Garry Monk praises "brilliant" defensive display

1st November

Garry Monk praised his side's "brilliant" defensive display as they battled to a hard-fought 0-0 draw at Everton, having gone down to ten men late in the game.
After Wilfried Bony had a glorious opportunity to open the scoring for Monk's men early on in the first period, chances proved hard to come by for both sides.
The Swans had a penalty claim denied when Jonjo Shelvey's strike hit the hand of Antolin Alcaraz in the first period, before Shelvey was later dismissed when he received a second yellow card after 72 minutes.
With the Swans a man down, Everton pressed for a late winner, but Monk's side showed their resilience to hold on for a point at Goodison Park.
This afternoon's clean sheet was the fifth in ten league matches for the Swans, and Monk was eager to praise his side for their defensive efforts.



"We were brilliant defensively," said Monk. "I said to the boys afterwards that they probably won't earn a harder point, under the circumstances. They should be very proud of themselves today.
"We've always played good football, but I felt we needed to do more on our defensive shape and the way we defended as a team this season.
"There will be periods this season that we won't be able to play our best free flowing football.
"In a few games this campaign, had we not put in the work, we might have lost those games.
"Today showed the hard work they've been putting in and we deserved the point."
Meanwhile, Everton boss Roberto Martinez was disappointed not to take more from the game after a "frustrating" afternoon for his side.
"It was a disappointing game," admitted Martinez. "It became frustrating for us.
"Swansea were focused on defending and did extremely well - they were very organised.
"I was expecting a more open game. We were a little bit pedestrian and didn't have our normal tempo. But It's a good clean sheet, so we take the point and move on."