Brendan – We DIdn’t Defend Set Pieces Well Enough

Brendan Rodgers was under no illusion where the Swans lost the points at the Britannia Stadium

“The nuts and bolts of it are that we didn’t defend the set-pieces well enough,” Rodgers conceded.

“That’s the simplicity of it. We did enough homework and we had coped fantastically well against Stoke at the Liberty earlier in the season when we beat them 2-0.

“Here we didn’t cope so well. We defended a lot of the set-pieces very well, but we are disappointed with the two goals.

“Because of the lack of height in our team we defend with a zone, and we had someone dragged out of the central zone when they scored from the corner.

“Then we conceded from a throw-in which we gave away needlessly, so that was another disappointment. I don’t think it’s just a matter of time before you concede from a set-piece against Stoke.

“Their quality into the box is very good, but you have to be prepared to stay strong in those situations.

“Fair play to Stoke. They got the win and we go away, lick our wounds and go again.

“Michel had been fine, but then through the night he picked up some sort of virus,” Rodgers added.

“He was up all night being sick and he was too weak — he had lost too much to play, so that was obviously disappointing for us.

“In fairness to Gerhard Tremmel, I thought he did most of what he had to do very well.

“We worked it really well — it was a brilliant pass by Angel and Nathan pulled it back well,” Rodgers said.

“Scotty knows that at this level you only get a few chances, and that was a good chance we didn’t take.”

Rodgers added: “I was quite pleased with how we played generally.

“Tony (Pulis) has done a magnificent job at Stoke and his teams are very well organised.

“They press the ball really well, and some of our play given what Stoke do was incredible.”

Swansea should have been awarded an 82nd-minute penalty when Dean Whitehead pulled back Gylfi Sigurdsson, but referee Howard Webb waved play on.

“One of my players told me the referee said we didn’t get the penalty because Gylfi didn’t go down,” Rodgers said.

“That’s disappointing. Gylfi has been honest and it’s disappointing that if he goes down, we probably get the penalty but because he stood up, we didn’t.”