Francesco Guidolin has admitted the heat is on him ahead of Swansea City’s repeat clash with Manchester City on Saturday.
The Swans manager believes the second game against Pep Guardiola’s side in four days will be even tougher than Wednesday’s 2-1 home defeat in the EFL Cup.
Another defeat will do little to stem the flow of rumours over Guidolin’s position with Ryan Giggs and Chris Coleman reported to be on the club’s list of alternative options.
The Italian has now lost three out of his last four matches and has successive fixtures to come against City, Liverpool and Arsenal set against a backdrop of public shows of disaffection from players.
He conceded: “Saturday against Manchester City will be more difficult than the first.
“They had a very good team, even if they played without some players. But on Saturday there will be new important players here.
“But we have to prepare a good game and we have to play well, and then we will see.”
The links with Giggs and Coleman will do little to ease the tension building at the Liberty Stadium, but Guidolin insists his long career management means he can cope with the rising temperature.
“This is my job. I know my job and, with my experience, I know football is like this. It does not bring any added pressure for me.
“It’s not a good moment for us. Sometimes little things go against you. We just have to look forward. If we play well and work hard, I think we are going to have some better moments.”
Guidolin gave only a second appearance to Dutch centre-back Mike van der Hoorn, the 23-year-old who signed from Ajax in the summer.
Van der Hoorn will be hopeful he could now keep his place for the Premier League game against the same opposition and says both sides will have taken something from the first fixture.
He said: “We have to learn from this. We know how they play, and they know how we play. It’s a new game on Saturday, and we hope for a better result.
“We started a little nervously, but we gained more confidence after Borja went close to scoring. We did well in the first half, but it became more difficult when they scored the first goal – it was a bad time to concede.
“It was a dramatic finish. If we had scored a little earlier, it would have given us more time to get an equaliser. It was not enough in the end, though.”