Rodgers Disappointed After Second Successive Loss

Swansea City manager Brendan Rodgers was disappointed after his side lost 2-0 at Stoke City this afternoon.

For the first time in the Premier League this season, the Swans lost their second successive game, following the home defeat against Norwich City a fortnight ago.

Rodgers' side struggled to cope with an organised Stoke City side that were direct and effective without being pleasing to the eye. Not that that matters at this stage when you need vital points to avoid falling into a relegation battle.

The big news before kick off was the absence of goalkeeper Michel Vorm, he was sidelined with a virus so Gerhard Tremmel replaced him.

After Upson headed home direct from a corner, Crouch added a second as he too headed in - this time from a long throw in from Shotton.

Rodgers wasn't happy with his side's set piece defending:

'We are obviously disappointed, their quality into the box was good, their delivery was good but it was the middle of the goal,'

'We work with zones and someone should have been there to head away in that zone. The second one - we gave away a needless thrown-in, the ball game in and we never dealt with it.'

'We've played against Stoke before earlier on in the season and dealt very well with it and won the game 2-0.

'So today it was disappointing, especially playing so well for large parts of the game.

'We had a chance to go 1-0 up. We created a chance early on in the game and obviously didn't take the chance.'

Rodgers also explained why his team defended zonally:

"Away from home we need to be tighter and that was our downfall,"

"You have to be able to stay strong under a great deal of pressure and we showed earlier in the season we are capable of doing it.

"The goals were very disappointing from our point of view because we know what their threats are and, on the whole, we have defended very well this season.

"We defended zonally because of the lack of height we have in the team and when players get pulled out of position it leaves gaps.

"To concede from a corner and then a long throw is very disappointing.

"I don`t cry about how they play, it is very different from us but Tony knows the best way to get the maximum from his players.

"You expect teams to do their homework on you at this level.

"Tony has done an excellent job here and I take nothing away from them because they deserved the win.

"We will just like our wounds and move on."

Click here to join in the debate on the club forum.