S
SEARCH
M
SW
Thursday, May 20
Collect News Data

Steve Cooper hopes playoff experience helps Swansea against Barnsley

:Headline: Steve Cooper hopes playoff experience helps Swansea against Barnsley:
The Swans lost out to Brentford in the semi-finals last term.
Sports Mole

Steve Cooper is counting on Swansea making their Sky Bet Championship play-off experience tell against semi-final opponents Barnsley.

Swansea have reached the play-offs for the second successive season under Cooper, accumulating an extra 10 points this term to finish two places higher in fourth.

Barnsley finished 21st last season, avoiding relegation by a single point, but the appointment of Valerien Ismael last October transformed their fortunes as the Tykes ended the campaign two points adrift of Swansea in fifth.

"We hope that will help us, but it's not just last season," said head coach Cooper, reflecting on their play-off semi-final defeat last term ahead of Monday's first leg at Barnsley.

"Conor Hourihane, for example, has had a lot of play-off experience, some of it at Barnsley.

"Hopefully the players use that experience wisely.

"But it's not just the play-offs. It's the bigger games in general, that's what experience is."

Swansea squeezed into the play-offs on the final day of last season, edging out Nottingham Forest on goal difference.

Cooper's side then suffered a 3-2 semi-final aggregate defeat to Brentford after winning the first leg at the Liberty Stadium 1-0.

"They are obviously bigger games on a bigger stage than normal," Cooper said.

"It's about focusing on the performance and not letting the scrutiny on the games seep in.

"It's important how you manage the first and the second legs and the differences they can give you.

"Notoriously play-off games are frantic at times, and it's about calm heads but being committed at the same time.

"You've got to the use the disappointment of previous experiences as motivation. But equally you've got to know what you can achieve as motivation as well."

Swansea's 16-goal top scorer Andre Ayew has been declared fully fit for the Oakwell clash after hamstring trouble.

Ayew started the final game of the season at Watford last weekend but has not completed 90 minutes since April 13.

Wales Under-21 defender Brandon Cooper misses out after suffering an ankle injury in training.

Swansea were in pursuit of a top-two spot for most of the season but Cooper, who has operated on a tight budget and saw Joe Rodon leave for Tottenham in October, believes making the play-offs again is a notable achievement.

He said: "A lot of stuff here has been against the odds.

"We had a good go at the automatics, even though we found it difficult at the end to keep up because of some of the strength of depth we haven't got.

"But we equalled our record amount of points at this level in what has been a congested season to say the least.

"We've got to take confidence from all of the good things we've done this season, hone in on it and use it well in these next two games."

body check tags ::


VOTE IN THE END-OF-SEASON SPORTS MOLE AWARDS!

Have your say in the annual end-of-season Sports Mole Reader Awards!

Click here to vote for your Premier League Player of the Season, Goal of the Season, Signing of the Season and much more!


amp_article__447622 : Collect and Make Data not in DataBase  : 
last updated article - 2021-05-15 15:27:21:
html db last update - 2021-05-15 15:26:45 :

ex - 7200 : read : write cache and make html

Click here for more stories about Steve Cooper

Click here for more stories about Swansea City

Share this article now:

Subscribe to our Newsletter


Transfer Talk Daily
Match previews - twice weekly
Morning Briefing (7am UTC)
UC
Get the latest transfer news, match previews and news direct to your inbox!
Recommended Next on SM
Daniel Farke pleased to see Norwich finish season "in style"
Spurs 'draw up four-man shortlist for new manager'
Sergio Aguero 'agrees terms with Barcelona'
Eddie Howe in contention for Crystal Palace job?
Championship Table
TeamPWDLFAGDPTS
CNorwich CityNorwich462910775363997
3Brentford462415779423787
4Swansea CitySwansea4623111256391780
5Barnsley46239145850878
6Bournemouth4622111373462777
7Reading461913146254870
8Cardiff CityCardiff4618141466491768
9Queens Park RangersQPR461911165755268
10Middlesbrough461810185553264
11Millwall461517144752-562
12Luton TownLuton461711184152-1162
13Preston North EndPreston46187214956-761
14Stoke CityStoke461515165052-260
15Blackburn RoversBlackburn4615121965541157
16Coventry CityCoventry461413194961-1255
17Nottingham ForestNott'm Forest461216183745-852
18Birmingham CityBirmingham461313203761-2452
19Bristol City46156254668-2251
20Huddersfield TownHuddersfield461213215071-2149
21Derby CountyDerby461111243658-2244
22Wycombe WanderersWycombe461110253969-3043
23Rotherham UnitedRotherham46119264460-1642
24Sheffield WednesdaySheff Weds461211234061-2141
Scroll for more - Tap for full version

Subscribe to our Newsletter


Transfer Talk Daily
Match previews - twice weekly
Morning Briefing (7am UTC)
UC
Get the latest transfer news, match previews and news direct to your inbox!

Loading ...

Failed to load data.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
X

We value your privacy

A part of our GDPR compliance we need to ask for your consent. We and our partners use technology such as cookies on Sports Mole to personalise content and ads, provide social media features, and analyse our traffic. Click below to consent to the use of this technology on Sports Mole.