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Bradley wants struggling Swansea to improve in both boxes

Britain Football Soccer - Middlesbrough v Swansea City - Premier League - The Riverside Stadium - 17/12/16 Swansea City manager Bob Bradley Action Images via Reuters / Jason Cairnduff Livepic

(Reuters) - Swansea City must improve at both ends of the pitch to have any hope of avoiding relegation, manager Bob Bradley said on Thursday.

The American, whose team are second from bottom in the Premier League, urged his players to secure a third home win in a row when West Ham United visit on Monday.

"In the 10 games I have been here, a lot of it has come down to making plays in both boxes," Bradley told a news conference.

"Our build-up play has improved. We have had some good periods of possession in games but the end product has not always been what it needs to be."

Swansea were beaten by West Bromwich Albion and Middlesbrough in their last two league outings and Bradley said his team needed to be more resilient.

"We have to deal with things that don't go our way," he added. "The fact we haven't done that enough is the reason why we are inconsistent.

"Every time we have looked on the brink of making a couple of steps forward we have ended up going backwards again."

Bradley defended himself after being criticised by fans following the Middlesbrough defeat for shortening penalty kick to "PK".

"Ninety-five percent of my football vocabulary fits without a problem," he said. "But there are other terms in football that come from different places.

"Every now and then a little of that comes out of me but not too much. The idea that it draws attention, honestly I don't even know what to say.

"It's part of the deal. It wouldn't make sense if I sounded exactly like everybody else," said Bradley.

Defender Federico Fernandez and midfielder Ki Sung-Yueng are back in training for the first time since the end of November and could feature against West Ham.

(Reporting by Simon Jennings in Bengaluru; Editing by Tony Jimenez)

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