Report – Swansea City 1-2 Spurs

Swansea City suffered only their second home defeat of the season as they`re still in search of a Premier League win against Spurs, who scored a late winner at the Liberty Stadium to take all three points.

It was a dream start for the visitors when Kane headed home a corner at the far post, and from then on, Spurs controlled large parts of the opening half.

Garry Monk made just two changes to the side that lost at West Ham United last weekend. Gerhard Tremmel had to come in for the suspended Lucas Fabianski, while Neil Taylor returned at left back following his one-match ban.

Spurs` sharp passing and movement, and constant pressing when they didn`t have the ball proved too difficult for the hosts early on and they couldn`t get into any rhythm or enjoy their usual home comforts.

Despite Spurs` control and Swansea`s sloppiness in the first half, it was the latter to create more clear cut chances on goal, but the hosts were again lacking quality where it really counted.

Jefferson Montero did well to put Bony in following a good forward run, but former Swan Ben Davies made a vital challenge before he was able to pull the trigger. Wayne Routledge was also able to get some good crosses in behind the Spurs defence, one of which saw Lloris pull off a superb save to deny Bony once again.

The striker also went close when his shot from Rangel`s cut back cross was deflected just wide of the post. Spurs meanwhile saw Kane fire low and wide from distance and Ben Davies` cross-come-shot was easily picked up by Tremmel was as about as good as it got for the visitors following their opener.

The Swans should have been level at the break to give themselves a far better platform to try and go on and win it in the second half, but it never came.

Thankfully though, they made a very bright start to the second half. It took them just three minutes after the restart to put the scores level.

Rangel lobbed a lovely pass down the right for Routledge to chase. He volleyed across for Bony to shoot from close range, his initial effort was blocked but he was easily to tap home.

It looked like it was roles reversed in the second half. Spurs` high pressing game and sharpness had suddenly disappeared and it was Swansea with their tails up and in control.

The visitors started to back off, they sat deeper and invited the hosts to attack and go in search of a second.

Swansea City were making use of their wide men Montero and Routledge, stretching Spurs who defended rather narrowly. Montero created a chance for Ki but he headed well over from close range while Routledge played in Bony but his shot was blocked away.

Swansea`s pressure was relentless but they were still lacking that clinical edge to go into a deserved lead.

It took Spurs fifteen minutes at least to create a chance of their own, as they mostly relied on counter attacking moves and set pieces. They slowly started to get more involved but it was the Swans who always looked more likely to get a winner.

Garry Monk made a couple of changes during the second half. Leon Britton made way for Jonjo Shelvey to add a little more to our attacking play, while Jazz Richards replaced Angel Rangel at right back after 70 minutes. The latter decision was a puzzling one. You tend to only swap defenders when they`re either struggling with a knock or tiredness, they`re performing badly or they`re at risk of getting sent off having picked up a yellow card, but none of these factors could be explained for taking the Spaniard off.

It was a similar second half to the one against QPR in a way. Swansea dominated long periods, create enough chances to score whilst looking safe and sound at the other end. The goal never came though and it looked like they`d have to settle for a decent point against a talented Tottenham Hotspur team.

With just a minute of normal time remaining, Spurs got a goal out of nowhere. Kyle Bartley`s attempted long ball forward allows the visiting side to break forward. A long shot is parried by Tremmel, and before he can pick the ball up, Jazz Richards takes over as a precaution. He delays an attempted clearance from the by-line, by doing so puts himself under even more pressure. His punt away lands at Ben Davies` feet, and the former Swan squares the ball to Eriksen to fire in a low shot past the goalkeeper and into the left corner of the net.

Swansea City lost that game all by themselves. Spurs didn`t do enough in the second half to go and deserve all three points with the scores level 1-1 at the break. You could also say that the Swans themselves didn`t deserve the victory due to not taking their chances and both managers would have probably been reasonably happy to take a share of the points.

It wasn`t to be, and the Swans again have some lessons to learn if they want to see their form improve. Taking the chances is the key one, as you can imagine that an error like Jazz`s won`t happen very often.