Can Swansea recover their form this season?

Swansea boss Garry Monk will be hoping his team can regain the form of earlier this season

The Premier League’s first ever Welsh representative Swansea City are going through something of a poor run at the moment.

The Swans suffered a 5-0 defeat at home to league leaders Chelsea yesterday. In truth though, the Blues were magnificent.

The Swans have now gone four Premier League games without a win. Garry Monk’s side last claimed a victory on Boxing Day against Aston Villa.

Some may say that is not the longest winless run, but the Swans will not want that run to continue much longer.

Loss

Ivory Coast striker Wilfried Bony will be a major loss for the Swans. He recently completed a move to Manchester City worth a reported £28million. The striker is the top Premier League scorer of 2014 and was the main focal point of their attack.

Bony link-up play with attacking midfielder Gylfi Sigurdsson was a key to Swansea’s good start to their Premier League campaign.

Alternatives

They may now have a large sum of money in the bank, but it will be impossible to replace his goals. The current striking options for the Swans are France international Bafetimbi Gomis and January signing Nelson Oliveira.

Gomis had been relatively prolific in his homeland in Ligue One. Since his arrival in Wales he has struggled for starts and goals, as Bony was undisputable first choice striker. Gomis has scored just one Premier League goal since his summer arrival.

Hopefully for the Swans Gomis can rediscover his goalscoring form in the near future as he becomes more accustomed to life in the English top-flight.

Nelson Oliveira made his first start for the Swans against Chelsea. When the 23-year-old first arrived on the football scene in Portugal he was regarded as a promising young striker. However, his career thus far has been a story of failed loan spells.

He spent last season on-loan in Ligue One at Rennes and found the net eight times in 34 appearances, which is not the greatest of records. Maybe his loan spell in Wales can kick-start his career.

Not to be harsh on either of the strikers, but neither will be able to replace Wilfried Bony’s goals. Whether Garry Monk will sign another striker in the January transfer window remains to be seen, but the Swans definitely need more attacking options.

Well-placed

The Swans currently sit ninth in the Premier League table after a good start to the campaign had the natives believing that Swansea could threaten the top six or even the top four. The recent loss of form has led to the Welsh side to fall off the pace for the Champions League spots.

They are now ten points behind fourth-place Manchester United in the Premier League table and seven points behind fifth-place Spurs.

Boss

Swansea struggled last season and only escaped the relegation dogfight relatively late-on in the campaign. Garry Monk took over from Danish legend Michael Laudrup mid-season and the young boss has done a solid job.

The former-Swans captain is the youngest Premier League boss at the age of just 35 years old. The Swans squad was reportedly fractured last season, with major divides between the Spanish and English contingents.

Monk set about changing that by selling a number of those Spanish players in the summer and in turn bringing in the likes of Lukasz Fabianski and Gylfi Sigurdsson who have had a big effect on the team this season.

His decision to part with the likes of Chico Flores and Michu was a gamble, especially Michu who had scored 20 goals in his debut season for the Swans. However, the Swansea team looks like a more settled unit for those summer exits.

The Swansea job was always going to be a difficult one. Swansea is a well-run club, who are never likely to spend big. That means whoever is in charge needs to be able to balance the books and look for bargain buys.

Monk is unlikely to be able to spend much of the reported £28million fee received for Bony. If he does then he is unlikely to bring in many players. The rookie boss knows the club well, so he knows the score at the Welsh club.

Expectations

I am not sure what the expectations were at Swansea prior to the season starting, but surely a top six finish in the Premier League would be an achievement. The fact that Swansea have established themselves as a good solid top-flight club is an achievement in itself.

The Swansea hierarchy have done a good job maintaining the clubs financial stability in tough times and even a top ten finish in the Premier League would be a decent finish for the Swans. However, if they are to achieve anything more, then the players will have to start producing better form and quickly.

Can Swansea recover their form this season?