Swansea City manager Paul Clement insists that the scoreline did not fully reflect the story as he watched his side go down 4-0 to Manchester United.
A late blitz of goals from United made the game look thoroughly one-sided, but for long stretches, while the score was still 1-0, Swansea conducted themselves admirably.
“We were competitive for long periods of the game – right up until the second goal,” Clement said.“The difference between the sides for a long time was a set-play. Although we had to defend more than they did, I thought our shape was good and we didn’t let them have any real clear-cut chances.
“We are disappointed about the way we defended the set-play. We have a really good record defending set-plays – we only conceded one after I came in last season – so to concede in that fashion was disappointing.
“But there were enough good things in the first half for me to say at half-time that we were still very much in the game and must not let our confidence get affected.
“That was the case right up until the second goal.
“Whereas last week at Southampton I was more disappointed with the performance than the result, today I am more disappointed with the result rather than some of the things we did.
“I think the supporters felt that way too. I think they were happy with some of the things they saw up until the second goal.”
However, Clement admitted that his side could have done more to prevent their late capitulation as United ran away with it thanks to a quick-fire triple from Romelu Lukaku, Paul Pogba and Anthony Martial.
I don’t want to be a coach who is happy losing 1-0, so I made some offensive changes,” Clement added.
“But the second goal we gave them was a gift. We missed a couple of tackles in midfield and then we were out of position at the back and they punished us.
“The third goal was a loose pass. They are so strong on the counter and they showed it again.
“The first goal is always important in this league. Jose (Mourinho) has shown over the years that when his team go 1-0 up, they manage games so well.
“They know the other team will have to come out and in the end they punished us.”
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