1. Garry Monk is doing okay so far in his first test of fibre
It is just a tad less than a year since Monk took over from Michael Laudrup on 4 February last year and his tenure has mainly been a serene one until recently.
But he came into this game off the back of the recent sale of Wilfried Bony to Manchester City, the suspension of Gylfi Sigurdsson, the injury to Wayne Routledge and the loss to international duty of Ki Sung-Yueng.
That quarter accounts for almost 80 per cent of Swansea’s league goals this season – and they had conceded eight goals in their last two games – so the former Swansea captain went for the sensible option in returning to basics; proper defending before anything else.
2. This defeat raises questions over Southampton’s top-four credentials
The Saints will obviously curse their luck for coming out with nothing in a game in which they faced a side that seemed more than happy to leave with just a point. Ronald Koeman’s men faced a stubborn defensive unit and they failed to break it down.
That casts doubts over their ability to keep pace in the top-four race because most teams they are left to face over the remainder of the season will probably adopt similar defensive tactics that Swansea used and the other top-four contenders usually find a way to eventually break those dogged defences.
3. This game summed up what Jonjo Shelvey is all about
He ran out of time at Liverpool, not because of a lack of ability but due to the other side of his game. At Swansea, Monk recently criticised Shelvey of “laziness” and they were moments in this game that Ashley Williams had to remind him to track back with Southampton’s holding midfielders when they pushed forward.
That defensive weakness was overshadowed by his offensive brilliance as he initially hit the post with a sweet low strike before winning the game with powerful long-range effort.
He may reluctant to invest a shift defensively but Shelvey is always brave enough and talented enough to cause real problems with shots from outside the box. Eight of his ten goals in the Premier League have come from shots outside the box.
4. Southampton will have to quickly get over this disappointment
Southampton have lost two successive home games they were favourites to win. First they suffered a 2-3 defeat in the FA Cup because of defensive mistakes and then this 0-1 loss to the Swans after they failed to break down Monk’s men.
The Saints are still in the top four but the race is getting tighter and the other four teams currently involved – Manchester United, Tottenham, Arsenal and Liverpool – are in good form so Southampton cannot afford to dwell on this defeat.
Koeman will have to ensure that his troops are focused on the trip to Queens Park Rangers next weekend and the home game against West Ham that follows. They have been down this road before when they lost at home to Manchester United and at Arsenal in games they actually deserved to win and went on to lose five in a row. Now the Saints cannot afford to drop their heads again if they are to remain in the top four until the end of the season.
5. This was a dream return for captain Ashley Williams
The Swans skipper’s last game was a 0-5 defeat to Chelsea when his fellow defenders struggled to play out from the back. After he was rested for the FA Cup game at Blackburn, Williams returned to a perfect game for him as he had to organise virtually the whole team around him to contain Southampton by maintaining team shape.
Apart from keeping the team solid, the centre-half also had an impressive outing individually as he kept Graziano Pelle quiet while also clearing most of Southampton’s crosses. Williams capped his man-of-the-match performance with two last man clearances to keep the Swans’ clean sheet.
