Russell Martin believes there is no added pressure on Swansea City's clash with Blackpool following his side's Carabao Cup defeat to Oxford United.
The Swans are winless in their opening three games of the campaign as a result of their penalty shootout defeat to The U's on Tuesday night and head to Bloomfield Road on Saturday with just one point from a possible six to their name in the Championship.
But Martin says his players should believe that the tide will turn given elements of their displays against Rotherham United, Blackburn Rovers and Oxford.
"We're three games in. Not really. Maybe from outside, but not us," he said when asked if there is more pressure on the Blackpool contest. "The most important game this week was tonight. People will say you contradicted that by the people you left at home, but we have to have the bigger picture in sight, there's a game on Saturday. Grimesy [Matt Grimes] has been relentless, Naughts [Kyle Naughton] is 33, a six-hour bus journey, would he have benefitted from playing tonight? We would have benefitted from having him on the pitch.
"Michael [Obafemi] and Joel [Piroe] play in positions where a lot of high intensity and a lot of sprint distance is required, so we're trying to keep a few players fresh and ready for the weekend.
"It's been a frustrating start, but there's been loads of positive signs. We created more than Rotherham, we created more than Blackburn and we created much more than Oxford tonight, and we don't win any of them. We have to believe that will turn if we keep doing the right things. So there's no pressure in terms of that, I just want to win a game of football."
Swansea are set to welcome back a number of key players - including Matt Grimes, Joel Piroe, Jamie Paterson, Michael Obafemi and Kyle Naughton - to their squad when they take on the Tangerines this weekend.
But they will once again be without Kyle Joseph and Jordon Garrick who are close to sealing loan exits from Swansea. Joseph is due to join Oxford while Garrick is heading to Lincoln City.
And the Swansea head coach admits he is unaware what further transfer business the club will be able to do between now and the 11pm deadline on September 1.
"Kyle Joseph and Jordon Garrick are going on loan," he said. "I don't know what we'll be able to do after that, so we'll have to wait and see. We left a few key players out tonight [at Oxford], the bench is littered with young lads which is great for them.
"Part of our role is to accelerate their development and try to get guys into the first team as quickly as possible from the academy.
"But it's a big problem, the performance when we made that many changes. It does highlight that if we end up with a few injuries, it does leave us a little bit short.
"People will say 'why are you letting Kyle and Jordon out?', because I think Cameron Congreve can help us more, I think Liam Cullen can help us more. That's a decision we have to make as a group of staff. I don't want to keep players, especially who are in their early 20s who should be playing football.
"Kyle came back from Cheltenham last year of his own accord, he wanted to come back. He wasn't enjoying his loan spell a huge amount. He wanted to come back to try and fight and now he's desperate to go and play again."
Kick-off against Blackpool is at 3pm on Saturday.
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