The silence at the Liberty Stadium has been broken after Ashley Williams, the Swansea City captain, decided to step forward and “officially back” the manager, Garry Monk, yet it remains to be seen whether that view is shared by Huw Jenkins, the chairman, after a performance that did nothing to allay concerns that the Welsh club have lost their way.
While there was spirit and character to be found in Swansea’s initial response to the loud boos that greeted the sight of Dan Gosling putting Bournemouth two goals up, for so much of the afternoon they were unrecognisable from the team that finished eighth last season and, lest it be forgotten, started this campaign in the same vein.
So many key players are out of form and even when Monk bit the bullet, as he did here by leaving out three of their biggest names – Jefferson Montero, Gylfi Sigurdsson and Bafétimbi Gomis – to try to freshen things up, it was the same trio that were called on in the second half in an attempt to inject some life into a team that looked flat, devoid of ideas and painfully low on confidence.
In the end it was neither a display nor a result to ease the pressure on Monk, whose team have won only one of their past nine league games. Assuming he holds on to his job, the next three fixtures – against Liverpool, Leicester City and Manchester City – offer little respite.
Jenkins has decided to keep his counsel amid a frenzy of speculation – “As a club we know that would be adding to fuel to the fire,” Monk said when asked whether he was surprised the chairman had not spoken publicly – yet Williams felt it had reached the point where he needed to make a statement of his own.
“This is me coming out and backing the manager officially because we have not done that enough,” Swansea’s captain said. “It’s not a conscious thing that we feel we have to [say we back him], because he knows we do. The dressing room is united and we are just trying to do it for him as well as ourselves because we can see how hard the manager and his staff work. He is obviously coming in for a lot of stick at the minute. That’s natural and he knows that. That’s his job. This is a tough period for him and we are all trying our best.”
Williams revealed Monk has adopted an open-house approach to dealing with the crisis. “We are talking to him a lot and he wants to know what we feel about the situation,” he said. “And we listen to what he has got to say. We are just trying to figure it out as a collective. We are still looking for the answers, but most of it comes down to just working hard. It should come together, it normally does. It’s just about stopping it before it gets too late.”
For Bournemouth, this was a hugely encouraging performance, albeit one laced with regret after they went into a two goal-lead through goals from Josh King and Gosling but, crucially, conceded 87 seconds after scoring their second. While André Ayew’s wonderful backheel was a touch of class, Eddie Howe’s team were left aggrieved with Andre Marriner’s decision to award the penalty that Jonjo Shelvey converted after Simon Francis was harshly penalised for tripping Ayew.
Howe, though, saw plenty of positives, not least King’s goal – his first in the Premier League. “He has been thrust into the limelight a little earlier than we would have liked really, he has got some developing to do,” Bournemouth’s manager said. “But we believe in him as a player, he has made huge strides already in a short time here and there is more to come. The goal and his recent performances should give him huge confidence.”
Man of the match Sylvain Distin (Bournemouth)
