Swansea City’s caretaker boss Alan Curtis revealed that newly-appointed head coach Paul Clement had a hand in the Welsh side’s win over Crystal Palace.

Clement was only appointed in the afternoon, and by the same evening already had his first win in charge of the club.

Angel Rangel’s late winner secured the points, as Clement came down to the touchline for the majority of the second half.

What did Curtis say?

Curtis said: “Paul made a really positive contribution,” speaking after the game. “We met him this afternoon and he spoke in the dressing room before the game, came down and half-time and towards the end was involved in the substitutions.”

The Swansea legend also joked that he said to Clement that he wouldn’t have left Bayern Munich for Swansea.

“He took an active part, from the off, though to be fair it wasn’t the hardest team talk,” Curtis remarked. “But yes, he made a real contribution and obviously the result has given the dressing room a real lift.”

Angel Rangel celebrating scoring the winning goal. (Photo: Clive Rose/Getty)

Where does this leave Swansea?

With the win, Swansea move above manager-less Hull City into 19th, just one point behind Crystal Palace in 17th.

The Welsh side have a very difficult run of games coming up, and they can’t expect to be out of the relegation zone anytime soon even with this new found confidence.

They next play Arsenal, Liverpool, Southampton, Manchester City, Leicester City and then Chelsea in the Premier League. Considering the dominance of the bigger clubs this season, taking a few points from those fixtures would be a huge plus.

Adding a few players in the January transfer window will be vital too. Despite today’s positive performance, Swansea still need to recruit defensively.

However, with a better squad than they have now, March onwards could be promising. It’s important that the players’ heads don’t drop over this tough period, as long as they stay within touching distance of the likes of Palace, Sunderland and Middlesbrough then they can stay up.

Things are finally starting to look up for Swansea, and a FA Cup Third Round win over Hull on Saturday could add even more confidence to a side that seriously needs it.

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About the author
Jack Mceachen
Sports Journalist in Staffordshire University.