Gav’s Player Ratings: Swansea 2-1 Sunderland - Poor first half is enough to see the Lads lose

Anthony Patterson: 8/10

Couple of uncomfortable passes aside, I thought he made some quality saves in the second half that kept us in the game. Becoming one of our most dependable players.

Lynden Gooch: 4/10

He improved second half, as did the whole team, but I think that first half performance was his worst of the season. As always, he worked hard and tried his best, but nothing he did in the opening 45 came off.

Luke O’Nien: 7/10

Unlucky that the first goal deflected in off him. Play-acting in the second half aside, I thought he was fine. He’s been fine all season, really.

Danny Batth: 7/10

Like O’Nien, I think he was one of the players who was fairly solid throughout. No complaints.

Aji Alese: 8/10

Another game where he was probably our best performer. Never puts a foot wrong.

Corry Evans: 6/10

Kept us organised in the second half when we probably needed a little bit more bite in our game, but wasn’t able to add anything offensively when we needed players to play on the front foot. Didn’t necessarily let himself down though.

Dan Neil: 4/10

Like Gooch, I thought first half he probably had his worst half of the season. Lacked discipline and made far too many unnecessary fouls.

Patrick Roberts: 5/10

Didn’t affect the game in the way he’s been able to recently, so was subbed off. Not really sure it was the kind of game that suited him - we needed to play on the front foot to get him involved and for large parts, we didn’t.

Alex Pritchard: 5/10

Slightly better second half - thought his movement down the left for Clarke’s goal was good work from him as it dragged players away from the ball - but he was poor in the first. He’s not having a very good spell at the minute.

Elliot Embleton: 5/10

Like Pritchard, really - naff first half, slightly better in the second. Came out after half time and was aggressive, which was good. Fed the ball to Clarke for the goal.

Jack Clarke: 6/10

Much better when moved up front and his goal was an excellent finish. Maybe we should persist with him up there until Simms is back.

---

Substitutes

Amad Diallo: 5/10

Busy, but wasn’t able to change the game in the way that Mowbray probably hoped for when he put him on.

Jay Matete: 5/10

Put his foot in and added a bit of bite.

Jewison Bennette: 5/10

Worked hard on and off the ball, but not sure we created enough opportunities to get the best from him down the wing.

Abdoullah Ba: 5/10

Moved the ball well. Probably should have started.

---

Man of the Match: Aji Alese

There wasn’t exactly a massive list of players in contention for this accolade, but Alese was great again on the left hand side of the defence. He’s brilliant and I love him.

---