Joe Allen | We have to keep bringing that aggression and intensity

Joe Allen says Swansea City have to make sure they keep bringing out all the hard work on the training pitch in with the aggression and intensity of their performances following victory at Sunderland.

The Swans produced a fine all-round team performance in the 2-1 win on Wearside, with a completely dominant first-half showing yielding two goals from Ronald, before showing the character and resilience to see the game out in the second half.

Experienced midfielder Allen – who set up the second goal by winning possession and quickly picking out the Brazilian winger - felt the showing at the Stadium of Light underlined the strides the Swans are making under Luke Williams, and feels it’s down to the players to deliver on them.

“The gaffer has been brilliant since he came in,” said Allen.

“The lads who had worked with him before were very excited when he got the job, and we have made big strides.

“Since he has come in results have been tough, and we don’t need to harp on about how difficult the run of fixtures has been, but we are making vast improvements, you can see it on the training pitch every day.

“Now it’s about us as players putting that out there on a matchday and turning that hard work into performances.

“Everything we work on is to be effective in games, and hopefully people can see a good idea of why we do that, why we need to be aggressive, why we need to play with intensity and push each other hard to maintain it.

“That’s the benefit of doing it and doing it well, and for large parts of this game we did it really well.

“It was a really good all-round away performance. We had a great performance at Hull and we wanted that to be the foundation for this game, and I thought we were outstanding in that first half where we showed a different side when we had to in the second half.”

Allen also praised the attitude shown by Ronald since his arrival in south Wales, particularly the work he puts in for the team.

“He has been a pleasure to have here. He has come in, he is learning the language, but he has got stuck in straight away,” said the former Wales international.

“He has made an impact and we enjoy working with him. What a signing he has been, we look to have really found one there, almost out of nowhere.

“It’s been great to play with him, he caused them problems all game, but he also put a massive shift in for the team on the other side of the ball, as well.”