Swansea City v Newcastle United: We can get better, says Monk
Garry Monk's Swansea City host Newcastle United in the Premier League on Saturday with both sides having drawn their opening games.
Swansea City manager Garry Monk believes his side can continue to improve following their 2-2 draw at champions Chelsea on the opening day of the Premier League season.
Newcastle United are the visitors at the Liberty Stadium this weekend and Monk is not content to sit back and soak up the plaudits following a job well done at Stamford Bridge.
The Welsh club - and winger Jefferson Montero in particular - caused Chelsea all sorts of problems last Saturday, with Bafetimbi Gomis' penalty earning a well-deserved share of the spoils as Jose Mourinho's team ended the match with 10 men.
And Monk is keen to see his players build on that promising performance when Swansea host a club against whom they have picked up more Premier League points than any other (17).
"That's what I wanted [at Chelsea], to go out and set a standard of performance to take into the rest of season and use the confidence in other games," he said.
"I think we achieved that. There's things to work on but there were also things we've worked on that we saw in that game.
"Each week is different and difficult but to reach those standards is what we're aiming for. We defended well against an excellent side but we could use the ball better defensively.
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"My job is to be picky and see the small faults and try and improve on them, but also the positives - which outweighed the negatives - and make sure we repeat them."
Newcastle began life under Steve McClaren with a 2-2 draw of their own - at home to Southampton - but are without an away win since January.
That said, Monk is paying little attention to form or Swansea's stellar record against the St James' Park club.
"We just played well in those games [against Newcastle in the past]," he added. "There's no right to win any game and those statistics I don't look at.
"It's a different manager with a different approach and we have to be ready and focused and start well in our first game at home, where we want it to be a fortress."
Ki Sung-yueng faces a race against time to be fit after suffering tightness in his hamstring against Chelsea, while Jordi Amat (foot) is likely to be out for another week.
Newcastle, meanwhile, are missing Remy Cabella (thigh), Paul Dummett (hamstring), Emmanuel Riviere (knee) and Sylvain Marveaux (hernia).