Bob Bradley is convinced Swansea City’s turnaround will start on Saturday with a victory over Crystal Palace.
The manager was encouraged by his team’s 1-1 draw at Everton last week and believes the first home victory of the season will be chalked up as they bid to climb away from the foot of the Premier League.
Bradley’s tone was markedly upbeat on Thursday as he looked ahead to a game he concedes will be critical to the club’s chances of survival.
“We are focused on making sure we put a bad stretch behind us and it’s going to happen this week,” said Bradley.
“My number one message to supporters is that sometimes things are out of our or their control, but we are all together for Saturday. The relationship between the team and the supporters can carry us through.
“Everton was positive. Sometimes you cannot control how the ball bounces but the response after Manchester United was good.
“We simplified the message and made sure everyone understood the things Swansea had done well in the past. We talked about being better in possession and defending as a group.
“Now it is a positive message, we have done it in the past, we played a good match, training has been good and we are ready to push on in a strong way. I see how much the players are putting in and we are ready to make it count.”
The Swans are desperate for a first home win of the season as they seek to close the five-point gap between themselves and those above the relegation zone.
Bradley knows the Palace fixture represents a huge opportunity as Alan Pardew’s side have the worst points-per-game average for 2016 of any team in the Premier League.
He added: “It’s up to us to build on last week. We have taken all the positives from the match at Everton where we were defensively solid.
“Every team in the Premier League goes through tough stretches. It is an unforgiving league. Every team has times when things do not go their way.
“You dig your hands into a situation to get a sense of what is going on. Now, I feel we can put it all together.
“Things have turned around, but the final part is to make sure it shows on match day.”
Bradley has confirmed that he will be looking to strengthen the squad in the January transfer window and claimed that money will be made available.
“I had had discussion within the club and they have been positive. We can still make ourselves better, but I’m not going to go into specifics and detail. I prefer to focus on the upcoming games.”