But it’s a nightmare for Clement and Swans
MANAGER Paul Clement admitted “toothless” Swansea are where they deserve to be after defeat by Stoke condemned them to bottom spot in the Premier League table.
Wilfried Bony gave the visitors the lead in only the third minute against his former club, but goals from Xherdan Shaqiri and Mame Diouf late in the first half earned Stoke a 2-1 victory.
A fantastic late save from Jack Butland prevented Ryan Shawcross scoring an own goal that would have given Swansea an equaliser but Clement made no attempt to sugar-coat things.
The Swans boss said: “I believe we’ve gone bottom of the table today and I can’t say that we’re unlucky. We’ve lost 10 games now, it’s not been through misfortune: ‘Oh, we’re the unluckiest team in the world’.
“We deserve to be bottom because we’re losing too many games, we’re not consistent enough through a 90-minute period.
“We started the game very well, got a good goal and after that we played some decent football until the mistake where Leroy (Fer) was dispossessed in a very dangerous area and they capitalised on that. The second goal, we’re too deep.
“Mentally we’re not in a good state. You go down having led and we didn’t play well from that point.”
Clement had described the match as a cup final, such was its importance, and the result makes next week’s home clash with West Brom absolutely critical.
“Someone asked me where we can go from there,” he said. “There’s nowhere else we can go but up.
“We’re at the bottom of the table and it’s certainly not a position we’re happy to be in. We’re a very disappointed team, club, dressing room – this is clearly a situation that is not very good. Next week is massive. Again.”
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