At the point in which Paul Clement was appointed as Swansea City manager, I thought the Swans were dead and buried, already bound for relegation.

I did think Clement would have a positive impact and that he’d give it a good go – but ultimately, relegation seemed a certainty.

However, fast forward a little over a month and Clement has completely transformed the Swans. The club have gone from rock bottom of the Premier League table and into 17th (joint with 15th placed Middlesbrough), with thanks to three wins in five games – the only league losses coming against Arsenal and Manchester City.

Swansea have seen a huge improvement on the field and off of it, with Clement largely responsible for the incredible impact since replacing Bob Bradley in early-January. Here, I’m going to delve into some key factors that have seen Swansea enjoy an upturn in form.

Defensive improvement

The main achilles heel for the Swans this season has definitely been in defence. The club shipped an horrendous 29 goals in Bob Bradley’s 11 games in charge, with the defence in an absolutely woeful state. None of the defenders had a clue. Federico Fernandez, Jordi Amat, Mike van der Hoorn and Alfie Mawson were all rotated whilst the American tried to suss out his best defensive unit. In the end it turned into a complete farce and none of the players had a clue what was happening as confidence completely diminished.

Although, since Clement has come in, he’s massively improved the defence. He’s settled on a primary back-four of Naughton, Mawson, Fernandez and Olsson. There’s clearly more of an understanding at the back now, there’s more communication and a tonne more organisation. The defence is far from perfect though, and perhaps in an ideal world the Swans could’ve brought in a quality centre-back, but maybe Clement has seen that his Swansea defenders were made to look a lot worse than they actually are under the guidance of Bradley (sorry, Bob!). The signing of left-back Martin Olsson has also done wonders. The Swede has slotted into the side extremely well and is a huge upgrade on Neil Taylor; a crucial signing.

Organisation

I touched on it just now, but organisation has been a huge factor. Whereas before, the team had no shape whatsoever… now there’s a clear structure and a clear plan amongst the players on the pitch. The players are working harder for each other, Clement has got the Swans grafting as a team, which is the key for any footballing success. I’ve seen it in recent games when a player has been forced out of position for whatever reason, his teammates are busting a gut to cover his position not to leave any gaps and keep a good shape. That also goes to down to improved communication as well. Under Clement, the Swans are a unit of 11 players trying to achieve the same cause. With Bradley, there were 11 individuals out there who didn’t even know what they were trying to achieve.

Getting best out of players

One of the most pleasing aspects of Clement’s tenure so far has been the players’ improvement. It’s fair to say a majority of the players have massively under-achieved this term and they’re better than what they showed in the first half of 2016/17. In the last month, players such as Fernandez, Cork and Fer have all been rejuvenated. That trio have in particular had disappointing seasons, comparing to the high standards that they’ve showcased in the past. Fernandez was dire before January, but is now returning to the Argentinian international defender who we signed in 2014. Cork is looking like his usual self and Fer has looked like a much better rounded player under the new boss.

There’s also been pleasing aspects from Gylfi Sigurdsson, who has actually been one of the only ones who’s impressed all season long. But now, even the Iceman is looking (even more) phenomenal and is turning into the catalyst for everything in attack. Fernando Llorente, too, has been decent beforehand, but now he’s looking like the World Cup winner he is. Llorente has now added many attributes to his game in his brilliant hold-up play and he’s winning every single ball that’s lobbed up to him, then bringing teammates into the game.

The Swansea Way returning

The Swansea Way is also seemingly on its way back to SA1. Under Clement, there’s been essences of the attractive football that has previously graced the Liberty Stadium pitch. In the 2-1 victory over Southampton recently, it was a breath of fresh air watching the midfield spread passes around, making the opponents do all the chasing.The Swans are opting to pass the ball out of danger first and foremost, but are versatile and open-minded enough to switch between styles of play too, like at the Etihad Stadium last Sunday.

Against Manchester City, it was nearly a perfectly executed game-plan. Sit back in the first-half, absorb pressure and keep the game within touching distance. But then play a higher line in the second period, add some pace to the game and create openings to exploit. That’s what happened and Swansea drew level, but were cruelly denied a share of the points from some ludicrous refereeing from Mike Dean and his assistant. It looks as if Clement has a couple of plans to work from for different opponents we come across. He’s making Swansea ten-times harder for teams to play against now.

Got fans on board

The Jack Army have been extremely pleased with Clement’s impact so far. We couldn’t really have asked for more. Fight, passion and willingness is what any club needs to survive in a relegation dog-fight. The Swans now have that in abundance and are giving the relegation scrap a good go. Fans were repeating when Clement came in: “as long as we go down fighting”.

Well, we’re fighting so much at the moment, that maybe we won’t actually be going down. Personally, if we continue in this fashion I’d say it would be hard to see how we’d drop down. However, I don’t want to get ahead of myself and hopefully Clement is keeping the squad grounded as well, but negativity has been brushed aside by positivity of late. Keep it up, Clement!