Swansea City earned their third consecutive win against Manchester United, as Andre Ayew and Bafetimbi Gomis created the Jacks’ comeback after Juan Mata’s opening goal at the Liberty Stadium on Sunday night.
The Swans seemed knocked down after Juan Mata scored for Manchester United early into the second half. Luke Shaw’s cross went to the far post where Ashley Williams lost his marker and the Spaniard did not have much trouble putting the ball in the back of the net. Yet, the Swans had better chances until the 48th minute and Mata’s goal. Gylfi Sigurdsson should have netted after Jonjo Shelvey’s cheeky pass from the deep and Gomis was denied by the post after he evaded Daley Blind and Chris Smalling.
Still, the Swans began the comeback after an hour, even without the injured Jefferson Montero. Shelvey started the counter-attack, Sigurdsson played precise cross which Andre Ayew buried with a solid header. Only five minutes later, Ayew was the architect. His cunning through ball from the outside of his boot bypassed United’s defence and Gomis was spot on to score his ninth goal in the last 10 Premier League matches.
Swansea City
Lukasz Fabianski – 7: Made a couple of good saves.
Kyle Naughton – 7: Completely neutralised Depay and made five clearances, but Luke Shaw gave him a hard time on couple of occasions.
Federico Fernandez – 7: Was great in the heart of the Swansea’s defence, not allowing Rooney space.
Ashley Williams – 7: Should have been closer to Mata and his mistake cost the Swans a goal, but overall was very good.
Neil Taylor – 7: Did not seem good enough when attacking, but was solid defensively.
Jack Cork – 7: Had a lot of duels in front of Swansea’s back four and he won most of them.
Jonjo Shelvey – 7: Was creative as always. His long ball gave Swansea the opportunity to score their second goal.
Andre Ayew – 9: Scored with another header and made an extraordinary assist for Gomis’ goal.
Gylfi Sigurdsson – 8: Had a brilliant chance in the first half and he should have scored, but later assisted Ayew’s goal.
Wayne Routledge – 5: Seemed useless during the 60 minutes he spent on pitch and Swansea improved after he came off.
Bafetimbi Gomis – 9: Scored the winning goal and almost scored in the first half when he hit the woodwork.
Substitutions
Ki Sung-yueng – 8: Gave Swansea’s midfield energy when they needed it.
Eder – 6: Did not spend much time on the field but held the ball well when required.
Kyle Bartley – N/A: Did not have time to make an impact.
Manchester United
Sergio Romero – 5: Should have reacted better ahead of Swansea’s second goal.
Mateo Darmian – 7: Seemed solid again. United did not encounter much trouble on his side of the field.
Chris Smalling – 6: He and Blind could have reacted better both times Swansea scored.
Daley Blind – 5: Had many problems with robust Gomis. Poor game for the Dutch player.
Luke Shaw – 7: Created United’s goal and caused Naughton some headaches.
Bastian Schweinsteiger – 5: Seemed invisible much of the time and often wasted possession.
Morgan Schneiderlin – 5: Had a horrible start, earning a booking early.
Juan Mata – 7: Scored a goal and had a couple other chances.
Ander Herrera – 5: Made lots of mistakes. Tried shots from distance, but without any effect.
Memphis Depay – 5: Earned a cheap booking and offered little.
Wayne Rooney – 5: Was getting great service, but seemed insecure with the ball. Should have scored on two occasions but was slow.
Substitutions
Ashley Young – 5: Did try to change something in the first couple of minutes on the pitch, but made no real impact
Michael Carrick – 5: Did not do anything of note.
Marouane Fellaini – 6: Offered strength in the air, but did not get the service required.
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