AFC Bournemouth defender Simon Francis didn’t hold back with his thoughts on Swansea City’s performance at the Vitality Stadium on Saturday, a game that he felt the Swans had pretty much written off ahead of Tuesday’s crunch match at home against Southampton.
It was a game that was dubbed as the first of three cup finals, but it was anything but from a Swansea perspective.
Bournemouth were desperate to end a poor run of results and put on a show in their final home game. Eddie Howe’s side got off to a quick start and had two clear chances in the opening five minutes, as Fernandez had to make two last-ditch tackles to keep things at 0-0 early on.
Francis gave an honest and frank assessment of Swansea’s performance and approach to the game and admitted that he was surprised with how we played. Not so many Swans fans were surprised though, that’s how we play away from home these days.
‘I felt at times they bypassed this game as a must-win. I think they think Southampton is their Cup Final.
I did not feel they bombarded us and committed players forward. On Tuesday they will have to go and win.
I was slightly surprised by how they played. At this time of year, they might have gone for it a bit more.’ – Simon Francis
No, we didn’t bombard them or commit enough players forward, but that’s what Carvalhal has done away from home, pretty much ever since his tactical changes in the 4-1 defeat at Brighton & Hove Albion backfired massively.
Tuesday is now the big one, and we’ve got to be far more positive and attacking right from the first whistle. Sitting deeper and hoping to keep things at 0-0 going into the second half just isn’t working, and it’s no surprise at all that we’re back suffering from a poor run of form that could be compared to when Paul Clement was still here. A severe lack of goals and wins after what was such a superb and promising start from Carlos. You can’t help but feel now that we’re throwing away what was such a good position to be in – 5 points clear of the drop is now 0.
