Luke Williams | We need to show the mentality to raise our levels

Luke Williams has challenged his Swansea City squad to show the mentality to push their performances to a different level.

The Swans travel to play-off chasing Middlesbrough on Saturday following defeat to Queens Park Rangers and a draw at Sheffield Wednesday over the Easter weekend.

Those results had been preceded by an excellent showing in the 2-0 south Wales derby victory over Cardiff City, a performance head coach Williams acknowledged at the time as being the best of his tenure to date.

But the Swans boss is disappointed they have not kicked on from that high, and insists he, his staff and players simply have to strive for better if they want to move forward and bring success to the club.

“This is the one we are really suffering with. For the people who are critical saying we have not seen what we saw against Cardiff (over the last two games), I want them to know I agree with them,” he said.

“They are correct, this is the problem when you raise the bar up as a group of players, and we deserved to win that game in the manner we did, and that performance as not an outlier. 

“That is a performance that had been brewing through a lot of games, like against Sunderland, Blackburn and Watford. 

“The performance was coming and then we raised it a bit more. But, unfortunately, when you raise that level a little bit more, you have to stay at that level; me and the players.

“So, when people say they have not seen the same levels against Sheffield Wednesday and QPR, they are right and that’s what we need to address.

“The Cardiff game is a big game, and it can be a good reason to get to that level of performance, as the culmination of good performances where we had played on the front foot and increased the way we pressed the opposition and the way we could play forward.

“But you cannot then dip down. We need that every week, we need to aim to get to a new level to because otherwise you cannot perform. 

“I am not saying we did not play at all well against Sheffield Wednesday, or that we did not play at well against QPR, that would not be fair on the players. 

“Much of it is good, but there is an element missing, the seasoning is missing, and the fans can taste that difference. 

“They know the difference between when it’s the real deal and when it’s not. We have to talk about that, me and the players, and address it.”