1) Confound the doubters – at home and further afield



Bob Bradley was honest enough to admit “there will be sceptics” among the Swansea fanbase and beyond. He is the first American to manage in the Premier League and at a time when relations are strained between the Swansea fans and the board, partly because of the way Francesco Guidolin’s sacking was handled but also because of a feeling the supporters’ trust has been marginalised, it was inevitable there would be some backlash to his appointment. Yet it says much for the way Bradley has come across since taking the job – the 58-year-old had clearly done his homework prior to before his unveiling and talked with great determination about his desire to succeed during a two-hour press conference – that the mood has already shifted. Now Bradley has to back up those passionate words with results in what is a tricky start, with four of his first seven games against teams in the top six, starting with a trip to Arsenal on Saturday. In that context the home game against Watford on Saturday week already seems significant. He needs some early momentum.

2) Find their much-needed and long-lost firepower



Swansea have scored only six times in seven Premier League matches. This continues the club’s worrying pattern from last season, when they were toothless up front and heavily dependent on André Ayew and Gylfi Sigurdsson, who contributed more than half of their 42 goals between them. Although it has been a welcome surprise for Swansea to see Leroy Fer sitting joint-third on the Premier League’s list of leading scorers with four goals, there are concerns about the lack of firepower further forward. At the moment Swansea have the second-lowest goals-to-shots ratio in the division. Borja Bastón, the £15.5m record signing, needs to put a miserable full league debut against Liverpool behind him. Fernando Llorente, Swansea’s other out-and-out No9, has shown some flashes of class, notably the exquisite goal he scored against Manchester City, but Swansea need a regular return from their centre-forwards – something they have not had since Wilfried Bony departed.

3) Get back to putting square pegs in square holes



By the end of Guidolin’s reign, Sigurdsson was playing wide – a position that restricts the influence Swansea’s best player can have on the game – and Kyle Naughton, a right-back, was deployed on the left. Against Chelsea, Guidolin started with three full-backs and it was no surprise when one of them (Neil Taylor) was withdrawn before half-time. In short it feels like time to go back to putting square pegs in square holes. A few players in the squad, including Taylor, will welcome the fresh start Bradley has promised, yet they also need to help themselves. Jefferson Montero started last season like a house on fire, fizzled out and has not set up a goal for 12 months. Ki Sung-yueng was outstanding the season before last, when Swansea finished eighth and he weighed in with eight league goals, but the midfielder has scored only twice since and has not looked the same player. If Bradley can get Taylor, Montero and Ki performing somewhere close to their best, and put players in the position where they are most comfortable, Swansea should be in much better shape.

4) Improve the fitness levels that have ‘gone away’



Swansea went toe-to-toe with Manchester City for an hour last month and then ran out of juice. Against Liverpool, in Guidolin’s last game in charge at the Welsh club, Swansea were the better team for 45 minutes and then the same thing happened. It was more than just a coincidence and hinted at the lack of sharpness and intensity on the training ground under the Italian – something that has already come through in Bradley’s conversations with the players. The solution is obvious and Bradley is setting the tone with his approach, by being one of the first in each day and the last to leave. “Getting fitness levels back up is 100% a target,” he said. “There are different styles of managers, everybody finds a way that works for them, but I still believe football fitness and sharpness comes largely from training. The players have been incredibly respectful towards Francesco, but I think you would also find they felt that training had gone away a little bit.”

5) Rediscover identity and a distinct playing style



There is a board at the top of the stairs at the training ground that defines “The Swansea Way”, outlining the principles behind the philosophy that helped to carry the club through the leagues. Yet in recent times Swansea have looked like a team without an identity, often trying to grind out victories without any distinct playing style. They thrived in the past by being different and having an edge to their game, whether that was through the combination of fluid movement and slick passing or pressing aggressively. Bradley has talked about passing rather than possession, with an emphasis on “playing through the lines”, and he places great value on how his team react when they lose the ball. In the past Bradley has shown players clips of Lionel Messi and Neymar hunting down defenders, to highlight no one is exempt from that side of the game. Either way, Swansea need to aspire to being more than just another run-of-the-mill Premier League club with the way they play.