A frustrated Rovers fell to their first defeat in three games, leaving Jon Dahl Tomasson ‘agitated’ about the performance he had witnessed from his side, during their 1-0 home defeat to Swansea City on Saturday. The boss discussed the 90 minutes with RoversTV as he highlighted where his team went wrong.
“It was a frustrating afternoon for us, today and we’re extremely disappointed with the result. We missed a couple of chances, but I thought we started the game well during the opening 20-25 minutes as we created a lot of chances, but why and how weren’t in-front at that point, I don’t know! After that, the team was too far apart from each other, we were not compact enough. The distance between the forward line and the defence was too much, which made it easier for Swansea to gain momentum.
“We were sloppy on the ball today, but those faults do appear after conceding a goal, especially when you’re a young team. We had a 20-minute spell in the first-half which was not good enough, where we were a bit shaky and that’s when they scored. The second-half was better, as all the players tried their hardest, as they always do. We created chances and played in Swansea’s half, despite chasing the game, but we didn’t put the ball the net, which was the difference. The fans stuck with us until the end, but of course, we were unable to give them a positive result.
“The first goal is always vital; they change games. It helps with gaining momentum and confidence, so when we conceded our confidence dropped, which we saw towards the end of the first-half, but the second period was really good. We didn’t test Swansea’s goalkeeper enough, which was also why we lost the game.
“Callum (Brittain) and Arnór (Sigurðsson) are okay. They came off at half-time because we made a tactical change. We also wanted to get some fresh legs on the field as we’ve been playing a lot of games in a short period and some have been playing more than others, so it gave some players an opportunity.
“Our players have done an excellent job so far, winning three on the bounce; but we could have also won today! We play against good opponents every week, but now we have a great game against Chelsea on Wednesday to look forward to. They’re a Premier League side, and facing them will give us the opportunity to learn a lot as a team. It’s a game I’m looking forward to, before we travel to Norwich City next weekend.
“It’s disappointing that Hayden (Carter) will be suspended for next weekend’s game, because he’s done really well, but also because Dom (Hyam) won’t be available. That’s not the best problem to have, but we will have to deal with that next weekend.”
