Passionate Swansea City boss Steve Cooper explains Bersant Celina situation and what he told players at frank West Brom meeting

The head coach spoke with passion following the heavy defeat at The Hawthorns and vowed to turn things around at the Liberty Stadium

Steve Cooper has demanded more from playmaker Bersant Celina after leaving the Kosovan out of his squad for Sunday’s 5-1 hammering at West Brom.

And the Swansea head coach has revealed he sat his team down the morning after The Hawthorns hammering to demand a big response in Wednesday’s meeting with Blackburn Rovers.

Swansea have taken just 14 points from their last 14 matches to drop to 11th in the Championship and defeat at West Brom was their heaviest reversal of the season to date.

Former Manchester City ace Celina didn’t feature in Cooper’s 18-man squad for the game and the 23-year-old has just two goals in 23 appearances for club and country this term.

On Celina, Cooper said: “There is definitely more to come. He knows that. We have had some good, honest conversations and there is no doubting the ability he has and the impact he can have on games. It’s about delivery and it’s not just him, it’s all our attacking players.

“If truth be told we are trying to find consistency in many areas of our game and the top end is certainly one. We want Bersant to be on top form and playing, probably at No 10.

“He has probably had his better moments off the left and I know there has been debate about his best position, but in an ideal world we absolutely want him at No 10 and being the creative force we know he can be. The support is there for him.

“We like Bersant a lot and we will continue to work with him to get the best out of him.”

Celina is in the frame to return against Blackburn and on Monday Cooper launched an impassioned defence of his team’s struggles ahead of facing Rovers.

Wayne Routledge (calf) and Declan John (hamstring) won’t face Tony Mowbray’s in-form side. “As always you make decisions and they can go for or against you, but we’ve got a three-game week and like we’ve done in these situations previously, we need to utilise the squad,” Cooper said. “We are going into a busy time with Christmas coming up. Although it didn’t go to plan at West Brom – far from it – we did have one going into the game in terms of the team and substitutions.”

Cooper continued: “I feel we had a very honest and productive meeting this morning which I won’t go into too much, apart from I gave the message we need to stand up and be counted.

“We know we have only won three of the last 15 games, we know we conceded five at West Brom, and we know the best part of 2,000 fans travelled. We are proud to represent those people so we need to put it right. It was a positive meeting for sure, but meetings are only good if action is taken from them.

“We need to believe in each other and in what we do more than ever. It’s a hard thing to ask for because we haven’t won enough games at home, but we really need the fans behind us.

“We know we owe them a result and a performance. I don’t want to be patronising in any way, but we need them because we really want to be together.”

Swansea face Rovers before another home meeting with Middlesbrough on Saturday. Cooper’s men have lost five of their last seven matches at the Liberty Stadium.

The head coach is unlikely to have any money to spend in January and admitted he has looked at the league table for the first time this season.

“There won’t be loads of changes – if any – in January as we haven’t got millions of pounds to spend. That’s fine,” Cooper said. “It would be a luxury and there are other teams who will do that, but we can’t get too down about it. We have to be proud we are the ones in situ representing the club and the badge so let’s get on with it.”