Swansea City put on a stellar performance as the Premier League returned to Liberty Stadium for 2015-16, after a comfortable 2-0 victory over Newcastle United.
The game seemed decided after 41 minutes when Daryl Janmaat earned his second yellow card with his team trailing by a goal. The opener came early in the match, Jonjo Shelvey threading an impressive through ball for Bafetimbi Gomis who had no issues beating Tim Krul with nine minutes played. Swansea continued pilling on the pressure, with rhapsodic Jefferson Montero hitting the post and Gylfi Sigurdsson shooting from distance.
Newcastle had only real opportunity, when Gabriel Obertan tried from the left-side midway through the first-half, but the Toon were able to cause much more trouble. The second-half was a walk for Garry Monk’s excited side, and Montero did great when completed a deadly accurate cross for Jordan Ayew to score his second goal of the season. The Magpies even spent 30 minutes without striker, when Papiss Cisse was replaced by Ronaldo Aarons, remaining unable to create a proper chance from thereon out.
Swansea City
Lukasz Fabianski – 7: The Polish goalkeeper had a couple of solid saves, but in general did not have too much of a job to do
Kyle Naughton – 7: Had more of an offensive role today, on few occasions good, but defensively was not actually tempted.
Federico Fernandez – 7: Had a composed game, although he did not have to try too hard. A single interception was good enough today.
Ashley Williams – 8: Did a great job getting forward with the ball many times, giving Swansea another option when starting attacks.
Neil Taylor – 7: The left-back was more also offensive than usual, since Mousa Sissoko did not put any pressure on him defensively.
Jack Cork – 7: The central-midfielder replaced Ki Sung-yueng impressively, with half a dozen interceptions to his name.
Jonjo Shelvey – 8: One of the best players on the pitch. Had an excellent game, often starting attacks with an assist for the opening goal.
Andre Ayew – 8: The Ghanaian winger shone once more, scoring a header that sealed the victory. He was consistently cutting inside from the right-flank, giving a hard time to the opposition goalkeeper.
Gylfi Sigurdsson – 7: Swansea’s playmaker was really close to scoring after hitting the bar, and in general made a good impression.
Jefferson Montero – 9: The Ecuadorian winger was absolutely the best player while on pitch, destroying Daryl Janmaat, assisting Ayew for the goal and even hitting the post from distance.
Bafetimbi Gomis – 8: Did enough for his side, scoring an early goal after great positioning, giving the Swans the early lead.
Substitutes
Nathan Dyer – 5: Wanted to impress, but seemed to be trying too hard on few occasions.
Wayne Routledge – 6: Had a solid shot on target, but did not have enough time to create bigger impact.
Leon Britton – N/A: Not enough time to do anything worthwhile.
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Newcastle United
Tim Krul – 7: Could not do anything to prevent the goals, but had four saves that kept this loss easier for his team.
Daryl Janmaat – 2: Absolutely horrific performance, getting two unnecessary bookings, leaving his teammates playing a man down for 50 minutes.
Chancel Mbemba – 6: Gomis escaped him before scoring the opener, but was decent overall, making eight tackles and winning most of his duels.
Fabricio Coloccini – 5: Seemed slow similarly to Mbemba early-on. Did not do anything specifically note worthy.
Massadio Haidara – 6: Maybe the best part of Newcastle’s defensive line, not letting Ayew making as much trouble while also trying to be offensive.
Vurnon Anita – 5: Struggled to cope with Sigurdsson and Shelvey, wandering in front of Coloccini and Mbemba for most of the time.
Jack Colback – 5: Did not seem solid enough, giving enough space for Swansea players to cause trouble. Also lost the ball on couple of occasions in the danger zone.
Moussa Cissoko – 4: The French winger seemed uninterested for most part of the game and was substituted during half-time.
Georginio Wijnaldum – 5: His presence on the pitch seemed painful as he did not get enough touches, or manage to produce a single key pass for Cisse.
Gabriel Obertan – 6: The best player for Newcastle today, the only Magpie actually making something happen with couple of solid shots on target early in the match.
Papiss Demba Cisse – 5: Did not produce anything and was near-useless for the Toon.
Substitutes
Steven Taylor – 5: Came on to tighten defence but did not improve proceedings.
Aleksandar Mitrovic – 5: Same as the previous week, the Serbian international only managed to produce an easy and unnecessary yellow card.
Rolando Aarons – 5: Seemed imperceptible despite being on the pitch for 35 minutes.
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