It wasn’t a good watch, but then not every game the Swans play will be, and there will be more this season. What is extremely annoying is the clueless way this side collapsed in wave after wave of Southampton attacks, many of which were caused again by silly mistakes and a lack of competency on the ball.

If the plan was to play in a very different and ineffective way for this first half then the Swans achieved their objectives excellently. Zān Vipotnik started and in lieu of Adam Idah, his game was sluggish, slow and he looked very much incapable of putting any pressure on the Saints defence. He wasn’t getting any back up from his midfield which in turn was unable to press and looked weak on the ball. The Swans had chances, Vipotnik late to a lovely opportunity. This we saw so many times in his first season at Swansea, low crosses into the area turned to nothing. Shooting opportunities were not taken, losing the ball when a forward pass was achievable frustrated the very decent Swans support at St Mary’s. Moussa Yeo tried, but his optimism wasn’t matched by many of his teammates.

Southampton on the other hand were able to play through the Swans targeting the defensive flanks which exposed the away side for both of the Saints goals. The defence looked completely out of sorts for the first time this season with Ben Cabango returning and making a start. He seemed stretched trying to make late tackles across the defence. It worked a few times but really the Swans were not only poor in that area but all over the pitch. Once again Joseph Opoku offered very little, squeezed out on the right wing. He seemed oblivious to doing anything other than running into trouble.

The Saints took both of their goals well, the second was a calamity for the Swans with hardly anyone in the area to defend Vigouroux in the Swans goal. Stopping and putting your foot in the ball when a bit of bravery is required doesn’t win football matches, and sadly with a game plan such as this you won’t win games either. It was all too weak and tepid and if there was a plan it wasn’t evident. These Swansea players at half time after forty six minutes seemed utterly shocked as they left the pitch.

A change of tactics by Vitor Matos after half time worked for the Swans, for around ten minutes that is. During that time the Swans earned a penalty when Vipotnik was adjudged as fouled in the Saints area. He took the spot kick and placed his effort well to the keepers right. You would have thought that would spur the Swans on but for five minutes they managed to suck any optimism out of their game. Passes forwards were at a premium, just knocking the ball around and the newly returned Cabango pausing, stopping and generally sucking the life out of the Swans forward momentum. The same could be said for much of the team but when leadership is required it wasn’t there for Swansea City.

Some may comment that Swansea were better in the second half but they didn’t have the discipline on the ball, they couldn’t find the right pass and mostly it was an endurance test for the travelling support. You always felt there was another goal in it for Southampton and it duly came when another Swans move broke down and the pace and finishing by the home side was there for all to see. Eom came on with round eleven minutes to go, the Swans star man over recent games watched the majority of the game from the bench. Southampton were fully deserving of this win, the Swans completely out of kilter - slowed down by a failure to be positive. Elijah Just looks like he wants a whole ten minutes on the ball and is regularly robbed. The tinkering of the defence to allow Cabango (below) back in the starting eleven may have had something to do with it. But no display like this will win games in the Championship.

With no urgency and positivity you get no points, so it’s on to Saturday for the home game against Burnley. It isn’t nice to watch. This was a Swans side so bereft of positive thinking and attitude it may well have been a game too far as we mentioned in the week. Either way Vitor Matos needs to rinse this out of the Swansea system because it wasn’t good enough at any level.

⚽️ Saints : Daniel Peretz, Ryan Manning, Flynn Downes (C), Léo Scienza (Samuel Edozie 85), Cyle Larin (Mubamba 85), Finn Azaz, Kevin Schlotterbeck, James Bree, Nathan Wood, Tom Fellows (Kuryu Matsuki 76), James Ward-Prowse (Cameron Bragg 91)

Unused Substitutes: George Long, Jack Stephens, Zach Abbott, Lewis Dobbin, Welington.

⚽️ Swans : Lawrence Vigouroux 6 Filip Lissah 6 Ben Cabango 5 (C), Stephen Welsh 6, Josh Tymon 6 Jay Fulton 6 (Melker Widell 64) 5 Marko Stamenic 6 Elijah Just 4 (Stephen Eustaquio 64) 5 Moussa Yeo 7 (Jisung Eom 78) 5 Joseph Opoku 5 (Ronald 46) 5, Zan Vipotnik 6 (Adam Idah 70) 5

Unused Substitutes: Andy Fisher, Josh Key, Jenson Seelt, Tiago Parente.

⚽️ Referee: Lewis Smith : Another one who did okay, saw most of the issues, but doesn’t know the new time wasting rules. 7/10.

⚽️ Attendance: 27,299
933 Away

Cabango tag:reuters.com,2026:newsml_MT1IMGOSP000OVRNAC:1532914502