'We are building a team'
Carlos Carvalhal reckons his Swansea City side are on the up after they saw off Wolves in an Emirates FA Cup third-round replay at the Liberty Stadium.
The Swans face a trip to League Two side Notts County in round four after bringing an end to Wolves’ 14-match unbeaten run.
In-form forward Jordan Ayew gave the Swans an 11th-minute lead thanks to a superb individual goal.
The hosts dominated the first period, but Wolves came back into the contest after the break and levelled on 66 minutes through sub Diogo Jota.
Yet the Swans won it just three minutes later when Wilfried Bony stabbed home his third goal of the season.
And a delighted Carvalhal believes the team he took charge of just three weeks ago are showing definite signs of progress.
“We have now played five games and had two wins, two draws and one defeat against Tottenham, when we could have achieved something completely different,” said the Swans manager.
“We were not happy about what happened in the one game that we lost because their first goal was offside. The game could have had a different story.
“I am not completely happy, but I am happy with my players. My team are reacting to what we are doing and we have had a good series of five games.
“But more than results is the fact that the team are progressing.
“We have made mistakes in games but we are correcting those mistakes and not making them again.
“We are building something. We are building momentum and we are building confidence. We are building a team.
“You saw that in the last 10 minutes tonight, when everybody came back and helped to make sure we got the win. This is the team spirit I want.”
The Swans are next in action when they host Liverpool in the Premier League on Monday night.
And they will go into that game with added belief having chalked up the first home win of Carvalhal’s reign.
“I am more happy because tonight was the best game we have played, especially in the first half,” Carvalhal added.
“We corrected the mistakes we made against Newcastle and the dynamic was better.
“We prepared well, we pressed Wolves and we gave them lots of problems.
“When they won the ball and tried to counter-attack, we blocked them.
“We controlled the first 45 minutes, then in the first 10 minutes of the second half we did well. But our tempo started to decrease a little because we had some players who have not played a lot.
“We didn’t press as we had in the first half. They refreshed their team and caused problems and they scored their goal, but we reacted and scored our second.
“Then it was time to close the doors, close the windows and turn out the lights to make it difficult for them, and we did that.”
