Friday 9 December 2016 12:20, UK
Sunderland boss David Moyes thinks members of Swansea's hierarchy should be the ones at risk of losing their jobs if they already have doubts over manager Bob Bradley.
The American has only secured five points from seven matches at the Liberty Stadium, with his side bottom of the table, making him favourite to be the next Premier League manager to be sacked.
However, ahead of Sunderland's meeting with the Swans on Saturday, Moyes says Bradley deserves time and suggested others at Swansea should be more at risk of leaving the club than the manager.
"To keep changing your manager tells me that the people who are choosing the manager are getting it wrong," he said. "So they have to make sure that they look at the people at the top first before they look at the manager because he has only been in for a certain amount of time.
"If that's the case it shouldn't be Bob Bradley that loses his job, it should be the person who employed Bob Bradley that should lose his job - he has only been in the job six weeks. If they are changing their identity it'll be because of the decisions they are making at the top.
"It would have been a tough introduction for anybody who went to take the job at Swansea, just like anyone who came to take the job at Sunderland because the clubs we are at at the moment we don't all have the best squads, we don't all have the best players.
"It takes a long time, to get your own ideas across, to get to know the players, to get to know the squad, what players work for you and what don't. It takes time. Bob Bradley should be given plenty of time to show that he can do that."
Despite the fact the game is being billed as a relegation shootout, Moyes insists he has loftier ambitions for his team. Sunderland can move out of the bottom three for the first time this season with a win over Swansea.
Bournemouth, Hull and Leicester have all been beaten since the start of November, while Liverpool had to work hard for the points at Anfield. That is the kind of form befitting a team further up the ladder and that is just what Moyes has in mind - as soon as they finally escape the drop zone.
"We've been in the wrong position for a long time this year," he said. "I think the idea is more to say 'can we move to the middle part of the table?' That's got to be the aim...it's not initially coming out of the bottom three.
"Can we go away and finish mid-table? At the moment we've not won enough games but I've been saying for a few weeks win one, win two, win three...now let's win four. Let's get this one won and see what we can do."
Sunderland's January recruitment plans hit a snag this week when Yann M'Vila, last season's star loan, decided against a move that had already been arranged.
A three-and-a-half-year deal was already in place after the end of his Rubin Kazan contract but the club have opted against enforcing it after being informed of the Frenchman's change of heart.
"We're disappointed because we're missing out on a good player but if someone doesn't want to play for the club that makes your decision easy," Moyes said.
"We at the club need people who are totally committed. We're disappointed we didn't get it to happen but if a player doesn't want to come we can't do much about it."
