Even in defeat, Luke Williams reckons Swansea City showed enough against the new Championship leaders to suggest they should be in the top half of the table too.
Sunday’s 4-3 loss to Leeds United was a belting contest, with both sides trying to play eye-catching, attacking football.
As a result, two defences who have spent most of this season on top were opened up on numerous occasions.
The fact that Leeds took all the points courtesy of a stoppage-time Wilfried Gnonto goal was a little cruel on Swansea, particularly after they had conjured an equaliser only seconds earlier.
Having said that, Williams acknowledged that the Yorkshire side’s greater quality ultimately proved decisive.
Swansea, who are now 14th in the table, have proved in the early stages of this season that can compete with teams like Leeds, having been blown away all too often by the Championship’s heavyweight clubs in the last campaign.
Remember, for instance, the 4-0 home defeat to Leeds in February, or the 5-0 mauling at Southampton over Christmas 2023?
Swansea’s success or otherwise in 2024-25 is not going to rest on whether they can beat the likes of Leeds, Sheffield United, Sunderland or Burnley, even if Williams will hope to pick up a result or two along the way against this season’s Premier League contenders.
What the Swansea head coach really wants is for his team to deliver results against all those second-tier clubs outside the top bracket.
Already this season, Williams’ side have come away from games against Cardiff City, Bristol City, Stoke City, Blackburn Rovers, Sheffield Wednesday and Millwall feeling they could – maybe should – have taken more points than they did.
That is the area where Swansea will look for significant improvement as the campaign goes on.
And there are opportunities to improve their points return ahead, with Derby County, Portsmouth (twice), Luton Town (twice), Plymouth Argyle, Hull City and Queens Park Rangers to come in their next nine games.
