By Graham Thomas
It’s been a while since opponents of Swansea City used to wake up on match day with a knot in their stomach.
Luke Williams wants to bring those days back, but not in the way you probably imagine.
In their halcyon Premier League heyday, visitors to what was then the Liberty Stadium might have felt fearful they were in for a long day’s chasing the ball. Leon Britton, Jonathan De Guzman, Nathan Dyer, Wayne Routledge, Ki Sung-yueng, Pablo Hernandez and others would ping the ball around before Michu rolled it into the net and cupped his hand to his ear.
But current head coach Williams wants others to have sleepless nights and uncomfortable mornings for a different reason.
“We want opposition players to wake up on a Saturday morning in their hotel with their stomach doing somersaults – not just because they fear Swansea play good football – but because they are about to get bashed up by Ben Cabango and company.”
Not only that, but when Swans players do get physical – either with a solid tackle, a brave block or a lunging clearance – then the head coach intends to celebrate.
The Swans – who host Bristol City on Sunday looking for a third successive victory – have added something of a new string to their bow this season.
You might call it old-school defending, or new school resilience. Williams goes further and believes it’s a culture change.
Yes, he still wants the tiki-taka, slick-smooth stuff when they are attacking. But grafted on, like a tough outer skin, he expects a no-nonsense defensive bravery, typified this season by a resurgent Ben Cabango.
Williams’ team have conceded just four Championship goals so far, a record bettered in the division by only West Brom and Sheffield United.
Defenders celebrating clearances, fist-bumps and high fives for timely tackles and interceptions, it’s a trend that has been mocked and ridiculed in some quarters.
The critics – mainly former players turned pundits – have claimed it is performative over-the-top nonsense for defenders just doing their job.
But listen to Williams and he will dare to disagree.
“What you choose to ignore, you choose to accept,” he explains.
“So, if we ignore poor defending, or a lack of desire to defend, then we encourage it.
“The opposite is true. What we choose to emphasise and celebrate, we encourage.
“So, we encourage and we praise the toughness, the resilience and the desire to protect the goal. Players are rewarded for that type of attitude with more minutes on the pitch, and with more encouragement and positive reinforcement in team meetings.
“Unfortunately, it runs the other way and players are criticised heavily for showing a lack of desire to protect the goal.”
So, if a sweeping team move ends with Liam Cullen stroking the ball home, or Ollie Cooper rifling in from 20 yards, it is rightly celebrated at the club’s training ground.
But, equally, so is a big Cabango size 12 boot that blocks a shot, or better still a face-first lunge in the way of a goal-bound plie-driver.
As Williams says: “Of course, we could play Ollie Cooper’s goal a thousand times – his incredible balance as he cuts in, the use of a decoy runner, and then the way he smashes the ball into a gap no more than two millimeters bigger than the ball.
“Yes, we celebrate that – of course.
“But we will never move away from also celebrating a guy who is prepared to stand in front of a ball being struck at 60mph, and takes it right in the chassis.”
And so the salute to defenders, the hat-tip to goalkeepers who risk injury by rushing to an opponent’s feet, it will all continue at Swansea, whatever the irritated old-timers might say.
“When Josh Key ran into the line of the ball and let it smash him in the face to go out for a corner, we let that clip run when he showed it again to the players. We let it run because we wanted to show the four players who jump on him and celebrate with him, so that every player understands just what he had done.
“When people talk about culture, it’s hard to define.
“To me, it’s about what you choose to accept and what you choose to ignore. It’s what you choose to celebrate and what you choose to punish.
“That becomes your culture.”
Back-to-back victories mean the Swans could well end up in the play-off positions this weekend, if they win, depending on other results.
