Last season’s outstanding performer at Swansea, Michu, managed to once again prove his worth after scoring in the 2-0 win over Crystal Palace during the weekend. This defeat was the third consecutive for Ian Holloway’s men, which has put them closer to the bottom of the table than ever. He opened the scoring after just two minutes on the clock before Nathan Dyer made the game safe for the away team. This was a very disappointing result for Ian Holloway, and the pressure on him certainly increases after this home defeat.
Newly promoted teams often need to perform well at home in order to have any chance of staying up, but the club has so far managed just one victory in the league all season. They were looking to take advantage of Swansea’s exertions in the Europa league. The away team were coming on the back of a 3-0 win over Valencia in the midweek action, but they showed no signs of slowing down with yet another impressive result. Holloway was not in the touchline to motivate his players. After the match, he criticised his players by saying that they looked like strangers on the pitch.
The former Blackpool manager was also disappointed with the lack of any positives from the match.
“I can’t see a positive thing. We were awful, so I am very disappointed. I think we were completely outplayed by a better team and there is a lot of work for us to do. I had a little go at the players because they need to show that fight and desire. We maybe showed Swansea too much respect,” said Holloway. “It’s been a great week. It’s our third game in just six days and an important win for us,” said Swansea manager Michael Laudrup after the match to BBC sport.