After finishing second in the Adran Premier for two seasons in a row, Swansea City are ready to make teams fear them once again.
Last time out, the Swans battled until the final few games of the season alongside Cardiff City for the title, only for the Bluebirds to pip them to the post for the second consecutive campaign.
For Monet Legall, whilst being proud of what her side achieved with the noise surrounding them, they know that they can be a lot better.
“It was good in the sense that we got to two semi-finals, and we finished second in the league, but we also knew we could do better.
“There was a lot to take from last season, both personally and as a team, but it was definitely a campaign of highs and lows.
“We learned how to push ourselves as a team, and also be resilient with everything that was going on in the background, but we know we can do better.”
Swansea City’s new manager
Yet again, Swansea will start this season with a new face in the dugout, as Jamie Sherwood was named as manager over the summer.
Sherwood had previously guided Yeovil Town to the WSL, and boasts an impressive CV. Although having never met Sherwood before he joined the club, Legall is incredibly happy to have the Englishman on board.
“Jamie has been amazing from the get-go. I hadn’t crossed paths with Jamie before, but I had always known who he was and how good a coach he was, so we’re blessed that we have him in with his ideas and his strong mindedness.
“The way he wants to play football suits us perfectly, and the team are building nicely off the back of that.”
After being appointed, Sherwood has brought in a raft of new signings, including former Barry Town winger Aimee Deacon, and former Wales international Nia Jones.
A lot of armchair pundits have placed the transfer window crown on the head of the Swans, and Legall says the new signings are settling into their new surroundings well.
“All the new players have settled in amazingly well. It feels like they’ve been a part of this team forever.
“Some people come into new teams, and it can feel daunting, but the new girls have gelled so nicely, and we do feel like a team who’s been together for a while.
“The atmosphere around the whole club has been fantastic during this preseason.”
From the outside looking in, all the pieces are in place for Swansea to have a successful season, and a potentially trophy-winning one.
The Swans have been serial winners in the past but have gone without a trophy for the past two seasons.
While the team do want to win trophies, Legall believes these past two seasons have helped the team a lot.
“It’s all good and well that we’ve won trophies, but in order to develop as a team, you need to have a season or two where you are off, otherwise things become boring.
“Even though we’ve come second twice, for us it’s been a learning curve, because we know now what we want after having a few bad seasons.
“The managerial changes haven’t helped us either, but how we’ve managed to work around that as a team has been amazing.”
Now the team are determined to put what they’ve learned into practice, as they try to capture the title they last won in 2022.
“Our expectations have gotten higher and higher, because we know what we as a group are capable of. Coming second the last two years, we don’t want to do that again. We want to be how we used to be.
“We want people to be afraid of us and fear playing us on a weekly basis. We know what we’ve achieved in the past, and we want to do it again and again.”
The first stop on their journey is at Cyncoed, as the Swans take on Cardiff Met.
Historically, these two have always been the pace setters, with the championship often bouncing between them. Yet, Met had a peculiar down season last time out, finishing in sixth.
Legall isn’t too sure what kind of challenge to expect from the Archers but says the team will concentrate on their own game.
“It’s hard to say what we expect from them. We always focus on ourselves first and foremost, but it will be interesting to see how they setup for that first game.
“Met didn’t do as well as they have done last season, so it’ll be interesting to see if they’ve developed their game and style off the back of that.”
There is a sense that is the season where all the pieces have come together at the right time for Swansea City, and they could be ready to end their mini trophy drought.
For Legall, she and her team are desperate to show that the Swansea of old are back and are ready to strike fear into their opponents.
“As a team, we want to show what we’re capable of. Even though we’ve had a few ups and downs over the last two seasons, we want to get back to our winning ways and show what Swansea City is all about.”
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