Luke Williams | We fell well short, it was a poor performance

Head coach Luke Williams admitted Swansea City fell well short of the level required as they started 2025 with a 4-0 defeat against Portsmouth at Fratton Park.

Swansea errors allowed Josh Murphy and Paddy Lane to fire the home side into a two-goal lead at the interval on a sodden afternoon on the south coast.

The visitors had chances to get back into the game, with Florian Bianchini and Jisung Eom unable to convert and Josh Tymon rattling the crossbar.

But, Portsmouth added further goal from Ryley Towler and Colby Bishop to condemn Swansea to a first defeat by a margin of more than a solitary goal this season.

And Williams made no excuses as his side were unable to back up their consecutive festive wins over Queens Park Rangers and Luton Town.

“That is absolutely not how we wanted to start the New Year. We struggled to get to grips with the opposition and we struggled to get to grips with the conditions,” he said.

“We looked like we lacked focus and concentration, and there were too many costly errors at the back of the pitch, in particular.

“We also had too many chances that we didn’t convert so it was a disappointing performance.

“We had two really strong performances coming into this game, and it’s clear we are not quite ready to be that side week in and week out.

“That’s what we are striving for. Those last two performances are what we want to be seeing every week. That’s the identity we are trying to create but we fell well short of that here.

“The mood in the dressing room is very flat, we are very disappointed and we have to do a much better job.”