Llorente: We Need To Be More Compact

Swansea City striker Fernando Llorente says the team need to be more compact as they come up against a Chelsea side looking to win the title under new manager Antonio Conte.

The Spaniard, along with the team as a whole, have yet to prove that they can move on from last season’s struggle, as they face a tough run of fixtures, starting off with one of the title favourites – Chelsea.

After a disappointing performance at Leicester a fortnight ago, the Swans will need to show a significant improvement if they’re to end Chelsea’s 100% winning start. As Llorente says, the Swans lost ‘all the second balls’ as they struggled in midfield, not to mention their lacklustre ability at keeping possession.

It’s interesting that Llorente recognises that the team need to be more compact, as our Tactics Board article talks about our current 4-2-3-1 system and how it lacks defensive support. Does the existing system need tweaking, or do we need to move away from 4-2-3-1 altogether?

“Chelsea are a team with a lot of qualities; their trainer is a very good manager who transmits his own character to the players, who we all know well,”

“He is someone who knows when it is time to assert himself, when to tell players they need to be better and when to help them. I would not say there was fear, but a lot of respect and when he spoke everyone did listen.

“He expects a lot – he would not accept what happened last year – and in the matches I have seen, I have seen this character, this fight.

They fight for every ball – and this is something we must improve because in our last match against Leicester we lost all the second balls. We need to improve this, we must be more compact, a lot of things because the last match was not good.”

Talking about himself, Llorente says he has usually taken some time to get up and running at new clubs:

“It’s hard to express myself a little and understand, but on the pitch it is easier because we can gesture.

“It is something I am working on and it is the same on the pitch. In the last two weeks I have felt good in training. Maybe, I need to stay like that now in the matches but at all times in my career it has taken a little time to settle.

“But the Premier League is how I expected it and it is fine because it is something I am used to.”