Swansea went ahead after 20 minutes through what can only be described as a footballing anomaly, they actually scored from a set-piece.
Gylfi Sigurdsson’s corner found Andre Ayew, who was fantastic all afternoon, and he headed the ball past the young Danny Ward. A very simple goal but definitely one that Swansea deserved.
Jack Cork then scored what surely ends up being Swansea’s goal of the season. He beat the two Liverpool youngsters in midfield in the air, then brought the ball forward before curling a beautiful 25-yard shot into the far corner.
Questions will have to be asked of Swansea’s defending as Christian Benteke scored the game’s third goal from a corner. A simple ball in found the Belgian completely unmarked and it didn’t take him too much effort to head the ball past Lukasz Fabianski.
Swansea hit back almost immediately, through Jefferson Montero’s persistence his cross eventually found Ayew in the area, who out-muscled Sheyi Ojo before slotting the ball in the corner.
Swansea must have returned from the beach
With back-to-back lacklustre defeats away to Newcastle and Leicester, many would have expected the senior players in Swansea’s side to play as if they were on their holidays. This was nothing of the sort. Francesco Guidolin must have given them the hairdryer treatment because they came out and played with real fire in their bellies. Most Swansea fans went into the game not caring too much about the result, they just wanted to see the players look like they care. To the players’ credit they put a smile on the fans’ faces today.
Can Jordi Amat start for this team?
It helped that Swansea were largely the better side, but Jordi Amat didn’t do his first-team chances any harm this afternoon. Strong in the air, made some good challenges and passed the ball like you would expect any modern-day defender to do. He still looks like he has a lot to learn, with a few clumsy challenges, including one on Philippe Coutinho inside the penalty area, but there are encouraging signs.
Bafetimbi Gomis is surely off this summer
With Alberto Paloschi injured, Bafetimbi Gomis is the only other recognised striker in the squad, so surely he would get the nod. Especially with Guidolin deciding to use a 4-2-3-1 system, but instead he chooses to put Ayew up front instead. Gomis was left out of the squad completely last week, despite being fit, and if he isn’t ahead of a makeshift striker in the pecking order than it should be expected that he will leave the club in the summer, if Guidolin remains in charge.
Routledge looks fantastic on the right-flank
The English winger has played on the left-hand flank for the majority of his career, despite his left foot being pretty useless. Wayne Routledge’s strengths include crossing, ball retention and getting to the byline. So you would think it wouldn’t have taken this long for him to be deployed on the opposite flank than he has grown accustomed to.
Swansea might have found a role for Ayew
Up front on his own, wide-forward, both flanks, number ten, even centre-midfield. Ayew has done it all for Swansea this season, but it seems that management haven’t quite found a role that best suits him for Swansea. Today might have signalled differently, as he played as the loan striker.
This was Ayew’s best performance for months, as he not only got amongst the goals but held the ball up, linked up well in possession and didn’t stop bothering the Liverpool centre-halves. It might be a different story when Paloschi returns from injury, but this was another promising sign from Swansea.