Swans head coach Michael Duff again complained of the lack of concentration and inexperience as the Swans went down 3-2 to Ipswich Town at Portman Road. Stating his Swans are ‘not quite the full package’ is possibly an understatement as in truth this could have been a landslide victory for the Tractor Boys.

Ipswich spurned at least four very good chances in the first half and several more in the second as their visitors played keep ball with little penetration - indeed that was until they went down to ten men. Just like last week two yellow cards for a Swansea player ensured they sit out the next game which comes in two weeks time due to the international break. This time it was Liam Cullen who rashly challenged his opponent in the second half to earn himself a second yellow to go with the one he received during the first forty five minutes.

That fits in with the inexperience claim, as much as Harrison Ashby, who even after several warnings from the match day referee, Shaun Hudson continued to handle his opponent. That led to the third and winning goal for the Town on a day where Carl Rushworth kept his side in it again with a string of saves. After Jay Fulton headed the Swans in to an early lead it seemed the home side were shook in to action and they dominated shots on goal column and effort ‘put in’ on the pitch for the rest of the half. The Swans, once again struggling for pace did have the ever eager running of Jamal Lowe to call upon who must now be getting the attention of other championship clubs with far bigger budgets than the Swans.

He can agree a contract in January as his deal at Bournemouth ends in the summer, so we expect Swansea City to be taking action on that from January 1st. Ipswich are a good side make no bones about that, where their rivals at the top of the league in Leicester City are faltering they seem to have no fear at all in taking the Championship in their stride. Hutchinson and Chaplin are wonderful players with guile and energy, a trait the Swans did not possess yesterday afternoon. Hutchinson especially on the right hand side of the pitch a constant thorn in the side of both Josh Tymon and Bashir Humphreys. Both had pretty poor games, and in Humphreys case we expect him to move over for his counterpart Ben Cabango after the international break. Humphreys was torn apart in the first half, he was out of position on numerous occasions and his understanding with Tymon was completely lost. Both left huge gaps for the home side to exploit.

The first goal was an absolute screamer from Taylor latching on to a poor Swans clearance. The second a complete shambles as Humphreys looked on and did ‘nothing instead of something’ for Ipswich to claim their second goal. (Below) It looked like a landslide from there on in. It wasn’t due to the competent keeping of Carl Rushworth, but even he had a dose of tomfoolery nearly letting a back pass slide in to the back of his net.

The Swans actually looked better when Cullen went off, both Ollie Cooper and Liam Walsh coming on added far more value to the midfield and attack. On ninety four minutes Jamal Lowe picked up a through ball and ran at the Ipswich defence from his left. Beating players he cut in along the by line and slotted the ball home beyond Ipswich keeper, Hladky. And in one ten second phase of this match everything was proven. If you take your chances, if you add some creativity and effort to your game then good things can happen. And it was there for all to see. It was too little too late but this Swansea side now needs some fresh faces. Cullen is out for the next game, Walsh and Cooper look more than capable of starting against Hull City at the Swansea.Com in two weeks time and maybe even Matt Grimes will volunteer himself for a rest ? Again we saw a player who when the team needed a captain went missing in the second half. He looked tired giving the ball away continuously and despite his meticulous passing in the first half he offered very little in the second.

Duff summed up his afternoon after the game. "I've spoken to you before that I want to get to a point where we're dominating the ball and keeping clean sheets. We're doing little bits and bobs at the minute, not quite the full package."

Time for Michael Duff to be as brave as he wants his players to be ?

It’s needed.

Ipswich Town: Hladky; Clarke, Woolfenden, Burgess, Davis; Morsy, Taylor, Hutchinson (Burns 63), Chaplin (Scarlett 78) (Luongo 78), Broadhead (Harness 63); Hirst (Ladapo 89)

Subs: Walton, Jackson, C.Humphreys, Tuanzebe

Swansea City: Rushworth; 7 Ashby 6 (Naughton 89), Darling,5 Humphreys 4, Tymon; 5 Fulton, 6 Grimes (c); 5 Cullen, 5 Paterson 6 (Walsh 71),6 Lowe;7 Yates 4 (Cooper 71)6

Subs: Fisher, Cabango, Tjoe-A-On, Parker, Congreve, Wilson

Referee Shaun Hudson : 6/10. Controlled the game well most of the time.

Photographs Swansea Independent

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