The first day of a new season. A dawn of new hope and three months worth of optimism building but all of that can be shattered within ninety minutes as was the case today as the Swans were well beaten 4-1 at the Liberty by the reigning Premier League Champions who just finished off their chances whereas the Swans squandered theirs.

Much of the pre-match attention was focused on new Man Utd manager David Moyes and the want away Wayne Rooney which could have deflected some of the attention away from the Swans and it was always going to be interesting to see how the Champions reacted to their summer of change as they lined up without the retired Sir Alex Ferguson.

As expected (and predicted!) Wilfried Bony was deemed not ready to start after his midweek excursion for an international friendly and Michu took his place up front with Shelvey moving forward into midfield as both he and Jose Canas made their Premier League debuts for the Swans.

The Swans - as often is the case - started brightly and were soon into their rhythm of passing the ball around and looking to keep possession. And whilst that is easier against some sides they were still comfortable on the ball against their more illustrious opponents and at times had some of their players chasing shadows. That said, you can never underestimate a Man Utd team on the bench and the Swans were grateful for some poor control from Ryan Giggs whose old pace has also now deserted him as he approaches his 40th birthday later this year.

At the other end there was some danger from Michu who forced a good save from De Gea in the visitors goal whilst he also had a goal disallowed from Nathan Dyer being in an offside position. Wayne Routledge also came close as the Swans matched the Champions for the first half hour before two goals in two minutes changed - and probably effectively ended - the game as a contest.

Firstly Robin Van Persie opened his Premier League account after his double last weekend in the Community Shield as he controlled and acrobatically finished a Ryan Giggs lofted ball into the box. If that though stunned the Swans, the clinical way they found themselves two nil down minutes later was just simple football. A cross from the left saw Van Persie challenge, the ball broke for Valencia and his ball across the box was tapped in by Wellbeck.

The Swans were stunned and the Liberty was too as the early season hope had been deflated and it was probably at this stage a bit of a relief that we got to half time still just two goals down.

Michael Laudrup though wasn't for throwing in the towel and he immediately introduced Bony and Hernandez for Routledge and Britton as he looked to change things around. The Swans responded to his half time talk with a more upbeat start to the second half and Michu again came close as he and Bony started to bond together in terms of looking to create chances. The Swans were gaining the majority of possession again but it was Van Persie who came the closest to adding to the scoreline when he shot across goal.

That though delayed what sometimes seems inevitable. Man Utd had introduced Rooney into the fold by this point and it was the run of Rooney that afforded Van Persie the chance to hit a rising shot past Vorm and into the back of the net.

The Swans pulled one back soon after when Bony made up for missing a free header two minutes before by slotting one past De Gea after some neat close control from Pablo Hernandez.

Was there to be a grandstand finish for the game? The answer was no although there was enough time in stoppage time for Wellbeck to lob Vorm from close range to end the scoring and give the visitors a 4-1 victory at the Liberty.

A disappointing result for the Swans but plenty of positives to draw from the game and we move on as we always do.

Photo: Action Images

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