Monk backs ´exceptional´ Montero to get even better

Garry Monk praised another impressive performance from Jefferson Montero as Swansea City cruised past 10-man Newcastle United 2-0 on Saturday.

A week after terrorising Chelsea’s Branislav Ivanovic at Stamford Bridge, Montero was again in fine form at the Liberty Stadium and set up Andre Ayew for Swansea’s second early in the second half.

And Monk has backed the Ecuador forward to keep on improving.

“I thought Jeff was a little bit more quiet today but I thought when he contributed he did it well,” said the Swansea boss. “I think you could see their tactic straight away was to basically try and kick him.

“But credit to the ref. He spotted that very early, made the correct decisions and, quite rightly, the player [Daryl Janmaat] was sent off in the end.

“I thought he did exceptional again today and he’s always a threat, but we have threats everywhere at this moment in time.

“We’re attacking very well, we look dangerous at certain points in the game and I thought today we showed our maturity as well when they went to 10 men.”

Monk added: “They made it more difficult, they dropped very deep, defended very narrow and the spaces weren’t quite there.

“But I thought we were mature, we didn’t force the issue, we kept the ball well and tried to take the openings when we did.

“All in all it was a confident performance – dominant – and we have to be happy with that.”