Plenty of positives, says Tremmel

1st December


Gerhard Tremmel felt there were plenty of positives to take from Sunday's 3-0 defeat against Manchester City.

The Swans - who were without Michu, Angel Rangel, Wilfried Bony and Michel Vorm - went behind early on as Alvaro Negredo curled home a powerful free-kick.

Michael Laudrup's men responded well to put the home side under pressure as Jonjo Shelvey was denied twice by Costel Pantilimon, before Jonathan de Guzman spurned a golden chance on the stroke of half-time when he blazed over.

However, City took control in the second period as Samir Nasri netted twice to seal all three points for Manuel Pellegrini's men as they retained their 100 per cent home record.

But despite the defeat, Tremmel insisted that the Swans had plenty to be positive about.



"I thought we played a very good game, especially in the first half," he said. "We just couldn't score, and that was the frustrating part.

"We had a good chance with de Guzman in the first half and their goalkeeper has made a couple of decent saves from long-range shots.

"But if you can't score then you can't expect to take anything. They are very strong in attack and even when they made changes, they had players who could come on and create something.

"With the first goal, I put myself in a situation where I could go both ways - but you cannot gamble as a goalkeeper.

"There were too many players in front of me when he (Negredo) struck it and I just couldn't see it."

The Swans now face a home double-header against Newcastle and Hull in the space of a week.

Alan Pardew brings his in-form Magpies to the Liberty on Wednesday night with the north-east side having won their last four games to sit fifth in the Premier League table.

The Swans did the double over Newcastle last season, including a 1-0 win in SA1 back in March.

"These two home games are very important," said Tremmel. "We knew before today that it would be difficult to take anything away from Manchester City - but in terms of passing and possession we can take a lot of positives.

"I think they (Newcastle) struggled a bit last season with the amount of games, particularly in the Europa League.

"But they are on a good run, have good players and it will be a difficult games. But at home, we can beat anyone."