Swansea manager Garry Monk is backing new signings to fire against Sunderland
Saturday 7 February 2015 14:34, UK
Swansea manager Garry Monk has backed the January arrivals to settle in quickly ahead of Saturday's home game against Sunderland.
Having sold star striker Wilfried Bony to Manchester City, Monk brought in full-back Kyle Naughton from Tottenham, midfielder Jack Cork from Southampton and the promising Matt Grimes from Exeter.
The 35-year-old, who spent a decade at the club before hanging up his boots and becoming manager, believes the positive atmosphere around the Welsh club helps new signings acclimatise quickly.
He said: "I've always said at this club, in my opinion, it has been an easy club to come into and settle.
"The players make you feel welcome, the city itself and the people that work at the club make you feel very welcome because when you're at Swansea you generally live in Swansea.
"You're among the people that care about this club every single day, in and out of the club. That makes it easy to settle so I think all the foreign lads have all settled very well this week. We're just looking forward to the game this weekend."
Swansea's 1-0 win at Southampton last weekend took them to 33 points and within seven of the tally traditionally seen to guarantee safety in the top flight.
But Monk promised Swansea's season would not fall away if that mark was achieved sooner rather than later.
"You have to be realistic and the first point of call is to get to 40 points," Monk said.
"We have a great opportunity to do that earlier than ever before, but we have an important month that starts against Sunderland.
"We want to get those 40 points as quickly as possible and then re-assess our targets, but I will push for more from myself and the players."
