start of a very exciting season at the club, and that it is not through a lack of trying from the players who give 100% every day.
“We were a penny short of a pound today and if we find that penny it’s going to be a fantastic season,” he said.
“Sometimes at a club you feel you have players who aren’t trying enough so before I try for you, you need to try for yourself.
“But we don’t have any of that. We have a group of players that really try and are desperate to win and we can completely commit to them.”