Phil Sumbler
The dust had barely settled on the Swans capitulation at home to Sunderland when Luke Williams referred to the wake-up call that the result should be giving him and his side.
The reality is that an electric start that gives you a two goal advantage – and it could have been more – was long forgotten by the side Sunderland waltzed through a generous Swansea defence twice in two minutes in the second half to take the points back to the North East.
The Swans were their own worst enemies, gradually dropping further and further deep in the second half and it really little surprise when that was punished to give away all the points. And Luke can call it a wake up call, which he is of course right to do, but the stark fact is this is not the first time we have just thrown it away this season. Stoppage time goals against Millwall, Burnley and Leeds will all be remembered as what may have been but on each of those occasions we ended the game inviting pressure and leaving gaps in the middle of the defence to be exploited.
And that is not so much of a wake up call as the definition of insanity playing its way through and, at a time when goals seem to be coming from the squad, Williams should be more worried about the generosity of his defence that looked so strong in the opening ten games of the season.
“We had some success in the first half, really trying to establish ourselves on the game, and we managed to do that well enough,” said Williams. “But then there was a mentality that we had done enough. We tried to coast across the line for 55 minutes or something.
“That’s a ridiculous thing to do in a game, but there is a reason for that, in the traits of a top side you do not see that.
“You have to be relentless, the opposition were fighting blow for blow with us in the second half, but in the second 45 minutes they continued and we stopped. In that situation, the gap becomes very, very obvious. To be clear, I am talking about the difference between the top sides and the rest of us, and that was what was on show.
“We know where we are, and if we think we think we are going to be a top-six side then we have to realise we have got a way to go. It’s a wake up call, without a doubt.”
Not surprisingly in the opposite dug out there was a very happy Régis Le Bris when he was asked for his own post-match view. The job of a football manager must be very easy when you have turned around a result on the road in the way the Black Cats did but the character of his time was something that he signalled out for praise when undertaking his post match comments
“I’m happy to win this afternoon, even though we started in the worst possible way. I was confident because I knew we had good qualities, a solid game plan, and, in the end, it came down to character and belief in our style of play.
“This is a good sign for us. In the last five, six, or seven games, we’ve been dominant but struggled to score. Today, we showed the character within this team, which is so important for the future. We are building strong foundations. We have such a young team, and it’s not always easy to build a squad capable of handling so many challenges. But with time, we are getting there.
“We deserved to win today against a very specific style of play. We performed well in many phases of the game and showed we were determined to win.”
