Swansea City manager Francesco Guidolin has admitted he would have replaced Fernando Llorente with Borja Baston against Hull, had the club’s record signing been fit.
Instead, £15.5m striker Borja watched Saturday’s 2-0 home defeat to Hull City from the sidelines, just a few rows in front of new owners Steve Kaplan and Jason Levien.
Guidolin made his apologies to the Americans for failing to provide them with a winning home start, but revealed he would have substituted Llorente if his fellow Spaniard Borja not been unavailable because of a thigh problem.
“Fernando needs time to understand our ways and the Premier League. It’s normal because he has just arrived,” said Guidolin.
“If I had the possibility of playing with Borja in the last 20 minutes, I would have done. It’s normal for Fernando to be tired.”
Former Atletico Madrid and Juventus striker Llorente gave a laboured performance up front and looked an isolated figure for much of the match.
Borja, however, will not have recovered in time for the Swans’ next game against Peterborough, away, in the League Cup on Tuesday.
Neither is he considered a likely prospect to finally make his debut for another three weeks.
Guidolin added: “We didn’t deserve to lose because we attacked for 95 minutes. Hull defended for 93 minutes, with 11 players behind the ball. And with an attitude that kept them behind the ball.
“We had to be quicker, but it’s not easy when a team has 11 players in their half. It’s difficult. We tried everything – to go wide, down the middle, but we risked the counter-attack.
“But there are no excuses. It’s a step back and we have to return to our work on the training field. Our job to accept it. I am disappointed but tomorrow is another day. We now have to prepare for the game against Peterborough.”
Hull caretaker manager Mike Phelan said his team’s victory was based on a careful analysis of their opponents’ weaknesses and how to expose them.
Phelan said: “The players have stuck to the task of being resilient and dogged. We forced Swansea to do things they don’t normally want to do.”
“There are two sides to a game of football, in and out of possession. We knew what Swansea would do with the ball and it was about conserving energy.
“We wanted to get to 75 minutes and kick on from there, it worked really well.”
