Your latest Swansea City headlines for Friday, August 19.
Enquiries continue over potential exits
Swansea could yet trim their squad further before transfer deadline day amid interest in some of their fringe players.
Jordon Garrick, Morgan Whittaker, Lewis Webb and Kyle Joseph are among those to depart on loan of late, although Swansea haven't added to their squad since re-signing Joe Allen a day after selling Flynn Downes to West Ham United in early July.
Nathanael Ogbeta, Brandon Cooper and Dan Williams are among those who could leave on loan - although the former could potentially exit permanently. Swansea remain determined to find a new club for defender Ryan Bennett who has been frozen out since the latter stages of the 2021/22 season. Bennett still has one year left to run on his Swans contract.
Ogbeta continues to attract interest from League One clubs, as does Cooper, while Williams has received an enquiry from domestic level in Wales - although no moves are thought to be imminent.
Given the uncertainty over further incomings this month, the Swans could yet be required to sell a key asset if they are to strengthen ahead of the 11pm deadline on September 1.
Martin eyes improvement on game management
Russell Martin has urged his Swansea players to continue to trust in his methods for the duration of a match following the midweek capitulation against Millwall.
The Swans looked on course for victory against the Lions thanks to early goals from Ryan Manning and Michael Obafemi but dropped two points as Harry Darling and Nathan Wood both scored own goals in second-half injury-time.
It was the second time in three matches that Swansea had surrendered a two-goal lead following their Carabao Cup exit at the hands of Oxford United. And Martin has revealed the coaching staff held lengthy talks with the playing squad about game management after the Millwall draw.
"Game management can mean so many things," explained the head coach. "For a lot of people it means going down, time wasting, taking your time - you can incorporate all of that into whatever you want.
"For us after conceding the first goal, game management should be us keeping the ball, but we kick it straight back to them. There were just so many things that were caused by anxiety when we conceded the first one.
"We have to find a way to avoid that. We spoke about the game management and doing it in a way that feels right to the boys on the pitch. I’d rather it happen now than further down the line."
Swans better off after 21/22 'chaos'
Ryan Manning admits Swansea are in a far better position at present than they were during the "chaos" of last season's start.
The Swans underwent a major transitional period following the departure of Steve Cooper and endured mixed results amid a drastic change of playing style.
They also benefitted from a full pre-season this summer for the first time under the current coaching staff, and Manning is confident that Swansea will benefit from their efforts prior to the 2022/23 campaign when the games continue to come thick and fast later in the season.
"The beginning of last season was chaos with Covid and the changes happening at the club," he said. "Everyone was kind of learning on the job.
"We have a very tough pre-season behind us which should stand us in good stead as the season goes on. The first five games, we've shown so many positive things to take from the games, although some of the results aren't what we wanted. If you compare it to this time last year, we're in a much better position.
"I think there's still a lot we can work on so it's exciting to see where we can go as a group."
READ MORE: West Ham star Flynn Downes heard Swansea was awful but reveals he wanted to stay
Prutton's confident of Swans success
David Prutton believes Swansea will get up and running on home soil this weekend by beating Luton Town.
The Hatters are yet to win this season while the Swans' performances have improved since being beaten 3-0 by Blackburn Rovers earlier this month.
"Swansea will need to shake the way they threw away that lead against Millwall from their minds and focus on this one, because it’s a great chance for their first home win of the season," he wrote on Sky Sports.
"Luton have not started the campaign well. It could be a bit of a play-off hangover, because they poured everything into an unbelievable season and it would have taken a bit out of them. It could be another fruitless afternoon for them in South Wales."
David Prutton's prediction: Swansea City 1-0 Luton Town
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