Tate: Swans Will Cope With Monk's Injury

Alan Tate says both Garry Monk and Swansea City will cope with the skipper's knee injury.

Monk suffered a knee injury in the 4-0 FA Cup win against Colchester United on Saturday and he'll be sidelined for 3 months to recover from the problem.

Despite missing our influencial captain, Tate, available again after a 3-match ban, says both Monk and the Swans will cope:

'It's a shame for Garry that he's got a bad injury and it's a shame for the club that he is not going to be playing for a while,'

'But Garry will be okay. He is mentally strong and he will be back.

'We'll miss him because he is an important player for us — he has been ever since he joined the club.

'He is our captain, but we will have to cope without him.

'He didn't play as much as he would have liked last year and we got through it, so that's what we have to do again.'

Monk first feared that he had damaged the same cruciate ligament as he did before, but luckily he hasn't which has decreased the recovery time from 6-9 months to 3, so he should be back for the final 4-5 weeks of the season.

Tate added:

'I have played with him for a while now and I went down to see him straightaway,' he added.

'He is one of those lads who you know must be pretty bad if he has come off, and at that stage he thought he had done his cruciate again.

'He was trying to get his head round it, which is not easy to do.

'I spoke to him again on Saturday night, then again on Sunday morning when the scan showed it wasn't the cruciate after all.

'I wouldn't say he was happy, but it was probably the best result he could have hoped for.

'His head will be right very quickly and he will be back before long with no problems. As I said to him, it's not as if the injury is going to affect his pace!'

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