Shaky Swansea back in mire after Mawson slip
PAUL CLEMENT shook his head. One shake per goal, one shake for each of the reminders that any bet on Swansea City to stay up this season would be a risky one.
Just as they seemed to be pulling their way clear of that relegation mess, they came up with a pair of quite dreadful defeats to fall back into sight of the bottom three again.
This one was not quite so dire as what happened in Hull a week ago, but it was woefully weak nonetheless, given it was an evening when they faced another team from the bottom half of the table and managed just a single shot on goal.
What will particularly sting is that Bournemouth did not have to be good to win. One of their goals came from a heavy deflection off Alfie Mawson and the second came when the same defender slipped and fell on his backside, allowing Benik Afobe a clean strike at goal.
That is what Swansea’s defence is this season — a tumbling mess. They have conceded in all manner of ways, from good goals to the ugly — 63 in 29 games is simply not good enough. And that is why, more than anything else, Clement has some way still to go to pull off what would rank as a deeply impressive escape as the club’s third manager this season.
Eddie Howe, meanwhile, is almost there. Just like the win over West Ham a week ago, his side got their job done. This was less pretty, but they have found grit to go with their aesthetics.
Curiously, they are doing it without Jack Wilshere at the moment, given the midfielder was again left out of the starting XI just one day after Howe questioned his omission from the England squad. When you are winning, these issues matter less.
Bournemouth were helped greatly by Clement needing to field a makeshift defence after losing Angel Rangel and Martin Olsson to injuries at Hull. In particular, midfielder Leroy Fer stood out like a sore thumb at right-back. Within the first minute, Bournemouth had launched two dangerous attacks down Fer’s flank and inside 15 they had seen both Ryan Fraser and Afobe go close.
Their breakthrough came on 31 minutes, with Afobe’s shot striking Mawson and rerouting itself from one corner to the other.
Swansea’s response? Precious little beyond a Gyfli Sigurdsson drive tipped wide by Artur Boruc and a couple of muffled attacks in the second half.
The win was wrapped up 18 minutes from time, Josh King playing in Afobe, who was given space by Mawson’s slip to finish past Lukasz Fabianski. BOURNEMOUTH (4-4-2): Boruc 6.5; A.Smith 6.5, Francis 6.5, S Cook 7, Daniels 6; Fraser 7 (Wilshere 74min, 6), Surman 7, Gosling 7, Pugh 7; King 7 (Gradel 90), Afobe 7.5. Subs (not used): Allsop, Cargill, Smith, Ibe, L Cook. SWANSEA (4-3-3): Fabianski 6.5; Fer 5, Fernandez 6, Mawson 5, Kingsley 6; Ki 5 (Routledge 67, 6), Cork 6, Carroll 6; Ayew 6 (Narsingh 56), Llorente 5.5 (Borja 83), Sigurdsson 6.5. Subs (not used): Nordtfeldt, Amat, Britton, Roberts. BOOKED: Ki. Referee: M Dean 6.5.