Clement: Our Football Was a Lot Better Today

Swansea City head coach Paul Clement felt that his side’s football was ‘a lot better today’ despite a late 1-0 less at West Ham United.

Clement was under pressure this week to adopt a more positive line-up, as he switched to a diamond from a 3-5-2, putting Abraham and Bony up front together in front of Jordan Ayew. He also brought Leon Britton back in as well as Renato Sanches, as Leroy Fer and Martin Olsson dropped to the bench.

Like Clement said, his side had good control in the first half and dominated possession, but they had very little to show for it in terms of chances, as they only managed to add one to their already very low shots on target tally for the season.

The Swans were dealt a sucker blow in the 90th minute, as Sakho slid in at the far post to convert a low cross from close range.

Clement said:

“It`s a hard feeling knowing we are going away with nothing,”

“The least we deserved today was a draw. I can`t say we deserved to win, although in the first half we had good control and passed the ball well but didn`t create enough.

“It`s always difficult to lose a game so late on. We have kept clean sheets at Southampton, Crystal Palace and Tottenham and we were very close to doing that again.

“That`s a good foundation, but we have got to create more chances and score some goals. We are not doing that at the moment.”

“It`s frustrating because I thought our football was a lot better today,”

“I said that after Watford – let`s get back to our identity, what we are good at. This club have shown that for many years and we showed it in the last five months of last season.

‘hopeless ball into the box’

Clement picked out the problems for the Swans up front:

“We passed the ball well. We moved it well through the thirds and then there was a hopeless ball into the box.

“The front players were not ready, or the midfielders were not looking to combine with the front players, or the front players were too static.”

“The front players have to do better,”

“Even on a day when they are not getting much service, they have to battle away until they get that opportunity.

“Or they have to create something themselves. Good strikers carve out opportunities for themselves, whether it`s a good run or some individual skill.

“They can also create chances for other strikers with a good pass or a good interchange, but we haven`t got that at the moment.

“I have got complete confidence in the players we have. I feel they can do it, but at the moment work on the training ground and what we are doing on the pitch are not connected.

“We have to get those things connected.”

Clement may like to think that the football was a lot better today, but for me – that just shows how awful we were last weekend. Yes, we were passing better in the middle third and in our own half, but we lacked any creativity or attacking ideas as the ball moved closer to the final third.

It was poor again and some fans are already questioning Clement’s managerial position. It’s premature to be thinking that now in my opinion, but we can’t still be struggling to even get shots on target in a few games’ time.