Swansea City vs Plymouth Argyle – 03/02/2024

Whittaker the difference maker against his old club in a disappointing home defeat for wasteful Swansea.

Luke Williams’ side looked to overtake visitors Plymouth Argyle in the league, with the Pilgrims’ currently sitting one place above them in the table. With only one win in their last five, the Swans looked to kick on into the second half of the season with a win today; but it was the former Swansea man Morgan Whittaker who dealt the vital blow to secure a 1-0 win for Argyle.

The previous fixture saw Argyle breeze past the Swans with a Morgan Whittaker hat- trick, so the visitors were hoping their star man can provide more of the same today and they got what they came for; Whittaker looked far and away the best player on the pitch and was a constant threat to the Swansea defence, making his £1m transfer from the hosts to the visitors look an absolute steal. Although January proved a troubling time for Argyle at times, with Finn Azzaz, Warrington, Cundle and Kesler- Hayden all recalled by their parent clubs along with head coach Steven Schumacher departing for Stoke, Argyle seemed organized throughout and despite late pressure, saw out the game to secure a vital away win.

Swansea’s lack of cutting edge was largely the theme of the first half, and ultimately, the entire fixture. They held a lot of the ball and had a variety of chances, but Argyle were kept in the game early on through the Swans’ failure to capitalise; and it was Morgan Whittaker who opened up the scoring against his former club from a well worked corner in the 17^th minute. Swansea defender Ben Cabango who failed to capitalise on a bit of luck early on, as the ball fell to him off a free kick, but it was blazed over and a huge chance was spurned for Swansea early on. The Swans looked largely the better side early on, but Whittaker consistently proved his class throughout the first half, with any real danger for the visitors largely through the youngster. New signing Ronald caused a bit of trouble down the right hand side at times and will count himself unlucky to come away from the fixture with no goal contributions, but with no clear chances converted, the home side went in at half time with a lot of work to do.

The second half was largely dominated by Swansea as they had a variety of big chances, with Liam Cullen’s powerful long range effort that rattled the crossbar the pick of the bunch. Swansea managed to maintain the majority of the ball and posed a danger at times to the Argyle defence, but the home side failed to get anything from the game despite an array of close efforts. Swansea were wasteful and sloppy throughout, through failed set pieces and wayward passes, in what will go down as a frustrating performance in front of their home fans. Although they had a fair share of the possession and threatened in spells, there was a distinct lack of class within the final third.

The game allowed debuts for both deadline day signings, Sagoe Jr and Placheta, who both saw long range efforts saved by Connor Hazard who had a busy but important role in the fixture. The result sees Swansea City sit in 17^th place and head coach Luke Williams will hope to turn this poor run around to ensure there’s no risk of being dragged into any sort of relegation battle. Swansea’s next fixture is away to Hull City on the 10^th of February and will be even more vital than it already was after today’s disappointing result

Luke Williams – Swansea City Head Coach

‘Frustrated that we didn’t convert really good actions into goals; when you create 19 chances, there’s no excuses to not win the game’

‘They need to make more repetitions’ on his attacking players.

‘We lose concentration, the line is not correct.’ on the goal.

‘Think it’s unfair he doesn’t have at least one assist – I’m really happy because he didn’t try to do his own thing or show off’ on Ronald’s good performance.

‘We need to concentrate on playing really well – if we create 19 chances every week, we’ll be a very unlucky team to suffer’

‘Tough fixtures coming but that’s the job, I was aware the job was going to be difficult. No feeling sorry for myself’

‘We did enough to win the game’

Ian Foster – Plymouth Argyle Head Coach

‘We’ve had to find a way of winning on the road – you have to make sacrifices to do that. That was a perfect performance today (in terms of maintaining attacking threat whilst also solid defensively).’

‘In terms of the performance – the players did everything I asked of them and I’m really proud of them.’

‘He’s been outstanding and he’s going to have to be’ on Connor Hazard.

‘Showed a wonderful togetherness and that’s what we’re trying to create.’

‘I thought our supporters were terrific today – fair play to the supporters, all 2000 of them.’

‘They’ve been outstanding and recognize that the players are playing for them’ on the fans.

‘The board have been really brave, open and transparent. He’s not a player we want to sell and he’s not a player that wants to leave’ on Morgan Whittaker and transfer rumours.

‘I took him and his partner for breakfast the day after the club turned down the bid for Lazio.’

’14 transfers in the end – we didn’t expect that as a club. We’ve got more than worthy replacements and we’re seeing them start to shine’ on new signings.

‘Bundu has a calf injury. Dan Scarr has been unwell; we’ve had a little bit of it in the camp. Joe’s (Edwards) absence is more of a football reason and the volume of games we’ve got.’