Swansea City head coach delivered this furious verdict on Sunderland defeat and what went wrong
Sunderland came back from two goals down to beat Swansea City on Saturday afternoon
Swansea City head coach Luke Williams was left furious with his players after Sunderland launched a three-goal comeback to take all three points from South Wales on Saturday afternoon.
The hosts had capitalised on a slow start from Sunderland to take a two-goal lead, but conceded inside ten minutes as Dan Ballard met a free kick from Trai Hume. Swansea continued to dominate the rest of the first half but were comprehensively outplayed in the second, with goals from Dan Neil and Jobe Bellingham completing the comeback.
Swansea had come into the game in good form an increasingly hopeful of launching a push for the top six, but Williams said the second half showed the difference between Sunderland and his side.
"Miles off the level," Williams said.
"Miles off the top-six level. We're not even close. That's very obvious after watching that. Thinking about it [the top six] is one thing. But playing against the top six and getting destroyed makes you realise that we're nowhere near it.
"It's not even about how we can play against the top six. It's the mentality. We go two in front and then can't wait to concede because it's too much pressure.
"That's one of the things that happens when you compete in the top six. One of the things that happens is you accumulate pressure. If you don't like being there, it's not the right place for you, you try and find a way to get out of that uncomfortable situation and we did a brilliant job of that today.
"We couldn't cope with the pressure of being two up after a run of decent results. Couldn't cope with the pressure. I'm sad for the group of players in there. They obviously have a fear of achieving their potential. That makes me sad because I love those guys and they have an unbelievable opportunity and they are scared of it.
"I don’t want to be average," he added.
"I didn’t come here for that. Today was an example of us doubting what we can do and what type of group we want to be. There was a lot of doubt – it stank of it. I could feel it coming off the pitch into the technical area. That's my job, I am in tune with my group and I know when they are desperately trying to find a way out of a pressure situation.
"I have been with various different groups that have been on somewhere on the scale between can't stand the pressure of winning and others that can't stand the thought of losing.
"We had some success in the first half, really trying to establish ourselves on the game, and we managed to do that well enough,” he added.
“But then there was a mentality that we had done enough. We tried to coast across the line for 55 minutes or something.That’s a ridiculous thing to do in a game, but there is a reason for that, in the traits of a top side you do not see that.
“You have to be relentless, the opposition were fighting blow for blow with us in the second half, but in the second 45 minutes they continued and we stopped.
“In that situation, the gap becomes very, very obvious. To be clear, I am talking about the difference between the top sides and the rest of us, and that was what was on show."