As a Swansea City supporter, consider me unimpressed by the season thus far for the Welsh team. While the Swans are sitting comfortably in fifth position, the team still could be doing much better than they are currently. It’s that feeling of “could be doing better” that has undermined the Swans for the past couple of seasons, where they’ve lacked that killer instinct to make the difference between an above average Premier League side and a more dangerous contender to be feared by even the top English clubs.

Swansea has been fortunate with their schedule for the beginning of the season. They played Manchester United on the opening day of the season before the Red Devils recruited Radamel Falcao, Angel Di Maria, Daley Blind and Marcos Rojo. Next they narrowly defeated Burnley 1-0 at the Liberty Stadium, which was followed by an impressive 3-0 victory against a West Bromwich Albion team that still hadn’t yet adapted to their new manager or system. The three victories in a row gave a lot of Swansea fans a false sense of security, while it gave pundits and fans of other teams a skewed perspective on how the team was doing.

The lofty position of joint first in the Premier League table during the international break was soon a distant memory after Chelsea’s second half performance obliterated the Swans 4-2. The fall from grace against a powerful Chelsea side led to a disappointing 1-0 loss at home against Southampton, and Saturday’s dreary 0-0 draw against Sunderland. Both games featured a Swansea side that flattered to deceive. The Swans were by far the better team against Southampton until Wilfried Bony got red carded in the first half for two sloppy tackles. A fair result would have been 0-0, but Southampton pinched the win in the second half after a defensive lapse by the Welsh team. And then in the 0-0 draw against Sunderland, the Swans were victims of two key decisions by the referee. The first was the decision not to award a clear penalty for Swansea when Wayne Routledge was brought down in the box (the Swans were “punished,” yet again, for one of their players trying to stay on his feet instead of diving). The second decision was the red card for Angel Rangel, after the referee gave him two yellow cards for two innocuous collisions. If you only watched the highlights of the game, you would have missed a couple of certain fouls that Rangel did make that weren’t penalized, so it seemed that the ref awarded the yellow cards to make up for fouls that he missed earlier. But nevertheless, the consistency displayed by the referee was appalling, and his two poor decisions ended up leaving Swansea feeling like they were satisfied with just the one point given the circumstances.

Still, Swansea can play better and should be performing at a higher level. However, they’re currently missing the X Factor when Wilfried Bony is either not playing or not getting the ball into the back of the net. When Bony isn’t on song, the Swans look a much more predictable side even when Gylfi Sigurdsson is trying his best to make a difference.

Best Starting XI: You have to go with the lineup that Monk is selecting (with Fabianski, Rangel, Williams, Fernandez, Taylor, Sung-Yueng, Shelvey, Dyer, Sigurdsson, Routledge, Bony). However, I’d be interested in seeing what impact Jefferson Montero can have in a starting position instead of Wayne Routledge, at least for a game or two.

Best Performer: Wilfried Bony. Although the Ivorian hasn’t scored any goals yet in the Premier League this season, Bony’s ability to hold-up play with his back to goal, as well as his distribution to players rushing forward, is impeccable, perhaps better than any other player in the league. Although he hasn’t been able to find the net yet this season, he’s a menace in front of goal. It’s only a matter of time before he hits a flurry of goals into the net.

Most Improved Player: I’ve been one of the biggest critics of Jonjo Shelvey in a Swansea City shirt, but I must admit that he’s been the most improved player this season. His weaknesses last season were inconsistency, his lack of concentration where he gave the ball away too often and his penchant for floating in poor free kicks and hitting wayward shots. Thankfully, Sigurdsson has stepped up to take the free kicks as well as taking most of the shots from distance. That has allowed Shelvey to concentrate more on his defensive midfield responsibilities, where he can maintain possession of the ball and make short passes to open up opportunities for Sigurdsson and the wingers to latch on to.

Injury News: Knock on wood, Swansea hasn’t been hit by a major injury crisis. Leon Britton still has six more weeks before he’ll return from injury. Full back Dwight Tiendalli should be back to full fitness in time for the next game, while central defender Jordi Amat will be out for five weeks with a knee injury.

Business in transfer window: Swansea had one of the better transfer windows of the Premier League clubs, flying under the radar with several superb signings including Jefferson Montero, Bafetimbi Gomis, Gylfi Sigurdsson, Federico Fernandez, Lukasz Fabianski, Marvin Emnes and Tom Carroll (on loan).

Managerial progress: Despite having little experience before taking the full-time manager position, Garry Monk has been a perfect fit for the club thus far. He’s much stricter than Michael Laudrup was, which is a positive step for the club. He’s saying all the right things.

Weaknesses: Other than their inability thus far to play at their peak and the lack of an X Factor when Bony is out, the only other weakness Swansea City has is a lack of depth in the full back position. Left back Neil Taylor has stepped up to fill the void left by Ben Davies. He’s not at a Davies level yet, but he’s continuing to improve. But look to Swansea to add depth in that department in January.

Rating: 3 out of 5.