Swansea City vs Newcastle preview - Magpies are well-prepared - Monk

Posted Saturday, August 15, 2015 by PA

Swansea manager Garry Monk feels Newcastle are already benefiting from Steve McClaren's early-summer appointment.

Monk has never met McClaren, let alone come up against a side managed by the former England boss, but he says he has prepared himself for a tough tactical examination ahead of Newcastle's visit to the Liberty Stadium on Saturday.

Both sides drew their opening Barclays Premier League games - Swansea holding champions Chelsea at Stamford Bridge and Newcastle also sharing four goals against Southampton - and Monk said it is clear that McClaren is already making his mark at St James' Park having brought Georginio Wijnaldum, Aleksandar Mitrovic and Chancel Mbemba to Tyneside.

"They've made that change early and he (McClaren) has had a summer to prepare," Monk said.

"Newcastle have always been a big club and attract good players but they've added quality this summer.

"The manager will have a new way of working I'm sure and it's a fresh start for those players.

"I think you saw that in pre-season and in the performance against Southampton so we're expecting a really tough game.

"Steve has been a national manager and coached at the top level as well so you'd expect him to be tactically clever and be able to manipulate the game.

"It will be interesting to see how he reacts to certain situations in the game, how he changes it if it's going good or bad for them and then how you react to that."

Swansea have a better record against Newcastle than any other team since being promoted to the Premier League four years ago.

The Welsh club have won five of their eight meetings with only one defeat, but Monk insists he does not put any store in the fixture's recent history.

"We've just played well in those games," Monk said.

"There's no given right to win any game and I don't look at those statistics, I just look at it is an individual match.

"We've done well in those games in the past but it's a new game, a new season, a new team and a new manager for them.

"They will have a different approach so we have to treat it as an individual game on that merit."

Swansea will assess Ki Sung-yueng ahead of the game.

The South Korean midfielder was forced off in the first half of the opening-day 2-2 draw against Chelsea with a sore hamstring and Jack Cork, an impressive replacement at Stamford Bridge, will start if Ki does not make it.

Jefferson Montero was also taken off at Chelsea as a precaution after cramping up but the Ecuador winger is fit and available for Swansea's first home game of the season.

Meanwhile, McClaren is hopeful there will be further new arrivals at Newcastle during the final two weeks of the transfer window to boost the feel-good factor on Tyneside.

He said: "There's still a long way to go in terms of settling everybody down. There are a few who have been left out who are obviously not happy - and that's normal - and a few who have a bit to prove.

"Pre-season, the first game, another week's training - we are getting towards what we want to move on with, and still with two weeks to go, things will happen in the window.

"We will wait and see."

McClaren has confirmed that striker Emmanuel Riviere has undergone minor surgery to repair a knee cartilage.