Clement slams Swansea defending: ‘It was not good enough’

Matthew Briggs

Swansea boss Paul Clement said his side’s defending was “not good enough” as they lost 2-1 at relegation rivals Hull.

The Swans are now just three points above today’s opponents in the final relegation spot as Clement made it clear that his men were not yet safe of avoiding the drop.

Oumar Niasse stepped off the substitutes’ bench to score twice for Hull and while Alfie Mawson ensured a nervous finish it was not enough for the Swans, who saw Martin Olsson and Fernando Llorente injured.

“The way we defended was not good enough. For long periods we looked like we were in control of the game and we were creating opportunities on the counter-attack,” Clement said

“Two injuries in the first half have hurt us and in the second half we were limited to what we could do. Martin Olsson got hurt and we had to play with an injured player for the rest of the game. Overall we have to be disappointed with how they scored and how open we were.

“Fernando Llorente has been a key player to us recently and gives us lots of different threats, I don’t think it is serious, I think he has a dead leg, Angel Rangel’s is an injury to the ankle, I’m not sure how serious that one is. Martin got a knock on his ankle, he was not 100% but was able to continue.

“There’s a lot of football to be played. I didn’t think we were anywhere near safe and we are not anywhere near safe now. We have 10 games to go and have to bounce back next week against Bournemouth.”