Players will 'put two fingers up at me' - Williams

Luke Williams expects Swansea City's players to "stick two fingers" in his direction over the hectic festive period after he criticised their mentality in the wake of defeat by Sunderland.

Swansea go to bottom club Hull City on Saturday (12:30 GMT) for the first of five Championship games in a fortnight.

It will be a first chance to respond to last weekend's home defeat by Sunderland, when Swansea were beaten despite leading 2-0.

Williams said immediately after the game that Swansea's performance "stank of doubt" and that his squad had shown a "fear of achieving their potential".

The Swansea head coach says he stands by those comments – but is confident his team will come out fighting at Hull.

"The questions I have put to the squad after the Sunderland game are tough ones," Williams said.

"No-one wants to be questioned on their mentality.

"I expect, knowing the group, that they are going to put two fingers up at me quietly and show me that they are capable of sustaining their performance throughout 90 minutes and that they can go and get results against top-six sides and they can be consistent against teams in the middle of the table."

As they approach the halfway point in the season, Swansea are seven points adrift of the final play-off place in 10th.

They have played all the sides above them, losing seven of those games, drawing one and winning just one, against seventh-placed Watford.

They have played 12 of the 14 teams below them so far, with Swansea claiming six wins, five draws and only one defeat – in cruel circumstances against Millwall – from those fixtures.

"We could not be more bang on where we deserve to be [in the table]" Williams added.

"That means the challenge for the second half of the season is obvious and laid out in front of us.

"We now know if we want to have an exciting second half to the season and exciting end, we have [to continue] to be incredibly consistent against the teams below us and we have to improve against the teams above us. Then we will be in a good place."

The consensus would be that many of the clubs currently above Swansea in the table have stronger squads, with Williams' group lacking Championship experience and depth in certain positions.

Yet Williams insists it is mentality, rather than quality, which is holding Swansea back as they attempt to compete with the division's top sides.

"We have enough quality," he said. "But our quality is only difficult to play against when we have the mentality to match it.

"We can go toe to toe with those teams. I think it's fair to say our performances have shown that. We have performed pretty well, but when we have come unstuck is when we have come away from principles which got us into a good position in the first place.

"The way the team moves around the pitch without the ball, in harmony with each other, with distances which deny space for opponents, with aggression that stops opponents from being comfortable on the ball.

"When we play with the bravery to make the right pass, whether we have to pause for a moment or play with one touch, when we have to bring the ball from the air and make an action or we just defend the ball. There are subtle differences which make a huge difference."

While Swansea are hoping to kick off another beaten run at Hull, the Tigers are looking to end a 13-game winless streak in their third game under new boss Ruben Selles.