Laudrup remains positive

2nd February

Swans boss Michael Laudrup highlighted plenty of positives to take into the final 13 games of the Barclays Premier League season, despite the fact that his side went down to a rare 1-0 defeat at West Ham.
A late header from Andy Carroll sent the Swans to their first league defeat in eight games, although they are still well placed in eighth with 34 points.
"We do not like losing,'' explained Laudrup. "We haven't been used to it over the last six or seven weeks, but we have to accept it.
"Again we proved a very difficult team to beat today and you have to take the positives out of that because we are still talking about a team that's only been in the Premier League for 18 months.
"It proves my team is very mature, which it's great to see.
"We dominated possession quite well in the first-half, but it's true they had two big chances through Kevin Nolan. Gerhard (Tremmel) made some nice saves, and that's why he's playing in there.
"Maybe when we dominated we didn't create enough chances. We could and should have created a little more. We didn't have that last pass. I'm not happy with losing, but we didn't do anything specifically wrong and it could have gone either way.
"Carroll scored a great goal, but we pushed hard in the last 10 minutes and had two or three chances.
"We still have 13 games to play in the league and plenty of points to play for. We just have to prepare now. It is completely different from now on because we only have games at weekend after a very busy period.
"It means we can prepare much better."
West Ham boss Sam Allardyce described the victory, their first in five games, as "a massive relief."
"It's just a pity it wasn't a bit more comfortable for us," he said. "We created some fantastic chances and you are always worried as a manager that any one slip, particularly against a team like Swansea who are relaxed and calm and cool, could see them nick one with someone like Michu on the pitch.
"We kept them really quiet from an attacking point of view, apart from a frantic last couple of minutes when they threw everything in the box. It's just a shame we weren't more comfortable because we kept everyone really nervous right until the very end with well-deserved victory.
"It's a big, big three points we have been waiting for and we've now got it in the bag and got to that 30-point mark in the league.
"Getting three points means I can sleep a bit easier now, never mind the players! It's a massive relief for us."