By Paul Jones
Steve Cooper refused to blame fatigue for Swansea City’s 3-0 defeat at Bournemouth which has left his team struggling to keep pace with the top two clubs in the Championship.
A poor defensive display and inadequate response to falling 2-0 down by half-time saw the Swans fall to their first defeat in five matches.
Philip Billing’s blistering early strike, an own goal from defender Joel Latibeaudiere and Arnaut Danjuma’s thumping late finish helped revive Bournemouth’s play-off ambitions.
The only real bright spot for the visitors was the impact made by substitute Morgan Whittaker who forced Asmir Begovic into a couple of good saves after coming on at half-time.
The loss leaves Cooper’s side three points adrift of second-place Watford – who earned a thumping 4-1 win at Rotherham – with the South Wales derby at home to Cardiff City now looming. The Swans, though, do have a game in hand on the Hornets.
Since they were knocked out of the FA Cup by Manchester City, Swansea have played nine matches and the clash against the Bluebirds will make it 10 in just 31 days.
But Cooper insisted it was mistakes in defending and a lack of drive up front that cost his team – not heavy legs from the schedule.
“It’s been tough,” he said. “Saturday will be our 10th game in 31 days. This was our third away game on the trot,” added the head coach.
“But I’m not going to make excuses. There’s a bigger picture here, and that’s why we’ve got to back ourselves to defend our box well and to take risks up the pitch because in between there was enough decent play.
“The first two goals were everything I don’t want the team to be, and the players will know that.
“The first goal is a free cross, no-one is marking in the box and it’s a soft finish. The second goal is a first contact off a corner which we do a lot of work on, so if you don’t do those basics well you run the risk of conceding soft goals, and that’s what we did.
“We also got into enough good positions with the ball and did not back ourselves to really be the threat we should be in terms of creating and scoring.
“In the end, we have turned over another ball and given away a soft third goal, which can happen when you have lots of attacking players on the pitch and you are trying to get back into the game.
“We did have chances, Morgan did well and Begovic has made some good saves. There was enough good play between the boxes, but we did not do enough in them.
“You get what you deserve then, don’t you?”
The Cherries came into the game five points adrift of the play-off places after losing 3-2 at home to Barnsley on Saturday.
Jonathan Woodgate’s men dominated the first half, with former Arsenal midfielder Jack Wilshere particularly impressive in midfield.
Billing had already seen a shot blocked when he opened the scoring in sensational fashion in the ninth minute.
Holland midfielder Danjuma raced away down the left wing before cutting the cross back for the unmarked Billing to plant a stunning left-footed volley into the net.
Two minutes later Dominic Solanke saw his effort deflected behind for a corner before both Junior Stanislas and Danjuma both blazed over in promising positions.
Swansea managed 5 on target goal attempts (one a penalty, two from young Whittaker – a Cooper after-thought) at Blackburn, Luton and Bournemouth. Startling for team chasing automatic promotion.
— Phil Blanche (@philblanche) March 16, 2021
Billing then linked up neatly with Solanke, who was only denied a strike at goal by Kyle Naughton’s well-timed tackle.
Bournemouth doubled their lead in first-half stoppage time when Danjuma’s corner hit Latibeaudiere on the back, sending the ball spinning into his own net.
It would have been game over 10 minutes into the second half but for a good save from Swansea goalkeeper Freddie Woodman.
Danjuma whipped in a teasing free-kick which was met by a powerful header from Cameron Carter-Vickers but Woodman managed to claw the ball over the crossbar for a corner.
Danjuma sealed the points three minutes from time with a thunderous left-foot drive into the top corner after Billing had deftly laid the ball into his path.
