Immense Sigurdsson gives Bradley hope of beating relegation
THERE will come a point next summer, if Swansea somehow pull off the escape, that the usual bonuses for survival will be shared among the squad.
If the others had any selfawareness they’d see to it that Gylfi Sigurdsson walks away with the majority of the loot.
That is not to say Swansea will stay up. Their deficiencies are such that they are still more likely to go down. But they are off the bottom, out of the relegation zone and have a fighting chance, most of which is down to the one legitimately excellent player in their squad.
Certainly, Sigurdsson has had help at sporadic moments during the season from Leon Britton and increasingly support is coming from Fernando Llorente, a World Cup winner who scored twice here to make it four goals in three games.
But it is the Icelander who is not only steering the old ship but also, on occasion, jumping off the back and pushing it as well.
He scored the penalty that put them ahead in this vitally important match and then it was his quick-thinking that made Llorente’s first.
For some context, in Swansea’s last eight games, during which so many of the squad have looked hopelessly uninterested, he has scored four and made four. In the calendar year, taking in last season’s escape, he has 15 goals. Those are the numbers of a man with much of a club’s weight on his back.
To that end, Bob Bradley owes him so much, given that there are plenty among the Swansea support who question the American’s appointment as manager.
Two Sigurdssoninspired wins in his last three gives the situation a far brighter outlook.
Bradley said: ‘Gylfi’s been very good throughout the season. I look at the eight matches since I arrived — he’s had a hand in so many goals, he’s mobile, his eye for passes, his set-piece work, he’s an important part of our attacking play, and he doesn’t get credit for the defensive work. Even in this game, he comes back, puts pressure on the defenders. ‘He is immense.’ On the wider situation of Swansea’s season, Bradley added: ‘It’s a nice bonus to be out of the bottom three, but the work is still there and we can’t get ahead of ourselves.
‘Players used the word pride a lot when we talked this week. We asked what it looks like on the pitch — intensity, clean sheets. Don’t just talk about it, turn it into something more. At the end of that, you can look at the table for a few seconds and say you’re not there yet, but it looks better than last week and we can move forward.’
As for Sunderland, this was an exercise in quickly changing narratives. They had won three of their previous four games and David Moyes looked to have turned a corner. But just like that, they sit bottom of the table again, replacing the team that beat them. Not many of their performances will have been as weak as this one.
They briefly threatened in a dire first half, by virtue of the fact that of two struggling sides they were the marginally less poor. A classic relegation scrap in that sense. But when Sunderland did make two chances for Jermain Defoe, he failed to finish, with one early drive going over the bar and a second effort in the first half being smothered.
By that point, Sunderland were shading the game, but it all turned on the penalty awarded by Craig Pawson six minutes after the break. Moyes felt the penalty was harsh, given the lack of distance between Jason Denayer and Wayne Routledge when the former handled the latter’s cross.
The Sunderland manager said: ‘He turns his back and it hits his arm. I think it was harsh and it turns the game. We were hanging in and it didn’t go for us.’
Sigurdsson buried the 51st-minute penalty and then three minutes later hit a low corner to Llorente, who glanced Swansea’s second. A Jefferson Montero cross after 80 minutes gave Spain striker Llorente an easy header for his fifth of the season.
Bradley said: ‘We absolutely believed Fernando can be an important player. There’s a good understanding with Gylfi playing underneath him. His presence, his experience as a winner. Every manager loves players who have been part of winning teams.
‘They have the right mentality and can bring experiences from that winning culture into the dressing room.’
Moyes looked ready to kill. Bradley looked as though his luck might have finally changed.