"I remember when we were in League Two or League One, you would come back for pre-season and some of the lads would be out of shape.

"It would then take three weeks for them to get back into shape, but it's not like that now.

"Everyone has come back buzzing and everyone is desperate to get into the team.

"It's the fittest I have seen the squad at the start of pre-season, and you can see everybody wants to be ready for the start of the season.

"If you don't want to be ready when you're going into the Premier League, you shouldn't be playing football.

"We haven't had that long a break but I don't think that will have any effect.

"At this stage of pre-season, everyone looks a lot better than they would have done at this club a few years ago.

"In a way the short break can help, because you don't have time to add any body fat or lose much fitness.

"And I know a lot of the boys have been training hard over the summer.

"Nobody wanted to come back unfit going into the Premier League.

Swansea's players were ordered to relax after that dramatic day at Wembley — for a little while.

"We were told to rest completely for two and a half weeks.

"Then we started getting going again, gradually doing more sessions and building up towards pre-season.

"Even on holiday, the lads were working on their fitness.

"I rented a villa up in the mountains in Cyprus.

"I went to the gym out there, but I also did a couple of mountain runs. I'm feeling really good now, and I think the rest of the lads are feeling the same."