In truth this game was over long before kick off tonight – the Swans four goal advantage from last week’s first leg was always going to be enough to ensure they took their place in the next stage but I also have to confess that I’m not sure I saw a defeat for us tonight on a disappointing night from our perspective.
All the goals came in the last twenty minutes. The first came when Priso was given space in the penalty area and he shot past Tremmel before less than 70 seconds later Lamah equalised for the Swans from Pozuelo’s cross.
The deadlock was shortlived when Younes put the home side back ahead with seven minutes left on the clock and that was the scoring completed but it was a more open game than the away leg in the last round with both sides having some good chances during the game to grab more goals but reality was that we were never in danger of going out once we came through the first ten minutes unscathed.
The biggest disappointment of the night was not just the red card for Leon Britton that will keep him out of the first group game but the cheap bookings picked up for Tremmel and Pozuelo which were both needless (as was Leon’s red card) and could come back to haunt us when the group stages are drawn tomorrow. As with most competitions like these, suspensions have a tendency to ramp up and you wouldn’t want to see some given for such pointless bookings?
As we expected, Michael rang the changes for this game and there was a chance to shine up front for Rory Donnelly who came in as Wilfried Bony was back in South Wales and hadn’t travelled with the squad. There was always a start for Pozuelo although I would rather he had played in the Michu role with maybe Routledge in on the wing.
At the back it was reasonably obvious how much we do miss Ash when he is not playing and if we weren’t already adamant that we wouldn’t sell in this transfer window, his absence tonight should mean that we stand firm on any potential bids for the captain.
We know that on the European trail there will be more difficult nights then this one but we can certainly see how much this campaign is going to stretch our squad and certain players when missing do harm us quite badly in certain areas.
Now for the group draw tomorrow – mission one in Europe accomplished.
