CARLOS CARVALHAL VIEW...
CARLOS Carvalhal admitted his attacking gamble against Brighton had not paid off after watching his side’s 10-match unbeaten run ended by their fellow Premier League strugglers.
Carvalhal had been unhappy with a poor start, which included Murray’s opener from the penalty spot after he had been fouled by Mike van der Hoorn, and hauled off Nathan Dyer to bring on Andre Ayew after just 35 minutes.
Luciano Narsingh came on for Van der Hoorn at the interval as Carvalhal sought a way back into the game, but they were ripped apart on the counter-attack as the Swans midfield and defence found itself over-run at the other end.
And the 52-year-old held his hands up and took responsibility, admitting his substitutions meant his side had always run the risk of being caught on the counter as they pressed for a way back into the game on a “bad day”.
“It was a day where we did individual mistakes we have not been making,” he said.
“When we were losing 1-0 I felt we had to move the things because I was not happy. I brought Andre Ayew on to try and play more in attack, we were not happy and started taking more risks with Luciano Narsingh on the right and in that period we did well and nearly scored twice.
“In that moment the side was strong so we took a further risk, we were not happy to lose and we wanted to try and win and we made a high bet and in that moment you can make a lot of money, or you can lose a lot of money.
“We put Tammy Abraham on for a midfielder and we knew, with that risk, if we achieved a goal we can win the game, that was our proposal.
“But we knew it opened us up to counter-attacks and if they got the second it would be very difficult.
“So I have to be critical of myself, I took the risk and maybe the risk with Tammy is one I could have waited to take until the last 10 minutes, but I took the decision in that moment as the manager.
“If we had scored and we win the game, the manager is a genius. If we don’t and we lose then things are not as we want. We made a big bet, and today we lost.”