Michael Laudrup had no excuses after the Swans departed from the Capital One Cup with a 3-1 defeat at Birmingham in the Third Round of the competition.

After winning the trophy at Wembley last February the Swans were at least hoping to make a decent fist of their defence of the competition but it wasn't to be as three second half goals ensured there would be no Wembley return for the Swans and after the game Michael Laudrup was in typically honest mode.

“Let’s hope that this will be a lesson for us,” a frustrated Laudrup said.

“I think I said after the games against Valencia and Crystal Palace that even though we had won and we had to be very pleased, we should have scored more goals given the chances we created.

“And now we have paid the price for that. We could have been four up at half-time. We were not, and then they scored from the first chance they had.

“I think there was a little bit of misunderstanding at the back for the other two goals, but we have to take our chances. We didn’t score when we should have done. When we didn’t, it gave them confidence that they could get into the game.

“You know my view on the cups – I want us to go as far as we can in all of them,” he added.

“We should have been looking forward to the next round after all those chances, and I don’t think about not having to worry about four competitions right now.

“There are no excuses for us. We have had three away games in a row, but there was no problem with the travelling and we have got a good squad now which means I can change players.

“You can say ten changes, but five of the players who started here started in Valencia last week.

“This is not about blaming one or two players, this is about not taking our chances.”

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