Swansea boss Garry Monk calls reports he missed training 'farcical'

Swansea manager Garry Monk has dismissed reports he missed training as "farcical" and claims they are designed to unsettle his struggling team.

Reports in the national press on Wednesday claimed the 36-year-old was not present at training due to personal reasons and that his job is under review after Swansea failed to win any of their last six games.

It was also claimed the Swans' board want Monk to bring in an experienced coach to help him, but he has categorically denied that is the case and described further reports he is under consideration to succeed Tim Sherwood should he be sacked by Aston Villa as "comical".

Swansea immediately tweeted a picture on Wednesday of Monk giving a talk to his players at the club's training ground, and Monk said on Thursday: "It's farcical to be honest with you.

"These stories come out from time to time, for whatever reason, whether it's to try and unsettle us, I don't know.

"From my perspective, and from the club's and the players', we don't listen to things like that. We are a committed club together. Our strength is our unity and we use that to get training right and go into the game fully focused.

"The staff that I've created around me, and myself, did what no other manager has done at the club last season, in terms of what we achieved. We created history, so there's no need for anything.

"The chairman is very supportive and allows me to develop myself and the staff. Both I and he are very happy with them, but we'll always work to get better.

"I've never thought about bringing anyone else in. I want my staff to represent what I represent and they all contribute. We're all on the same wavelength and we will try and do the same as we did last year this time.

The staff that I've created around me, and myself, did what no other manager has done at the club last season, in terms of what we achieved. We created history, so there's no need for anything.

"Considering the week I've probably had it's comical. Tim is working as hard as I will be and you have to let managers get on with their jobs. Links and this type of thing really do not help.

"We had a similar sticky patch at a time last season but we relied on our unity and brought ourselves together. We just concentrate on what's relevant to us as a group."

The Welsh club have only won twice in the Premier League this season and sit 14th in the division with 10 points from nine matches.

Monk took charge of Swansea as interim player-manager in February 2014 after the sacking of Michael Laudrup, before taking the job full-time that summer.

He led the Swans to an eighth-place finish last season - the highest ever in the club's history - and they travel to struggling Aston Villa on Saturday.