Monk hails "mature" performance

15th August

Garry Monk hailed his side's "mature" performance as the Swans ran out convincing 2-0 winners over 10-man Newcastle at the Liberty Stadium.
Bafe Gomis and Andre Ayew each scored their second goal in as many games to ensure Monk's men made a winning start to the 2015-16 Barclays Premier League campaign in SA1.
Gomis opened the scoring inside the opening ten minutes when he latched onto Jonjo Shelvey's neatly threaded pass before rounding Tim Krul and slotting home.
Newcastle were reduced to ten men shortly before the break after Daryl Janmaat received two yellow cards for persistent foul on Jefferson Montero.
Montero and Gylfi Sigurdsson then both hit the woodwork, prior to Ayew wrapping up the points with a crashing header past Krul on 52 minutes.
And Monk was delighted that his side were able to follow up their positive start at Chelsea with another convincing display this afternoon.



"We spoke all week about how good teams and good players are able to back up good performances, and we did that today," insisted Monk.
"We were excellent. It was a confident performance, we dominated from start to finish, kept a clean sheet and it was a convincing win in the end.
"We showed our maturity when they went down to 10 men. We didn't force the issue and tried to take the openings when they came.
"I am pleased with the performance. Everyone contributed and performed today, and backed up our good performance at Chelsea."
Monk was also keen to highlight the strength in depth of his squad after Wayne Routledge, Nathan Dyer and Leon Britton all came off the bench to contribute in his side's victory.
"We have a good group here now," said Monk. "I have tough decisions to make. Nathan, Wayne and Leon came on today, and they're all top players.
"There were boys today that weren't in the squad that deserved to be, but this is why you have a squad."
Meanwhile, Newcastle boss Steve McClaren felt his side could learn very little from defeat to Monk's men.
"We've learned nothing today, apart from knowing we need to keep 11 players on the field," admitted McClaren. "Once it went down to 10 men it was a mountain to climb.
"It was kind of a waste of a game for us when we need to learn more about the players. It was very disappointing."