Carvalhal: Scoring Goals Is Our First Challenge

Swansea City’s new head coach Carlos Carvalhal says that improving his side’s attacking game is his ‘first challenge’ as boss.

The former Sheffield Wednesday manager signed a deal until the end of the season on Thursday morning before taking his first training session with his players.

Carvalhal said he was keen to get to work as soon as possible:

“We will try to do that – that`s our first challenge,”

“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.”

He also spoke about his preferred style of play, and while he likes his teams to keep possession, he insisted that he wants possession to try and score goals.

“I like to play more in attack, 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.”

‘Let’s try and do something special’

And to the fans who may wonder who he is exactly, Carvalhal said that he’s used to fans not knowing who he is, but he’s quickly proved them wrong at previous clubs he’s worked at. This will be his 17th spell as a manager.

“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,”

“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.”