Clement admits his side are still a little way behind in preparations
SWANSEA City boss Paul Clement admitted his side are “a little bit behind” where he wants them to be in their pre-season preparations after ending their US tour with a draw against North Carolina FC.
The Swans had more than enough chances to end their 10-day spell in the States with victory over their second-tier NASL opponents.
But they failed to convert a single opportunity from a number of promising positions, with Leroy Fer and Jordan Ayew going closest to breaking the deadlock.
Clement and his side will now return to work at their Fairwood base in South Wales with less than three weeks remaining before they face Southampton on the opening day of the new Premier League season.
Fixtures against Birmingham and Sampdoria lie ahead before the St Mary’s clash, but the head coach was honest in his assessment of how his players are currently faring against his own expectations.
“We have put in a good shift physically during our 10 days here, but I think we are a bit behind where I would like us to be at this point, with three weeks to the first game as of today (Saturday).
“We go back to Swansea and push ahead with training and two more games before we start at Southampton.”
He added: “It is tough in the heat and humidity and it will help us going back to Swansea on our new pitches there and in conditions we are more accustomed to.
“This time of year here it is hot and humid, but that is no excuse, and the organisation and where we have worked has been good.
“In the majority of cases we got what we wanted, I learnt a lot about our team, what we need to work on and the individual players.
“That’s what pre-season is about, it’s about learning what we have to work on, where we need to strengthen the team so that when we start against Southampton we are ready.”
Clement was at a loss to explain how his side had not come up with a winner at the WakeMed Soccer Park, and also felt his side’s standard of play had slipped badly after they had made a bright start to the game.
“We made hard work of the game at times tonight,” he said.
“I was encouraged by the start we made, we had a good control of the game and we looked like we would be a real threat.
“We got in behind them early on, but for some reason our level of play deteriorated.
“In the second half we started okay.
“Then I made the changes and it became very stretched and disorganised in the end – it was almost like a basketball game with it going end to end.
“I am surprised it ended 0-0 because we had a lot of chances. They played three different goalkeepers and each of them pulled off many saves.
“It is unbelievable we didn’t convert any of our chances.
“We limited them to one good opportunity in the first half and a half chance in the second half, so that was an encouraging element of our game.”
Clement confirmed Kyle Bartley’s lack of involvement in the game was due to a minor hamstring injury, with the former Derby boss electing not to risk the centre-half as Federico Fernandez played the full 90 minutes.