Former Swansea midfielder Owain Tudur Jones, speaking on Radio Wales before the West Brom defeat, said: “Anybody who’s looking at that table and thinking Swansea aren’t in trouble is fooling themself. It’s been a really bad run, a really poor few weeks which has led to the Swans being in this position.

“Three weeks ago, you were talking about them being only three points off play-offs, so things need to change and change fast.

On whether Matos’ appointment offers hope: “It’s a difficult question to answer because he is obviously a good coach. His credentials as a coach…no problem at all there. But as a head coach, it’s a completely different thing.

“It’s one thing to be on the training ground with young players at whichever club, and doing the business there, but the pressure and scrutiny of being the head coach… it’s not just about what you do day to day on the training field; it’s about dealing with the media, dealing with the fans and the pressures of losing games and being in a relegation fight.

“He hasn’t tasted these things. A lot of it is the unknown. Hopefully as the weeks go by and he settles in, we start to see what the Swans hierarchy saw in this man, and that he is the man to lead them out of this current predicament.”