Bob Bradley: Swansea City must fight on

Bob Bradley insists the only option for his Swansea City side is to fight on as they bid to turn their season around.

The Swans endured another difficult afternoon as West Ham ran out 4-1 winners at the Liberty Stadium on Boxing Day.

Bradley acknowledges that his team are going through a painful spell - but he remains determined to oversee a change of fortunes.

"That was a tough afternoon in all ways," said the Swans boss.

"You saw a team who have gone through a period where nothing goes right and today was more of the same.

"At the moment we are our own worst enemy. No matter what we do, we seem to put ourselves in terrible spots, and getting away from that is hard work.

"After 18 games we are in a very difficult position, but that leaves us 20 games to fight to stay up and to win back the supporters.

"We all heard the response in the stadium today. It doesn't feel good, but sometimes in football you have to fight when everything is going against you.

"There's no magic formula for turning things around other than not giving up and working hard to try to find a way."

Not for the first time in recent weeks, the Swans had started with some promise against West Ham.

But they fell behind on 13 minutes when Liberty old boy Andre Ayew swept home his first Hammers goal.

West Ham doubled their lead early in the second period through Winston Reid, and it was 3-0 on 75 minutes when Michail Antonio flicked in Havard Nordtveit's shot.

Sub Fernando Llorente pulled one back for the Swans in the 89th minute, but just seconds later Andy Carroll netted the visitors' fourth to round off a miserable afternoon.

"I understood this was a difficult situation when I came here. I said then I would fight every day to do the job and I continue to be fully committed to doing that," Bradley added.  

"I believe in my work. I believe in the message I give to the players.

"Having said that, there's no getting around the fact that when things are going against you, when the margins are so small, it is difficult.

"In certain moments in football, a play can go against you. It's the ability to handle it when that happens that has to be what our players are about.

"When we go down in a game, we have to roll up our sleeves and believe.

"But I don't make excuses. After a game like that, I take responsibility. It's not good enough.

"We have to look at each other and say that in the second half, when we had the opportunity to fight back, we were not able to it."