John Swift has addressed West Brom’s start to the new season candidly, asking his teammates to elevate their level while also expecting a lot more from himself. Swift is Albion’s leading scorer so far this season, with four goals, more than half of his total from last season, but he feels there is much more to come and improvements to be made.
Albion head to Preston North End on Saturday (3pm kick-off), where they’ll face the only side in the Championship who are yet to be beaten and who have a 100% record on their home patch. What a timely opportunity, then, to post your first away win of the season. Certainly in Swift’s mind, it’s the next chance for him to turn in an improved performance after admitting he’s been left pretty dissatisfied by his own contribution up to now – despite the goals flowing.
Albion are, inevitably, in much better shape than they were 12 months ago when they headed to Deepdale; Steve Bruce was about to get the boot and the Baggies were entrenched in the bottom three, but they are winless in four and Swift is eager for himself and his teammates to get themselves on a bit of a run.
“It doesn’t really matter if the wins aren’t coming with goals and assists. The performances – in general, my in-game performances haven’t been where I’d like them to be, despite getting on the end of a cross or two. I’ve started well in terms of goals, which I hope to continue, but I just want to improve my whole performance throughout the season.”
Despite missing out on the play-offs last season and the Championship appearing to strengthen in the summer with promoted League One clubs and those relegated from the Premier League, Swift’s goal remains the same: to restore Albion’s Premier League status, which they have been without for a third season.
“We can only get better from here,” he added. “Our performances haven’t been great, but we’re not losing.” That’s a good thing to remember. The only goal is promotion; we’re not striving for anything else, such as sneaking into the play-offs at the end of the season. Everyone’s performances must improve, and we must aim for the top six, as that is the only goal we have.”
Swift wants Albion to remain true to their ideals as well, admitting that they are prone to deviating from Carlos Corberan’s preferred method in the midst of games, and he pushes players to be aggressive and support themselves in possession.
“Sometimes we go away from some of the stuff that we would normally have had a plan for in the game, we can go long quite a lot where we have players who can play out and we need to be more confident against teams, especially those who drop off,” he stated. “Ultimately it’s about us being competitive and doing everything right on a Saturday.”
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