By Paul Jones
Swansea City boss Luke Williams hailed a near-perfect performance as his side coasted to a 3-0 victory over QPR.
The Hoops’ seven-match unbeaten run, which had lifted them off the bottom of the Championship table and up to 14th, came to a crashing end as they were comprehensively outplayed.
The home fans at the Swansea.Com Stadium had three goals to cheer before the break as their side totally dominated proceedings from the off, enjoying 85 per cent possession in the opening 45 minutes.
It enabled Luke Williams’ side to rise two places to 10th and end a run of three games without a win at home.
“The first half was near perfection and if we perform like that, I am going to be very happy. I thought it was an excellent performance,” said Williams, who left the pre-match and half-time talks to club captain Matt Grimes.
“We were terrified of QPR because they are one of the most in-form teams in the last six or seven games, so we really tried to focus on getting the correct performance because maybe we took our eye off that.
“I think we got a bit close to the play-offs and it got a bit scary and maybe we lost sight of performing in the correct way. We certainly didn’t disappoint ourselves with our performance today.
“We managed to get a foothold in the game and performed to a really high level.
GET INN #SWAvQPR | @SkyBetChamp pic.twitter.com/CHfhCCvDdW
— Swansea City AFC (@SwansOfficial) December 26, 2024
Certainly today was one of the best examples of how we should play.”
Williams put a lot of the success on the pitch down to attitude and performance of Grimes and added: “It stunk of a performance inspired by our captain.”
QPR manager Marti Cifuentes made three changes at the break and is hoping for an improved performance against Norwich at the weekend.
“It was a disappointing first half. We knew Swansea would try to start strongly and they are a side that likes to control possession,” said Cifuentes “We knew we needed to defend out box well because they are a team that likes to
cross a lot, but we were late in the duels and gave them the extra second that makes the difference in quality players breaking the lines.
“Our first half was very poor and we weren’t at the level we were in our last few games. We gave them the opportunities to score.
“The second half was about showing pride and to compete for the fans who had travelled. We made a step forward.
“We have to move on. I prefer to lose one game 3-0 than three games 1-0, and hopefully today is just a bad game and we can recover for Norwich.”
“I thought it was a fantastic performance. It was a brilliant performance and I am very happy.”
The gaffer reflects on this afternoon’s win ️
https://t.co/XgmnrioK0o pic.twitter.com/3skoUSYlnj
— Swansea City AFC (@SwansOfficial) December 26, 2024
Despite the fact QPR came into the game on the back of a seven match unbeaten run that had seen them move off the bottom into 14th place they were given the complete run-around in a first half totally dominated by the home side.
Swansea enjoyed 85 per cent possession in the opening 45 minutes, had eight shots on target and scored three goals. It was one-way traffic with the R’s not managing a shot in return.
The alarm bells began ringing in the visitors’ defence in the ninth minute when a Liam Cullen cross to the far post was put behind as Ronald closed in looking to open the scoring. The first goal came three minutes later when a low cross from Ronald was turned in by Cullen.
That was the Welsh international’s seventh goal of the season for his club and his fifth in eight for Swans. He was not finished there, either.
Just before the half-hour mark he swept across the six-yard box to sublimely turn in another cross from the right, this time from Josh Key. That made it seven in his last nine outings, including international football for Wales.
Cullen had a hand in the third goal three minutes later as he ran into the box after a clever a pass by Jisung Eom. His shot from a wide angle was parried away by QPR keeper Paul Nardi, but only into the path of Goncalo Franco.
The Portuguese midfielder simply volleyed home inside the six-yard box to claim his first goal for the club he joined in the summer. It should have been 4-0 at the break after Florian Biachchini went through one-on-one with Nardi, but he missed his touch and QPR were saved.
QPR boss Marti Cifuentes, who had claimed the weekend win over Preston had been their best performance of the season, made three changes as he threw on Ilias Chair, Harrison Ashby and Nicolas Madsen to try to make a difference.
They helped to get their team higher up the pitch, but the first shot of the second half came from Key. The first shot for QPR came in the 80th minute from Ashby, but it was deflected away for a corner.
Zan Vipotnik hit the side netting for the home side in the 83rd minute after a Cullen through ball, but the scoreline remained the same as at half-time as QPR dropped two places to 16th and Swansea move up to 10th.
