Phil Sumbler
Luke Williams was in apologetic mood as he spoke to S4C after the Swans were humiliated in the FA Cup at Bournemouth finding themselves on the back of a 5-0 defeat.
The game was over as a contest after ten minutes as the Swans were brushed aside by their Premier League opponents and five goals before half-time tells you all that you need to know on a night where Williams will have learned much – personally and also about the players who are now under his charge.
There was simply no excuse that the manager could really offer for the way that the players on the pitch surrendered so meekly and, for the second game running, it was a game where the first half display was littered by mistakes and general lack effort from pretty much everyone on the pitch.
There was no a single player that came out of that first forty five minutes with any credit at all and Williams was certainly not looking for excuses after the game “It was a horrible night for us,” he told S4C.
“I apologised to the players as I tried to set up the team to cause a problem for the opposition.ย Because it’s a cup game we have to find a way to win the game.
“I got the balance wrong, too many players in advanced positions and in the turnover too few players to stem the attack and the opposition were very good.
“It was very difficult to get near their goal and in the second half we tried to limit the damage because the scoreline was too heavy.
“The players were very nervous but I don’t want to talk too much about individual errors.ย ย We’re playing against an outstanding team who we are most probably going to lose against because there’s too much of a gap between the quality of the two teams.
“Individual mistakes were disappointing but I needed to help the team quicker and find a way to give them more bodies behind the ball to defend.”
The challenges are coming thick and fast at the moment for Williams who takes his side to leaders Leicester on Tuesday but the last two games should have taught him much about the size of the job he has going on here with a squad of players who are simply average at best.
