Swansea City manager Vitor Matos has revealed the lasting influence Jurgen Klopp had on his coaching career as the Welsh club continue to make a statement at the top of the Championship.
Swansea have made a flying start to the campaign, sitting top of the table after eight games with Matos’ energetic, high-pressing approach producing both results and an identity supporters can connect with.
However, the Portuguese coach insists performances and the feeling around the team matter more to him than simply collecting points.
“I’m happy with the start more than the results,” Matos – who won Sky Bet Championship Manager of the Month for August – tells Sky Sports.
“It’s the style and the feeling that when you go to watch us play, you have a good feeling. We are happy when you are out, especially our fans. That’s what we wanted, that’s what we are trying more than anything.
“So far, it’s been good.”
Matos has been in charge at Swansea for almost a year and has quickly embraced the club’s footballing identity.
The 39-year-old believes Swansea’s traditional commitment to attacking football has helped him establish a strong connection with both the players and supporters.
“It’s a wonderful place,” he says. “It’s a strong culture of style as well. That was one of the main reasons I decided to come and one of the main reasons we all felt close to each other.
“We and the owners wanted to bring back and put the team closer to the style it was always recognised for, an offensive one, with the ball, trying to be dominant and aggressive, but at the same time able to compete against every team.
“That is the main part, and having that already as a culture is really good because you can easily connect with each other.
“It’s a wonderful place to be. It’s a club that you always recognise as a club with a clear identity, with a clear style, which brought the fans together and brought a lot of people together. Being part of that, of course, makes me really proud.”
Sustaining that intensity across a 46-game Championship season will be the next major test.
Matos knows opponents will demand different solutions throughout the campaign, but he does not want Swansea to abandon the principles that have taken them to the summit.
“It comes a lot with the mindset and the willingness,” he says. “When it’s part of you, when it’s part of your style, when you understand the benefits of that, it’s not just because we think it’s nice. It’s because we really believe it’s the best way to win and to compete against all the teams.
“When you start believing in that and make it a proper style and culture of being in the club, then it’s possible.
“Of course, it’s hard. Of course, you have different oppositions who demand different things sometimes, but the core ideas, the main principles, they need to be there. That’s what we try.”
Those principles were strengthened during Matos’ five-year spell at Liverpool, where he worked as an elite development coach under Klopp.
The experience exposed him to Premier League and Champions League football, as well as some of the highest-level training environments in European football.
“I was lucky to work with Jurgen for that long,” Matos says. “Of course, not only Jurgen, but all the staff at Liverpool. Pep Lijnders and Peter Krawietz, too.
“It shaped me because the opportunity to work with that level of players at a really young age as well, being exposed to the Premier League, the Champions League and the training sessions, the level was so high and so demanding that, of course, it shapes you.
“I learned a lot and I still learn a lot, and that was, of course, one of the main things in my development.”
Matos also believes the Championship has evolved considerably since his previous exposure to the division while working at Liverpool.
“We had some players on loan in the Championship, and for that I needed to watch them and know them. If I compare, the level has increased in all directions, technically and tactically. The games are much more played in different ways.”
Despite Klopp now being in charge of the German national team, Matos says their relationship remains strong.
“I have a lot more questions for Jurgen than he has for me!” Matos says with a smile.
“But it’s always nice to speak with all of them. We have a really close relationship – it was much more than football and [all the staff at Liverpool] are still close.”
Matos left Liverpool in 2024 to join Lijnders at RB Salzburg before returning to Portugal for his first senior managerial opportunity with Maritimo.
His spell there lasted five months before Swansea offered him a route back into English football.
For a coach who had dreamed of working in England from a young age, the opportunity was difficult to ignore.
“I always had that desire [to return],” he says. “I never really thought about the when or the timing.
“When I grew as a child, all my development as well, I was always so much into the league, into English football, so I always had that inside me. Of course, after working at Liverpool, even more.
“I could not say that I expected one day, or that it was always in my mind that I wanted to be here in one month or in one year. But it was always there.
“When the opportunity came and when the common ideas and the common values clicked with each other, mine, the club’s, the owner’s, everything clicked. After that, it was quite an easy decision for me.”
Now, with Swansea leading the Championship and their high-energy football attracting attention, Matos is focused firmly on the next challenge rather than reflecting too heavily on his rapid rise.
“I really don’t think about it on a daily basis,” he says. “We live more for the next game, the next training session, the next drill or the next interview. I think that’s where we all are as managers.
“I know I’m a young coach and there’s still, of course, a lot to live. I’m really happy with all the things that have happened. You always need a little bit of luck in your career, a little bit of luck in your life.
“Arriving healthy at this age, being able to have a family and having the possibility to do a job in this club that I like so much, all of that came into place. I’m more than anything pleased with the journey so far.”
Swansea’s next test comes against Norwich City, with Matos’ side looking to preserve their early momentum and demonstrate that their high-pressing identity can withstand the demands of a long Championship campaign.
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