Swansea boss Vitor Matos eyes new signings after frustrating draw

Swansea, experienced a frustrating afternoon in their 0-0 stalemate at home to Sheffield United, following last weekend’s opening-day victory at Stoke.

Head coach Vitor Matos made changes to his attacking options as he searched for a breakthrough, starting with Adam Idah before introducing last season’s leading scorer Zan Vipotnik and then bringing on new signing Ross Stewart.

Vipotnik – valued by his club at around the £20million mark – is still the subject of transfer speculation that seems likely to continue until the close of the window, but he did little to enhance that value in his half hour on the field.

But even before then Swansea struggled to create clear opportunities and were unable to produce the attacking fluency that had been evident in their opening victory.

Matos accepted that his side had found a different type of challenge from the one they faced last weekend.

“I think last week we played better football, but each game has different kinds of problems,” he said.

“We knew this one would be much more in terms of duels, in terms of man-marking, so you need to have different tools for these kinds of games.”

The Swansea head coach remains keen to strengthen his midfield and defensive options before the transfer window closes, with additional creativity high on his list of priorities.

However, Matos acknowledged that completing the right deals in the closing stages of the window is proving difficult.

He added: “It’s like a game of chess, but playing chess in a storm. So, we will see how it goes.”

Chris Wilder believes the resilience shown by his Sheffield United players in their stalemate at Swansea can provide an important platform for the season ahead.

The Blades were still coming to terms with the prospect of a 12-point deduction over unpaid debts by the current owners to the previous regime when they travelled to south Wales, but produced another disciplined display to secure a second successive goalless draw.

Two points from their opening two games may not appear an impressive return, but Wilder believes the circumstances – which involve a midweek High Court liquidation of the company used to purchase the club – have made the performances particularly significant.

The manager admitted uncertainty has continued to affect players and staff.

“I said to the players there would be a lot of eyes on us today to see how we react to what’s happened in the week,” said Wilder.

“Their job is to be professional footballers, get on with the job, and they’ve done that to great effect, in my opinion.

“It goes without saying how proud I am of my football club, the supporters and the team. There’s a genuine connection there.”

Wilder hopes the immediate uncertainty can now begin to ease as the club works to resolve its financial problems.

“Hopefully, we will have a period of calm now and everything will get sorted out as it needs to be.

“That’s something I can’t control, but what we can control is their attitude and their togetherness, which you can see is there. They’re fighting for each other.”

The Sheffield United manager had altered his formation specifically to counter Swansea’s possession-based approach and was satisfied with the way his players adapted.

The visitors restricted Swansea to just one shot on target and created the better opportunities, with Callum O’Hare striking the underside of the crossbar shortly before half-time.

Wilder added: “We broke the game up pretty well, hit the bar and had some top chances from set-plays.

“We got into those situations and were a little bit disappointed not to take them.”

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