Swansea's rookie manager was the epitome of cool amid a sea of emotion at Old Trafford on Saturday
Sometimes silence says more than a thousand words will ever do. At Old Trafford this Saturday past, with tens of thousands of fans baying for his side to capitulate, there wasn't a cooler man in the stadium than Garry Monk.
It would have been very easy to betray his cool and show his undoubtedly raging emotions. That wasn't part of the gameplan though, and the gameplan is everything. Yes we won courtesy of two well worked goals, but the goals came from an overriding belief in the system we set out to operate with. If Monk had let his emotions get the better of him and spent the afternoon ranting and raving, what kind of message would that send to his players? Would it inspire the team to play the focused, confident, short, sharp passing football that we so love, and saw on Saturday? I very much doubt it.
Monk's switch from a gillet to a suit has been mocked by some, while he has also taken to sitting down during matches which has also been commented on (in jest, granted), but it does allude to a serious point. We beat United because of our system and the quality of our players, but without concentration, focus, hard work and a willingness to once again get our level of performance back to where we were two years ago, it would have been very easy for us to capitulate when United were in the ascendancy in the second half.
At Old Trafford on Saturday there were echoes of the best Swansea City teams of recent times. The beauty of our current position is that, firstly, we weren't at our best against United, and as such there's automatically room for improvement. Ok, neither were Van Gaal's men but you can only play what's put it in front of you, and we put in enough of a shift to be able to at least claim we were worthy of all three points. Secondly, the calibre of our squad is so much greater than when we were last at the peak of our pomp (the pinnacle of our prowess?) that surely if we can operate with the same work ethic, the same pride in our system, then we'll perform to a higher standard than ever before?
Central to this approach is having someone at the helm with a cool head to oversee the whole process top to bottom. Someone who can coolly analyse what he's seeing on the pitch and on the training field, and who knows the system well enough to make the required changes. Crucially, someone who, if they are standing quietly on the touchline, can't be doubted in his passion and commitment to the cause. That man is, of course, Garry Monk.
Obviously it's early days, but signs are good. Very good.
At Old Trafford on Saturday there were echoes of the best Swansea City teams of recent times. The beauty of our current position is that, firstly, we weren't at our best against United, and as such there's automatically room for improvement. Ok, neither were Van Gaal's men but you can only play what's put it in front of you, and we put in enough of a shift to be able to at least claim we were worthy of all three points. Secondly, the calibre of our squad is so much greater than when we were last at the peak of our pomp (the pinnacle of our prowess?) that surely if we can operate with the same work ethic, the same pride in our system, then we'll perform to a higher standard than ever before?
Central to this approach is having someone at the helm with a cool head to oversee the whole process top to bottom. Someone who can coolly analyse what he's seeing on the pitch and on the training field, and who knows the system well enough to make the required changes. Crucially, someone who, if they are standing quietly on the touchline, can't be doubted in his passion and commitment to the cause. That man is, of course, Garry Monk.
Obviously it's early days, but signs are good. Very good.