Laudrup salutes important win
Michael Laudrup saluted his side's 4-0 victory over Sunderland ahead of an important week for the Swans.
Four second-half goals from Phil Bardsley - who turned the ball into his own net - along with strikes from Jonathan de Guzman, Wilfried Bony and Chico Flores sent the Swans on their way to their first home league win of the season.
Swansea's first of the game - and 100th Premier League goal - came courtesy of a Bardsley own goal from a de Guzman corner while a spectacular curling effort from the Dutchman doubled the Swans' lead.
Bony then converted Swansea's first Premier League penalty since March 2012 before Chico rounded off the scoring with a header from close range.
The victory at the Liberty takes the Swans up to 11th in the Premier League table, and Laudrup says it was a difficult but important win for the Swans.
"It was a great win today because it was a difficult game," explained Laudrup.
"The first half was very difficult, but, to be fair, we did not make it easy for ourselves.
"In the first half, there wasn't enough movement and we didn't play quick enough. We didn't move the ball as fast as we could.
"As a team, we did not perform that well in the first-half, but I knew that the players really wanted to win this game.
"And sometimes, when you really want something, you get too tense. That was one of the reasons why the first half was like it was.
"But credit must go to Sunderland. I knew it would be difficult because everyone wanted to please the new manager and make a good impression.
"Then I think it was completely different second half - there was much more movement, which made it hard for Sunderland to mark our players, and defensively on set pieces we improved a lot.
"It is a big week for us, and we've started well.
"We have three home games this week. If we can get three wins, it will put us in a very solid position in the league and a fantastic position in the Europa League with one foot in the knockout phase."
Despite the win, there was some disappointment for the Great Dane as he confirmed that Ben Davies was withdrawn from the action due to injury.
He added: "It is an ankle injury - a twisted ankle. He fell awkwardly before half time, but we agreed he would stay on to see how it goes.
"However, within the first few minutes of the second-half, we could see it wasn't good. We will have to see how bad it is."
Meanwhile, Sunderland manager Gus Poyet, who took charge of his first game as the Black Cats boss today, was less than pleased with his side's second half performance.
"We need to change the way we perform in the second half," said Poyet.
"The second-half was dramatically different to the first-half.
"When you play against a side who always play the same way, and believe in what they do, it's not going to be easy.
"I learned a lot about my players today, and I learned a lot from the second half."
