Portsmouth 4-0 Swansea City – Suicidal Swans in New Year horror show

Swansea City’s 2025 started in miserable fashion this afternoon with a humiliating and convincing defeat to Portsmouth at Fratton Park.   Two goals in each half gave the home side a scoreline that the pattern of play deserved although they were well assisted by some generosity from the Swans defence.

Going into the game on the back of two home wins inside three days confidence should have been high in the Swans camp but it was soon evaporated away if that was the case with us looking very much a side suffering from a New Year hangover.

The Swans once again seemed to be their own worst enemies for helping the opposition create chances with both first half goals coming from conceding cheap possession and being punished for it.

The first was a result of Cullen losing possession from a Vigouroux pass leaving Portsmouth to break down the right hand side and a low cross into the area found Murphy totally unmarked and his first time shot gave us no chance as the home side took the lead.   Seven minutes later it was a Darling clearance that came back into the box but both Darling and Tymon seemed insistent on letting the ball bounce which gave Lane the chance to get a foot in between them and find the bottom corner of the net.  Two goals down against Pompey for the second time this season and yet again we really only had ourselves to blame.

The first half stats showed a massive possession advantage for the Swans but as we know all too well possession stats mean nothing with the goals for column showing a two goal advantage for the home side at the break.  Despite that scoreline though the Swans were not out of the game although it was going to need to take more than the first half endeavours to get back into the game.  For all the possession that we had we did very little with the ball and really never worked the home keeper in the opening period to the level that suggested we could get back into the game.

The Swans did start more brightly in the opening stages of the second half and spent most of the first fifteen minutes more on the offensive and could certainly class themselves unlucky not to pull one back when Eom and Tymon combined in the area only to see the defenders shot crash down off the underside of the cross bar and bounce harmlessly away to safety much to the home side’s relief.

That relief turned to celebration just minutes later when Portsmouth got their third of the afternoon.  A free kick wide on the left was floated into the area and Towler stooped to direct a header into the bottom corner of the net to make the scoreline 3-0 and pretty much wrap up the points on what was turning into a pretty dismal start to the new year for the Swans.

Luke Williams response was to make a double change with Christie and Peart-Harris replacing Naughton and Fulton but just a minute later the Swans boss was grateful to his keeper for a one handed save to prevent a Pompey shot going into the top corner and heaping further humiliation on his side.

The Swans had a goal disallowed with just under twenty minutes to go when Bianchini found a Grimes cross with his head but the raising of the flag cut short any celebration whilst seconds later Pompey again threatened a fourth when they screwed a shot just wide of the post after another move that saw us affording Pompey too much space in the final third of the pitch.

As the rain continued to fall on Fratton Park it was becoming more obvious that the Swans race was run and Key replaced Cabango as the Swans made their final change of the afternoon with attention turning to the weekend clash with West Brom and hopefully Ben being taken off as a precaution but there was still plenty of time for the Swans to commit yet another defensive howler.   This time it was Cyrus Christie who was the guilty party as he was robbed of cheap possession in our own area and the home side had the simple task of squaring the ball and finishing with the same ease that they had done all afternoon – Bishop this time the beneficiary of the Swans New Year generosity.

At this stage there was no real excuses that could be offered for what had turned into a real horror display from the Swans.   The team were shell shocked but having spent most of the afternoon being our own worst enemies and was quickly undoing all the hard work of the back to back home wins that preceded this fixture.

As the game headed towards the very closing stages it was all Portsmouth who were in search of another goal and you just felt that there was another one in the making with the Swans not only looking a beaten side but also seemingly running totally on empty batteries after a third game inside seven days.  You had to feel a massive dose of sympathy too with a 1,900 strong travelling contingent braving some pretty miserable weather to watch a performance that yet again was sub standard.

As the game headed into the final stages caused by four minutes of stoppage time and the Swans misery was just about complete.  There will remain no excuses for this performance and yet again our defensive frailties and ability to lose cheap possession was highlighted on an afternoon where at least three of the goals came from us conceding possession when under no real pressure to do so.

With the final run of the festive fixtures coming on Saturday we have to put this performance behind us quickly and move on but this afternoon was unacceptable on so many levels and we need to forget it quickly.

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