No disgrace as the Swans bow out
Wednesday, 29th Oct 2025 22:27 by Liam Walters
As we have seen recently a firing on all cylinders start ended in a rearguard action tonight at the swansea.com. On this occasion head coach, Alan Sheehan can be forgiven to an extent, but once the Swans switched to a more defensive posture this game was only going to end with Manchester City winning the game.
The sell out Swansea crowd were treated to a very positive start by their side with Zeidane Inoussa linking with Josh Tymon with a very industrious Gonçalo Franco in midfield. Ethan Galbraith was again pulling the strings as every Swans player was first to the ball. No mistakes was the mantra and no mistakes against a Man City side who had only lost once to lower league opposition in forty two cup games. The Swans were fearless with the ball at the feet of Inoussa and indeed Josh Key raiding down the Swans right.
Melker Widell (below) was extremely active again staking a big claim for a start this Saturday.
A good press and quick decision making was putting the home side into some quality positions and they looked the better side. To confirm that another quality run from Key saw him cut inside and knock the ball to his left to Franco. Without taking a touch one of the best placed efforts you will see left the Portuguese players right foot. It wasn’t total power but it was so well placed the ball hit the back of the net with City keeper, James Trafford having no chance. It was indeed just what the Swans deserved. Twelve minutes gone and the Swans were one up.
It was a great start for the Swans.
The visitors did exert some pressure but were struggling to find their men in advanced positions when needed. The Swans had more opportunities to score, one when Idah was through but ruled offside and then Melker Widell who collected a misplaced pass, he pushed forwards into the penalty area and guided a shot which Trafford did well to save. It wasn’t one way but we were starting to see the class of Manchester City from both wings. Jérémy Doku needs no introductions and his pace was concerning on the Swans right. On several occasions he broke free into space.
You could see the difference in class.
The pressure would tell as the Swans defended deeper and deeper when the aforementioned doku right footed his shot from the left side of the box which deflected into the net. Although assisted by Rayan Aït-Nouri it looked like that very unlucky deflection came off Cameron Burgess. With six minutes to the break the game was all even. Andy Fisher had no chance at all with such a big dip on the ball. Evidence of the Swans deep defending was the amount of players between Docu and Fisher, he had no chance. The pressure did mount as the Swans were looking for half time, a shot from Omar Marmoush was blocked and the last shot of the half came from Rico Lewis.
The Swans needed more up front in the second half, Adam Idah was booked for a rash challenge but really his input was minimal in a game he really did need to stamp his name on.
No changes for the second half with a less energetic pace from the Swans. It was clear the instructions for this half were different to the first. Man City happy to pop the ball around with the Swans defending. It was Kaelan Casey who saved his side after forty seven minutes taking the ball off the foot of Aït-Nouri as he was about to shoot from close in. The pressure continued with Man City slowly picking their way through the Swans lines. It was a simple fact that the home side couldn’t continue in this vein if they were to progress in this competition. Shots were being attempted, one from Marmoush flying past Fishers post.
The Swans came alive in the fifty third minute, some crushing tackles put in by Widell and Galbraith waking up the visitors defence. Key crossed but nobody was there to take advantage. The pattern of the play now was gentle passing from the Citizens trying to probe a Swans defence which was again far too deep. The ball was being kept out of danger but as we have seen so many times this season the ball wasn’t falling for the Swans and the pressure continued.
On fifty eight minutes we saw Adam Idah replaced by Zān Vipotnik and Inoussa off for Ronald. An attacking change as the Swans were having few opportunities to attack. City continued to probe with Vipotnik the furthest forward for the Swans fifteen yards from the half way line. Aït-Nouri had a half chance on sixty one minutes but it went high and wide.
To force the game Guardiola brought on John Stones for Abdukodir Khusanov and Phil Foden replaced Divine Mukasa. The Swans brought on Manuel Benson for Widell and Jay Fulton for goalscorer Franco on sixty eight minutes. The Citizens continued to put pressure on the Swans with little coming back as the game went in to the final twenty minutes. A long time for the slow passing Dity side to find the net. The second goal for the Citizens did come on seventy six minutes from Marmoush who fired a shot from a narrow angle into Fishers net. Really Fisher should have done better.
He then went down injured.
Now it was time for the Swans to show what they had left in their locker. Samuels-Smith was on the wrong side of Marmoush allowing him to make space to shoot for that second goal. The Swans did respond but were caught offside with a traditional late arrival into the visitors box by Vipotnik. Benson earned a corner on eighty one minutes as at last we saw some positivity from the Swans. The quality of the set piece left a lot to be desired. Then we saw Samuels-Smith off for Liam Cullen as we went into the last seven minutes. Man City still pressed as the Swans were looking for scraps to try and get back into the game. When they did have the ball it just wouldn’t stick.
There seemed to be little energy or fight left in those Swansea legs on the pitch, how they could be so unlucky with every ball falling to a Man City player has,to be more about awareness than anything else. We were into the last minute when Ronald was caught offside. The difference that John Stones had made in defence was noticeable. Six additional minutes were signalled. Lapses in concentration by the Swans saw little hope of them getting the ball back after giving it away. It was too easy for the visitors who most certainly had the superiority over their hosts. Cherki celebrated a third after a miss-hit pass on ninety four minutes, but the game was over by then.
The referee who had managed the game well brought proceedings to an end pretty much on time as the same score from 2021 etched itself into history. The Swans now travel to Charlton this weekend for a fixture in the Championship (3pm) By then you would have thought this game will be far in the back of the minds of the big support heading to south London.
That’s where Alan Sheehan stands or falls this season, the bread and butter games in the Championship.
⚽️ Swans: Andy Fisher 6 Josh Key 6 Kaelan Casey 7 Cameron Burgess 6 (C) Ishe Samuels-Smith 6 (Liam Cullen 83); Ethan Galbraith 7 Goncalo Franco 7 (Jay Fulton 69) 6 Melker Widell 7 (Manuel Benson 69) 5 Zeidane Inoussa 7 (Ronald 60) 5 Josh Tymon 6 Adam Idah 5 (Zan Vipotnik 60) 5
Unused Substitutes: Paul Farman, Ben Cabango, Jisung Eom, Ricardo Santos.
⚽️ The Citizens : James Trafford, Nathan Ake (captain), Omar Marmoush, Rayan Cherki, Jeremy Doku, Nico Gonzalez, Rayan Ait-Nouri (Josko Gvardiol 63), Abdukodir Khusanov (John Stones 63), Oscar Bobb, Divine Mukasa (Phil Foden 63), Rico Lewis.
Unused Substitutes: Marcus Bettinelli, Gianluigi Donnarumma, Savinho, Matheus Nunes, Nico O'Reilly, Kalvin Phillips.
Referee: Jarred Gillett 7/10 : Let the game flow, a very good performance
Attendance: 20,490
Photgraphs: Open source
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