Swansea City manager Bob Bradley has dismissed Ki Sung-yueng's assertion that the Premier League strugglers are in crisis.
Bradley has taken one point from four games at the helm and Swansea are without a top-flight win since beating Burnley on the opening day of the season.
Speaking after South Korea's 2-1 World Cup qualifying win over Uzbekistan, Ki said he would "work with my team-mates to overcome this crisis".
But former United States coach Bradley, who takes Swansea to Everton on Saturday, told a pre-match news conference: "That is not the word I would use.
"We certainly understand we are in an important stretch, need results, need this confidence boost. So we are not glossing over anything, that is for sure.
''But I would not say crisis. I just think we have to be strong, we have to understand that it's not just about one part of football. We have got to be better in many ways.''
Swansea will be reunited with former captain Ashley Williams at the weekend – the centre-back who ended an eight-and-a-half year spell in south Wales when he moved to Goodison Park during the close season.
"I've heard many stories about Ashley and the stories always begin with his leadership ability," Bradley said.
"So I understand when a player who carries that type of responsibility within a team chooses to leave that work needs to be done to build that type of leadership back into the team.
"When you lose a leader everybody is challenged to take a little bit of a bigger role, that has been the message to our group now in recent weeks."
‘After Manchester City’s recent form, maybe they’re the underdogs against Manchester United!’ Former Red Devils defender on this weekend’s derby
‘Arteta, Alonso, Emery, me… none of us were physical players – we needed the understanding of the game. That probably helped us move into management’: Premier League boss reveals reasons for natural career progression
