Swansea City critics are correct, says head coach Luke Williams
- Published
Luke Williams left Notts County to take over at Swansea City in early January
Luke Williams says he agrees with critics who say Swansea City have failed to maintain standards set in their win over Cardiff City.
Williams enjoyed the best day of his brief reign as Swansea triumphed in last month's south Wales derby.
But the Swansea head coach believes his players' mentality then dipped in Easter weekend games against Sheffield Wednesday and Queens Park Rangers.
"This is the one I am really suffering with at the moment," he said.
"For the people that are criticising and saying what we saw against Cardiff we are not seeing again, I want them to know I agree with them.
"They can come into Fairwood (Swansea's training ground) and take the team meeting if they want, if they are going to say that, because they are correct."
Swansea looked hungrier than Cardiff from the outset, with a blend of desire, purpose and quality on show as they beat the Bluebirds 2-0.
But Williams' team then laboured to a draw at Hillsborough last Friday before losing at home to QPR, albeit on a day when they did enough to claim at least a point before succumbing to Steve Cook's late goal.
Swansea have taken only one point from two games against lowly opponents since victory in the south Wales derby
"This is the problem when you raise the bar up like that, as a group of players," Williams added.
"They deserved to win the Cardiff game in the way they won it.
"There was no luck and it's not a performance that was an outlier, it was a performance that was brewing.
"Then they raised it a little bit more [against Cardiff], but when you raise a little bit more, you have to stay there - me and the players.
"When people say we didn't see quite the same levels at Sheffield Wednesday and against QPR, they are right."
'Let's not settle for being an okay team'
Swansea, in 15th, are seven points clear of the Championship relegation places with six games of the season remaining, with the first of those to come at in-form Middlesbrough on Saturday.
Williams has consistently said during his three months in charge that he is not worried about the prospect of relegation, and now feels one more win would end all talk of dropping to League One.
In fact, the former Notts County boss is looking up rather than down, and has challenged his players to push into the top 10 before the end of the season.
Swansea suffered a number of heavy defeats in the opening weeks of the Williams era but he believes the manner of their performances has now changed, with the only goals conceded in the club's last seven games coming from set-pieces.
"We have just enough games and points left available where we could finish in a really respectable position that makes us think that if we improve a bit, the next bracket is really exciting one," Williams said.
"What I am seeing in recent weeks is that we can decide the outcome of the games more.
"If the league position was a single digit at this point… if that's on the table for us, let's go for that. We have to make that our goal.
"Let's not settle for 'we are an okay team'. Let's go for the maximum that is available to us."