Francesco Guidolin: Swansea City's future will be bright despite Manchester City loss
24th September
Francesco Guidolin is convinced the results will come for Swansea City if they maintain the standards set in their 3-1 defeat to Manchester City.
The Swans are still looking for a first home win of the season after Pep Guardiola's star-studded City side made it ten victories out of ten in all competitions this term.
But Guidolin insisted there were plenty of positives to take from the Swans' second successive reverse against opponents who had knocked them out of the EFL Cup in midweek.
"The performance was perfect for me," Guidolin said. "We played at the same level as Manchester City, who are the best team in the Premier League.
"I am disappointed with the result of course, but this is our job, this is our work.
"Before Manchester City's penalty, we had the chance to score and we deserved to score.
"It was a very good game. There is disappointment for me and for my team about the result, but if we play in this way in the future, I think the future will be good for us."
Guidolin's men might have feared the worst having fallen behind after only nine minutes when Sergio Aguero latched on to Bacary Sagna's cross before drilling a shot through Lukasz Fabianski's legs.
But the hosts trailed for only four minutes as Fernando Llorente gathered Gylfi Sigurdsson's pass before drilling home his first Swans goal in emphatic fashion.
The Swans were well worth their equaliser, and continued to slug it out with the Premier League leaders for large chunks of an entertaining contest.
The game was finely balanced until Mike van der Hoorn's 64th-minute challenge on Kevin De Bruyne saw referee Neil Swarbrick point to the spot, a decision which prompted protests from the home side.
Aguero stroked home the penalty and, as the Swans pushed for an equaliser, Raheem Sterling sealed City's latest win with a breakaway goal 12 minutes from the end.
When asked about the penalty decision, Guidolin said: "I am not a judge - the referee is the judge.
"I watched it on video and I have my opinion, but this is not important. I said thanks to the referee at the end of the game because that's my attitude."
The Swans have now taken only one point from their five league games since their opening-day victory at Burnley - and the tough fixtures keep on coming.
They face high-flying Liverpool at the Liberty next before a trip to Arsenal.
"In this period our fixtures are not easy," Guidolin said.
"We are not in a good moment for results, sometimes results and performances - for example Southampton.
"But on Wednesday night and today I saw my team grow up.
"There is disappointment that we have lost, but life continues and our work continues.
"Tomorrow is another day. The most important thing is our performance and I am optimistic and confident about the future."
