Swansea's New Boss Carlos Carvalhal Has Given Players 2 Games to Impress or Face Chopping Block

Swansea's new manager Carlos Carvalhal has thrown down the gauntlet to his squad, giving his players two games to discover a rich vein of form and save their Premier League careers.

The Swans are currently languishing at the bottom of the league table flirting dangerously with relegation to the Championship. The former Sheffield Wednesday boss is set to take a closer look at his new team in their matches against Watford and Tottenham before making a final decision on who will play a major role for him in the second-half of the season.

With a tough battle ahead to avoid relegation Carvalhal is aware that half his battle is the mental aspect of the game, he said, via the Mirror: “The first step is to try to give confidence to the players and give them the opportunity to show what they can do.

“If we change things and the answer is not what we expect, then after this we will try to improve the team in January.

“The clock is ticking, that’s absolutely correct, but we can’t do anything until January 1. So we have to try to give confidence to the players that are here first.

“They need to show commitment and after that we will take decisions. We have talked about the possibility of bringing in players if we need it. The chairman was open about that, but let’s see the weaknesses in the team first. It’s very early to talk about transfers.”

With 18 games remaining, Swansea are currently five points adrift from safety and Carvalhal is aware he needs a string of positive results as he cannot allow the gap to increase. 

He added: “We are now five points adrift and the team aren’t playing good football. They aren't scoring or creating chances.

“I’ve seen a lot of things in football. When you change some things, when you create a new dynamic, the players can surprise you and they can change to another level.

“So it's our work to try to give confidence to them to show that they are better than what they have shown. After this we will take decisions in different aspects.”