Bob Bradley: 'It's a huge job, I knew from the start'

• by Paul Kennedy  @pkedit, Nov 1, 2016

Swansea City's  3-1 loss at Stoke City in Bob Bradley's third game as the Swans' manager could have been worse -- Stoke hit the post three times in the first half -- but the result left it 19th place, ahead of only hapless Sunderland, after 10 games in the English Premier League season. With his team already five points into the relegation zone, Bradley acknowledged the magnitude of the task at hand.

Former Swansea City striker Wilfried Bony scored his first goal for Stoke after four minutes -- a "terrible start" for the Swans, said Bradley -- and later added a second goal, while another former Swansea player, Joe Allen, had two assists.

"You win games with some combination of your football and your mentality," Bradley said. "Tonight, I don't think we were good enough in either category so we didn't take any points."

Swansea has not won an EPL game since a 2-0 win on opening day at Hull City, a span of nine games (seven losses and two ties). Since Bradley replaced Francesco Guidolin, the Swans lost at Arsenal, 3-2, and tied Watford, 0-0. He said there would be nothing easy about turning around the season.

"For any team, no matter where you coach," he said, "if a team's gone through a bad stretch, it's about challenging players the right way so you can get some results and get some confidence. There's no magic for that. It's a test of everybody's determination and character every day and, let's face it, that's where we are. We don't hide from that."

Bradley, who arrived from French club Le Havre, said he knew what he was getting himself into.

"It's a huge job, I knew from the start," he said. "Let's be honest, when there's a managerial change it's because things haven't gone well. When you come in and you look at fixtures lying ahead. It's not like you do it with the guarantee of points. In the Premier League, there are no free points."

Next up: Manchester United at Liberty Stadium on Sunday.