Prior to Swansea City’s win over Aston Villa last weekend, reports were rampant that manager Garry Monk’s job was on the line. The Swans had only earned a disappointing 10 points through nine games and weren’t playing the most attractive style of football either. Still, Swansea moving against Garry Monk this early in the season would be utter and complete madness.
Instead of contemplating change, Swansea’s ownership should consider backing Monk a little more. A quick look at their roster reveals a side that isn’t filled with all that much talent. When your starting forward is Befetimbi Gomis, I don’t think you should be looking for your manager to compete for European qualification.
Gomis isn’t a bad player, but he’s just alright. That same sentiment goes for much of the Swans roster. Andrew Ayew, Jonjo Shelvey and Jefferson Montero are arguably the team’s best three players and while they are solidly above average, none of them are world-class.
Shelvey is the perfect example. He’s good enough to get into the England squad, but only when others are injured. Ayew and Montero are dangerous attackers who represent their countries, but aren’t one of the top handful at their respective positions in the Premier League.
Outside of that group, there isn’t a terrible lot to get excited about. As a Spurs fan, I like Gylfi Sigurdsson but his play this season has actually been below average. Are we supposed to be excited about the likes to Kyle Naughton, Ashley Williams or Nathan Dyer?
I don’t think so. Yet, these are the players that Monk is supposed to play every week to achieve great results. I’m not sure Pep Guardiola could guide this group to a top four finish.
Garry Monk is a manager whose name was being bandied about as a potential English manager not too long ago and last week, there were real conversations about him losing his job at Swansea. That’s just mad.
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Clubs like Swansea must see past the last month of results and take in the bigger picture. They have a manager who is tactically astute and has serious ties to the club. He isn’t just the sort of manager they should back to the financial hilt, he is the manager they should back so heavily.
Instead of being allowed to focus on improving his side, Monk had to spend the last week worrying about his job status. After the win at Villa, he was right to publicly hit out at the “circus” surrounding his job status.
Good for him standing up not only for himself, but his team. It’s clear he has their backing as well if you bother to watch them play every week. It’s not always been pretty, but it hasn’t been due to a lack of effort.
Swansea City are fortunate to have someone like Garry Monk in charge of their club. Other medium and small Premier League clubs would kill to have a tactically astute, likable man in charge of their side. Swansea has it even better because they have those qualities in a man who has 11 years of ties to them. Other clubs would kill to be so fortunate.
If Swansea do suffer from another dip in form and move on from Garry Monk, I for one, will be hoping they find their way to the bottom three. They’ve got the best manager for their club. If they aren’t smart enough to see that, then I would bid them a fond farewell on their way out of the Premier League.