Swansea City revealed their other face here, the defensive, gritty side that is not averse to a red card and makes a priority of points above appeasing the purists. It left Roberto Martínez bemused at the intentions of his former club but, more importantly, halted the momentum of his current one as Everton failed to unnerve Garry Monk’s resilient 10 men.
Jonjo Shelvey became the second Swansea player to see red on Merseyside in five days when dismissed for a second bookable offence with 18 minutes remaining of this sterile goalless draw. Unlike at Anfield in the Capital One Cup on Tuesday, when Federico Fernández received a late red card that was subsequently rescinded, there was no adverse reaction, drama or heartache for the visitors despite a flurry of half-chances for substitute Romelu Lukaku.
The Belgium striker failed to connect with a Samuel Eto’o cross in front of goal in stoppage time and deflected a goal-bound drive from Leighton Baines wide as Everton tried to take advantage of Shelvey’s foolishness, but guile, inspiration and quality was lacking from the home side and the chance of a third successive Premier League win was lost.
“It was a bad game from an attacking point of view,” said Martínez. “The red card went against us in that it allowed Swansea to defend even deeper with nine men and the goalkeeper. It wasn’t a performance you associate with Swansea and you have to give them credit for how they defended. The sending off gave them a clear role, one that was not about having the ball, and it was strange to see a Swansea performance like that.”
Not that a change in tactics troubled Monk, the man Martínez appointed as Swansea captain while in charge in south Wales. Everton dominated possession and showed clearer intent, but Lukasz Fabianski was hardly tested in the visitors’ goal.
“Defensively we were brilliant,” the Swansea manager said. “We’ve always played good, attractive football but there have been times even when I was playing that I thought we didn’t do enough defensively. That is something I’ve introduced this season. We have needed it at times.”
Swansea were content to absorb pressure and hit Everton on the counterattack, a policy that should have paid off on five minutes when the returning Gylfi Sigurdsson and Wilfried Bony combined to break Baines’s offside trap. Bony was clean through on the right of Tim Howard’s area when Sigurdsson flicked the ball around Phil Jagielka but the striker hesitated over his shot before firing wide of the near post.
That was an early let-off for Everton and a major one arrived when Antolín Alcaraz escaped with a clear handball when diving on to Shelvey’s shot midway through the first half. The goalkeeper impersonation convinced the referee, Kevin Friend, and play continued. Swansea’s luck on key decisions shows no sign of improving, although Shelvey’s second-half dismissal was purely self-inflicted.
Monk, who met the referees’ chiefs, Mike Riley and Howard Webb, for clarification on several contentious issues on Friday, said: “I didn’t know you are allowed to play with two goalkeepers. It was a great save from Alcaraz, he had a strong wrist and I’ll be showing that to my keepers in training next week. It was a clear penalty. We all saw it but unfortunately the referee didn’t.”
Shelvey, booked in the first half for kicking the ball away, invited dismissal with a body-check on James McCarthy, but for all their pressure, breaks in the area and numerical advantage Everton drew a blank at home for the first time this season. “We just didn’t move the ball quickly enough or make the right calls when it mattered,” Martínez said.
