Rob DaviesSwansea City were taught a lesson at home on Tuesday night as they were thrashed by a rampant second half Fulham display following Ryan Manning’s sending off.
The Swans were always going to be up against it after Manning’s first half dismissal but their naive play and overall defending handed the initiative to the league leaders who seized their chance.
Aleksandar Mitrovic – of course – netted one, Wales’ Neco Williams scored twice and Bobby Decordova-Reid supplemented the scoring after Ben Cabango’s close range own goal.
It was a torrid lesson of the difference in levels in this division and, whilst the first half was a far more even affair, Manning’s needless red card was always likely to lead to an away win.
With Cyrus Christie unable to play against his parent club and Hannes Wolf recovering from COVID, the full back positions were of concern prior to kick off and it looked like for much of the first half the Swans went to 4 at the back.
Fisher
Smith – Naughton – Cabango – Manning
Downes – Grimes
Ntcham – Piroe – Paterson
Obafemi
Whilst Russell Martin stated in his post match press conference that the opening fifteen minutes were the best start he had seen from his team, it heralded little in the way of opportunities.
In truth despite the Swans controlling possession and limiting Fulham to little in the way of chances, only Michael Obafemi’s turn and long range shot was anything close to an opportunity on goal.
Mitrovic’s looped header was enough to have home fans worried but his effort bounced safely over the goal and Fisher. The away side also thought they should have had a penalty when Ryan Manning tangled with Harry Wilson to no avail.
It was Wilson who would be involved in the turning point of the game when the Swans characteristically lost possession in midfield by overplaying and avoiding the shot when the Welsh midfielder charged away with the ball.
Manning decided rather recklessly to challenge inside the Fulham half to prevent the counter attack but mistimed it and went studs in on Wilson. The referee’s long whistle, and Wilson’s sock, confirmed what fans were fearing and the Swans defender saw red for the second time this campaign.
He will now sit out the next four games including the crucial Cardiff City game in April to make it a doubly worse night for Russell Martin.
As half time arrived the security team were on the pitch to escort the referees off after a rather angry reaction from all corners of the ground to the red card. A debatable one in some eyes but no doubt a challenge where we’d all be screaming for a dismissal had the tables been turned.
Wilson was to be the villain of the show as fans vociferously booed his every touch but it was his assist that set up the prolific Mitrovic for the opener.
Only the players will know what Martin said in the dressing room at half time but no sooner had the substitutes arrived (Bennett and Fulton for Ntcham and Downes) and the match had kicked off, we were a goal down.
Fisher delivered a poor pass to Matt Grimes 20 yards from goal which was quickly seized upon by Seri who quickly passed out to the right where Wilson was waiting and his perfect ball into the middle was met by Mitrovic to slam home for the opener.
Less than thirty seconds of the second period it took for Fulham to take advantage and minutes later it was two as another carbon copy ball from the right wing was met by Cabango under pressure from the Championship star Mitrovic (still not quite good enough for the Premier League though) and Fisher was beaten at his near post.
Many had seen the damage that Fulham can do to teams like Blackburn (7-0) and many others after them and were fearing the worst. Evenmoreso when substitute Bobby Reid looped in a cross despite defenders on the line for three. He’d only been on the pitch for a matter of minutes. And the assist came from the right wing, again.
Strikingly that was the first Fulham goal against us that wasn’t scored by Mitrovic since 2013. I haven’t the inclination to count how many times we’ve played each other in that time but there’s been a decent number.
Embarrassingly the game was over as a contest and despite Swansea showing some willing down their own right side, winning a corner and moments later Jannie Paterson’s delightful deep cross was deftly nodded in by Joel Piroe for his 16th of the season.
Comeback on? Not really, Neco Williams made sure there was no threat to their pursuit of the points as he buried two efforts in the last 15 minutes to make it an easy and comfortable win.
It’s never nice losing at home but to do so in this manner and concede five in the second half says that deep in our team there’s a brittleness that needs curing.
We are desperately short at wing back and the fact that the majority of chances and goals came from our left (where Manning might have been) says also that the dismissal had a pivotal impact on the game.
We can’t discount the performance second half, it felt like we were an FA Cup team down to ten men holding on for dear life. Except this was Fulham of the Championship, not Premier League top four contenders.
Perhaps it’s me but whenever Swansea play against ten men in recent times, there’s a real struggle to score because teams dig in and fight. Tonight the fight disappeared second half and there’s yet more work to do for Martin and his team.
The match ended with a chorus of Fulham fans (they came in a taxi) jubilantly shouting that they are going to win the league. They’re probably right too although our naivety gave them a much easier contest than it should have been…
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