Monk keeps his feet on the ground

Swansea boss Garry Monk insists he is not getting carried away with the club's 100 per cent start to the Barclays Premier League season.

Monk's men followed up their shock opening-day win at Manchester United by beating battling Burnley at the Liberty Stadium, Swansea withstanding pressure for most of the second half after Nathan Dyer had given them a 23rd-minute lead.

But Monk is fully aware of the pitfalls of management, even though he has only been in the Swansea hot-seat for eight months.

"It's a fantastic start and great to have six points, I'm not going to lie about that," Monk said after the game.

"The way I am, the players know we have a (Capital One Cup) game on Tuesday and that is what we focus on.

"It's the best start we could have had, but we know we are only two games from being on your back and getting dragged down.

"We have to build on what we've done and improve on mistakes."

Monk was delighted with how Swansea withstood Burnley's second-half assault, with goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski only really stretched once when David Jones burst onto Danny Ings' pass and forced a fine save from the Polish international.

"It was very hard

The first half we controlled the game and if we could have got a second that would have made it easier," Monk said.

"We spoke at half-time that they would throw everything at us and we weren't at our fluent best, but we dug in and defended well.

"Burnley were in a no-lose situation but we limited them to one shot on target and defended very well the whole game.

"We know we have to show the other side of the game and there are times when you have to dig in.

"The boys were magnificent in that respect and that comes from the work we have done in pre-season.

"We would have liked it to be more comfortable but six points in two games is all you can ask for."

Burnley boss Sean Dyche admits his newly-promoted Clarets are on a fast learning curve after losing their opening two games to Chelsea and Swansea, but he remains positive with what he sees as signs of progress.

"We showed them too much respect in the first half and that can happen for a team that's just been promoted," said Dyche.

"The early part of the season it's about believing that they belong and the first half we didn't do that and they were the better side.

"The second half we played with that freedom and I thought we were terrific - the quality and energy of play and the framework of the team to make sure we didn't give chances away.

"I'm not naive enough to think the growth period doesn't have to be quick because it does.

"But there were good signs against Chelsea because they're a different animal at the moment.

"Swansea are not Chelsea yet and, though they've done fantastic and they're a very good side, this was probably a more realistic challenge which we applied ourselves to."

And Dyche insists that Burnley will be able to compete in the Premier League as the season unfolds.

"I want them to play with freedom, quality and energy and I thought we did that in the second half," he added.

"That's the challenge you've got and there's times you'll take an ugly 1-0 as any manager would, but the belief is there that we can compete at this level.

"I want us to be brave, but not in a naive way, We want to play on the front foot, create chances and win games.

"There were times when we might have to change slightly but I didn't feel that was necessary today, even against a very good team like Swansea."

Source : PA

Source: PA