Midfielder Ki Sung-Yueng inisists Swansea City must look forward
15th January
Ki Sung-Yueng reckons Swansea City must pick themselves and look ahead as they bid for Premier League survival.
The Swans are back at the foot of the table after they were beaten 4-0 by Arsenal yesterday while Hull City saw off Bournemouth.
Paul Clement's team face a trip to Liverpool next, while there are also away days at Manchester City and Chelsea on the horizon.
But the Swans did show signs of improvement against Arsenal during a competitive first half, and Ki remains upbeat.
"We have 17 games to go, we need to be looking forward, not back," the Swans midfielder said.
"We have some big games coming up against Liverpool, Southampton (at home) and Manchester City in the next few weeks.
"These games are going to be tough, but this is the challenge that we face."
The Swans could consider themselves unfortunate to be behind at the break against Arsenal.
In Clement's first home game at the helm, they played some decent football and looked well-organised defensively.
But the Gunners snatched the lead after a counter-attack shortly before the break, and in the second period the Swans fell away.
"We did well in the first half but went one down from a defensive mistake," Ki added.
"The game got away from us in the second half. When you concede three goals against a quality side it is hard to get back.
"We want to be able to take positive things and the first half was okay, but we have to be able to stay in the game.
"We have to cut out the defensive errors because teams like Arsenal give you no second chance if you make an error.
"We need to be more solid and organised and stop conceding unnecessary goals."
Clement was adamant the Swans should have been awarded a spot-kick when Ki went down under a challenge from Laurent Koscielny in the last couple of minutes of the first half yesterday.
The South Korean star was booked for simulation, but insisted he was caught.
"I thought it was a penalty," he said.
"I felt contact and that I had been fouled. But the referee's decision was not to give it. We have to accept that, but it was disappointing for us not to get the penalty."
