Swansea City suffered another disappointing performance on Sunday, losing 3-1 at home to Manchester United

World record signing Paul Pogba opened the scoring with a sensational half-volley after 14 minutes. A lose ball dropped to the midfielder 20 yards from goal, who then striked it in the top corner.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic doubled Manchester United’s lead less than 10 minutes later, the forward received the ball from Wayne Rooney just outside the box, and his low drive beat Lukasz Fabianski. The goal was the 25,000 goal scored in Premier League history.

Ibrahimovic scored his second and United’s third after 33 minutes. It was all too easy for the Swede, who walked through Swansea City’s defence before slotting the ball past Fabianski as Swansea fans sang “We want our club back.”

Mike van der Hoorn gave Swansea a lifeline after 68 minutes, heading home from a Gylfi Sigurdsson free kick. Here's how the players rated. 

Defence poor once again

Lukasz Fabianski – 6/10

Perhaps he should have done better on the second goal, beaten at his near post by Ibrahimovic, but on a day where the opposition were so dominant it’s tough to blame the goalkeeper.

Angel Rangel – 4/10

In a somewhat surprising move to bring Angel Rangel in for Kyle Naughton, the gamble didn’t pay off. Usually the Spaniard is smart on the ball but poor defensively, today he couldn’t get near Rooney on the wing and contributed very little going forward.

Mike van der Hoorn – 5/10

After a very poor performance last week against Stoke City, van der Hoorn was given another chance to prove it was a fluke, but did nothing to convince fans of that. He couldn’t get near Ibrahimovic all afternoon, and that showed for United’s third goal. He took his goal well though, bumping his rating up a little.

Alfie Mawson – 5/10

Individually the young defender didn’t do a huge deal wrong, but after two good performances against Watford and Stoke, Alfie Mawson will be disappointed with this one. Today was definitely a learning curve for the youngster.

Stephen Kingsley – 5/10

Bob Bradley seems like he just can’t make his mind up over who his preferred left-back is. Neil Taylor and Stephen Kingsley have rotated with each game, but the Scot couldn’t impress this afternoon. He had no opportunities to bomb forward and show off his offensive qualities.

Midfield non-existent

Wayne Routledge – 5/10

Today’s system didn’t suit Wayne Routledge, but the winger couldn’t link with the forwards or keep possession. To little surprise he was taken off at half time.

Ki Sung-Yeung – 4/10

Should have done much better for United’s second goal, as he allowed Ibrahimovic to glide past him before striking the ball home. When in possession, Ki stood at the base of midfield, where Leon Britton usually roams. The dynamic of the pivot didn’t quite work.

Leon Britton – 5/10

Swansea’s midfield metronome couldn’t dictate the tempo today, and struggled to deal with being outnumbered in midfield either, as Pogba, Michael Carrick, Marouane Fellaini and Juan Mata all occupied the central areas. Substituted after two thirds of the game for Leroy Fer.

Gylfi Sigurdsson – 6/10

Playing wide left didn’t suit the Icelandic international, as he wasn’t able to get into the dangerous central areas that he can be so lethal from. A change in system saw him get into better areas as a number ten, but it was too little too late by then. His delivery for van der Hoorn’s goal was wonderful, as Swansea fans have come to expect from Sigurdsson.

Very little from the forwards

Borja Baston – 4/10

The strikers were completely isolated, and out of possession they sat back and didn’t press United. Not Borja Baston’s greatest game. At times you could be forgiven for thinking Baston wasn’t even on the field. Bradley will surely expect more from Swansea’s record signing.

Fernando Llorente – 5/10

More involved than his strike partner, but Fernando Llorente couldn’t hold the ball up often enough, lost the ball too often and generally didn’t get close enough to United’s box. Subbed off at half time.

Substitutes

Jefferson Montero – 5/10

On at half time, and took some time to get into the game, which is understandable following his injury. He didn’t really get the better of Ashley Young at right-back though, and on the occasions he did, his delivery let him down.

Modou Barrow – 6/10

Also subbed on during the interval, and was quite involved going forward. The Gambian also performed his defensive duties well.

Leroy Fer- 6/10

On for Britton, as the questionable Ki-Fer midfield duo returned. The substitution allowed for an additional offensive player, but there was little Fer could do once he got onto the field.

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About the author
Jack Mceachen
Sports Journalist in Staffordshire University.