Phil SumblerSwansea City were looking like a side destined for the Championship.ย ย On our third manager of the season in Paul Clement we had replaced Guidolin with the much maligned Bob Bradley and he had departed just a matter of weeks before some of the toughest games of the season for the Swans.
A visit to Anfield is never the easiest place to go at the best of times but for a side that was looking hopelessly out of our Premier League depth it was expected to be another home win for the reds.
But Clement – and Swansea City – had different ideas.ย Liverpool were unbeaten in 17 league games at Anfield (11 wins, 6 draws) but the Swans were boosted by the recent capture of Tom Carroll and Martin Olsson who were both in the squad for the game.ย The rest, as they say, is history.
Talking to The Coaches’ Voice, Clement was talking about the tactics he employed to defeat the Reds and set the Swans on their way to Premier League safety.
“It was my second Premier League game in charge.ย ย We played a 4-3-3 formation but really it was a 4-5-1 system defensively.ย The week before we had been beaten 4-0 at home by Arsenal so alot of the work was around a good solid system defensively.
“One of the big things I worked on was the compactness of the team.ย ย The wide players in Routledge and Sigurdsson had a job to force the wide play off and push the play back inside making it very difficult for them to play the ball through the lines.
“We were under alot of pressure in the first half but got to half-time at 0-0 and felt at that point the longer we kept it at that we would get a chance.
“Early in the second half we got a set play.ย An in swinging kick from Sigurdsson was touched back by Routledge who was pressuring the defender and Llorente poked it home.
“The problem was though there was such a long time to go.ย ย But what we did then was to score one of the best goals we scored all season.ย The ball started on the right hand side and we switched it to the left.ย Carroll played a ball to Olsson before making a superb overlap which Olsson found and Tom hit it with a fantastic cross to a colossal header from Llorente into the corner.
“From there we were under alot of pressure and Liverpool pulled back to 2-2 and we wondered if we could hold out for the draw.ย However in one of our few attacks Carroll, who had an excellent debut, tried to drive into the area and as it rebounded off the defender it fell to Gylfi who slotted home into the bottom corner.”
Speaking at the time after the game Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp saidย “It’s hard to accept. In the first half we created four or five chances which we didn’t take.
“The start of the second half we were poor and then we played brilliantly and scored two. Then we were a bit passive and one player was alone in our box, which is completely senseless.
“The most disappointing moment was the third goal and I can’t explain it as we had so many chances to challenge.
“It’s really difficult to accept at this moment. It is fair Swansea won, no – but was it deserved, yes.”
Paul Clement added in his after match interviewย “We frustrated Liverpool and defended really well. We showed great togetherness and it was a massive team effort.
“At half-time I told the players we would get at least one chance, but to get three was unbelievable.
“It’s very important for the confidence of the side that we can come to a big team and get a result. We need to work hard on the training pitch and make sure we get another result in 10 days’ time.”
