Monk: Battling draw justifies Swansea changes

Garry Monk felt his decision to make four changes was justified by Swansea City's fightback in Saturday's 2-2 Premier League draw against AFC Bournemouth.

Manager Monk dropped Bafetimbi Gomis, Jefferson Montero, Gylfi Sigurdsson and Federico Fernandez from the starting XI at the Liberty Stadium, and his decision appeared questionable as goals from Joshua King and Dan Gosling left Swansea 2-0 down after 26 minutes.

However, Andre Ayew's clever backheel quickly reduced the deficit and Jonjo Shelvey's penalty brought Swansea level before the break.

A draw means Swansea now have just one win in nine league outings, but Monk felt the changes to the line-up helped earn a much-needed point.

"You just want to try, considering the situation we've been in, something different – a bit of fresh energy and sharpness," he said. 

"I thought they did that, that team got us back to 2-2 and we made changes in the second half to try and give us momentum or swing the game and in the last 15 minutes I thought we finished stronger. 

"I have to be happy with a point with how the game panned out."

The pressure has been building on Monk during Swansea's poor run of form, but the 36-year-old is sure the team can turn the corner if they can rediscover their confidence on the ball.

"It's not about me, it's about the players," he added. "I'm not the important one here. My job is to push these players to get them back to their best, that's my job and I'm committed to doing that.

"I have to give them massive credit. You can see clearly the spirit within them and how much they want to put it right, it's just confidence with the ball that is lacking. 

"They're capable of it. Hopefully it's something we can bring back in the next few games."