MR BOJANGOALS!
Krkic’s penalty seals fourth win on the trot for resurgent Stoke
Bojan KrKic sank Swansea with a penalty on the anniversary of one of last season’s biggest ‘cheat’ rows, but this time there were no complaints from Garry Monk.
When these teams met in Stoke on the same date last year a win for Mark Hughes’ team was eclipsed by Monk’s fury that Victor Moses had dived for a penalty.
Twelve months on in south Wales and the game was less than three minutes old when Bojan tumbled over to win a penalty from which he fired in the only goal of a fiery game.
This time the decision was not nearly so controversial.
‘it’s a foul, it’s a penalty,’ shrugged Monk, who preferred to criticise his players for making mistakes and allowing their levels to drop.
Swansea have lost their impetus, their fluency and the confidence since taking four points from chelsea and Manchester United in august. Monk has issues to tackle as he heads to aston Villa, on Saturday, where Tim Sherwood is under pressure.
Swansea dominated possession in the second half but never opened up Stoke, and jonjo Shelvey was closest to an equaliser when he hit a post.
Monk’s team have not won in six since beating United, while Stoke’s revival continues with four wins in a row. after a sluggish start, Hughes has created a solid platform on which his mercurial attacking forces can perform.
His central defenders were well shielded, and Glen johnson, rarely credited for his defensive acumen, silenced the threatening pace and trickery of jefferson Montero.
They protected their lead engineered by Bojan when he skated through a sparsely populated midfield and feinted past Federico Fernandez as if the giant argentine were not there.
inside the penalty area, he slid past ashley Williams, too, but the Swansea captain turned to track the run. Bojan, aware of his presence, let Williams get back within touching distance before waiting for contact and tumbling over in a clatter of boots.
referee Bobby Madley pointed to the spot and Bojan climbed to his feet to crash the spot-kick into the top corner.
Madley again infuriated the Swansea supporters when Stoke keeper jack Butland miskicked a clearance to andre ayew and then hurtled from his penalty area to make amends. Butland lunged into a tackle with a foot high and studs on show and ayew took evasive action. Madley played on.
Butland admitted he might have got away with it. ‘it could have gone against us,’ said Hughes. ‘if that’s a bit of luck, we’ll take it. But i didn’t appreciate it being shown on the screens around the stadium.’
replays also showed Marko arnautovic might have had a claim for another penalty as Fernandez tugged at his shirt.
Swansea played with more purpose after the restart but failed to penetrate a well organised defence unit. Shelvey beat Butland with a low drive from an acute angle, but the ball thumped into the inside of the post and bounced to safety.
Monk sent on Gylfi Sigurdsson and Ki Sung-yueng. Sigurdsson went close from 30 yards, and Ki missed the final chance of the night when he mistimed a header.