Paulo Sousa is clearly a man enjoying silencing his doubters as the Swans move steadily up the Championship table

The Swansea City manager saw his team rise up to 11th place on Tuesday night with a victory at West Brom and could see that position rise further if they can edge out Blackpool at the Liberty on Saturday.

And that would be even more satisfying for the manager who was criticised early on in the season despite taking over at a club in turmoil and hit with one of the worst injury lists possible for a new manager.

Speaking to the Western Mail though, Sousa could not hide his delight at finally proving people wrong “The fans have been patient – but some people haven’t been,” he said

“They are now changing what they are saying, I have not.

“All the time I have said that sometimes it takes longer to build than others.

“You don’t have to be some sort of god to know that when you win you will receive good words, when you don’t it doesn’t happen.

“I wasn’t happy because, in my opinion, it was too early to make judgements. Sometimes people don’t recognise the difficulties we have had.

“But it is not about proving people wrong. I am not a person like that. I am a person who keeps believing in myself and my ideas.

“I believed in the players, I believed we would improve and I believe we will still improve.

“These players will get better and better, and that, with winning games, will make everyone happy.

“Tuesday doesn’t prove we can beat anyone, it proves we are in a good way,” said Sousa.

“But this is not a surprise for me because from the beginning I have believed and I have kept believing in my players, in my club.

“We still need more time to understand my philosophy, but we are getting there and they understand a little more all the time.

“We have played well. We have not lost for the last seven games. We have won a very important last game. But it is not enough for us. We have a long way to improve ourselves.

“What I expect from my players is to be ready to improve every day.

“And my pride is to keep improving ourselves. I think we can see we are better organised, we are better as a team, but we still want more, we want to be more mature as a team and win games when the opportunities come.

“We know it can take a long time to get to the results you want,” he said.

“And even then sometimes you make a step backwards before taking more steps in front of you.

“We don’t want that, I want to win every game and I want that mentality in my players. And I can see it, in the small details, in training sessions, even at lunch, I can see if they want it or not, if they want to meet these important targets.

“That’s important because if they achieve, I achieve, the club achieves, we all achieve.

“But we know there is always danger when you are not focussed in your job.

“Especially in this Championship where the league table shows you everyone can beat everyone and you have to be at your best.

“But I know, if we are at our best it’s difficult to beat us. I don’t have any doubts of this.

“This is what we are working towards.

“ Blackpool deserve to be where they are, they have played some fantastic football and they put a lot of effort on the pitch.

“But the minimum for us is to have the same spirit and attitude, but also to have more heart because our talent can make the difference.”

SOURCE: http://www.walesonline.co.uk/footballnation/swansea-city-fc/2009/10/23/paulo-sousa-happy-to-silence-the-doubters-91466-24996285/

Photo: Action Images

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