Bob Bradley confident Swansea's forwards can fire them up the table
Friday 28 October 2016 15:46, UK
Swansea manager Bob Bradley has challenged his players to show they have the firepower to climb the Premier League table when they take on Stoke City at the Bet365 Stadium, live on Monday Night Football.
The Swans have managed just eight goals in their nine Premier League games so far this season. Only Sunderland and Middlesbrough have managed less.
Last season's top scorer in the league, Andre Ayew, was sold to West Ham in the summer and Swansea have struggled to replace his goal threat.
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Borja Gonzalez was signed from Atletico Madrid for £15.5m in the summer and Fernando Llorente arrived from Sevilla for an undisclosed fee but both of Swansea's Spanish strikers have been slow to settle with just one Premier League goal apiece so far.
"I am certainly hopeful that we have the players with enough talent to turn them into big goalscorers for our team," said the Swans manager.
"Borja was an important signing for the club, although is still adjusting to life in a new club and a new league.
"Fernando Llorente has had a bit of an injury so we have not been able to get everything out of him since I came in, but I am hoping we have two dangerous forwards there.
"I also understand we have to get goals from different people and when you look in all directions, there is room for improvement.
"Look at Mo Barrow. We will all feel we are making progress with him when we see him adding more goals.
"Gylfi [Sigurdsson] has shown he can score goals, and Ki Sung-yueng has scored goals in the past. Overall I thought Ki was pretty solid against Watford, and hopefully that's something to build on.
"We are trying to raise the level across the board."
After a spirited defeat to Arsenal and a goalless draw with Watford, Bradley hopes his third Premier League game in charge of Swansea will bring his first victory but he is wary of the threat posed by a Stoke side that have won their last two league games and are unbeaten in their last four.
"Stoke didn't start the season well but they have found their form now," Bradley said.
"They have a player in Xherdan Shaqiri who they rely on, and he has improved having maybe come back late after Euro 2016 and been short of some fitness.
"He is part of a front four who cause problems. Shaqiri finds pockets of space, [Marko] Arnautovic is pretty clever.
"I have seen Joe Allen enough times to know he is a good player. Everybody here knows that, and everybody here knows about Bony.
"Playing against those four requires a good understanding of how you are going to handle things."
On the injury front, Bradley suggested there is an outside chance of Jefferson Montero could return to action at Stoke after a calf problem, although the home game with Manchester United a week on Sunday may be a more realistic target for his comeback.
