Ki’s late life-saver puts Swansea in calmer waters
CARLOS CARVALHAL spoke ahead of this game about how Swansea were fighting to keep their heads above water in the Premier League relegation scrap as the sharks circled.
Yesterday, Ki Sung-yueng biffed one of the sharks squarely on the nose and set Swansea swimming for the beach.
Granted, it’s no more than a doggy-paddle pace at the moment but perhaps safety is slowly moving into view on the horizon.
There’s no telling how significant the South Korean’s 81st-minute winner — a goal that ended a personal drought dating back to May 2016 — will prove come the end of the season as they rose to 15th place. But Carvalhal was more than happy to continue his latest colourful analogy: ‘We were really deep in the ocean, very dark, no fishes.
‘As we started winning some games, against Arsenal and Liverpool, we put our nose out above the water line to breathe and for the first time we smelled the fresh air.
‘In this moment, we start swimming a little and know the direction to the coast. We must continue to swim.’
This fixture was often as drab as the drizzly weather, but the decisive moment eventually came.
Ben Mee’s attempted clearance could only find Tom Carroll and he located Tom Naughton, who drove into the box.
Rolling the ball into a pocket of space on the edge of the box, it eventually found its way to Ki, who swerved to the right to work a shooting angle and rifled the ball into the bottom corner. The Liberty Stadium erupted in jubilation and relief. In the final, tense minutes the home fans sang the ‘Great Escape’ theme and ‘Carvalhal’s barmy army’.
And why not? The Portuguese has now taken 14 points from the seven Premier League matches he has taken charge of, transforming the complexion of Swansea’s season.
It may not have been as eye-catching as the recent wins over Liverpool and Arsenal, but it could prove every bit as important.
For Sean Dyche’s Burnley, now winless in 10 league outings, it was three points passed up.
Their directness meant they had all the best openings, but a clinical finish evaded them. In the first half, Sam Vokes sent an effort inches wide of Lukasz Fabianski’s goal, then Ashley Barnes sent a dipping shot just over.
After the break, Barnes curled a 25-yard shot narrowly wide and Fabianski touched over a goal-bound Johann Berg Gudmundsson strike. But you always felt the game was there for Swansea to grasp and Ki did just that.
‘There wasn’t a lot in the game and arguably we had the better share of the chances,’ said Dyche.
‘The margins are so tight and you’ve got to find a way of getting on the right side of them. We’ve got to stick at it.’