Phil Parkinson took his seat in the Anfield directors’ box a couple of minutes before kick-off on Sunday. Normally, a fourth-division manager would not be troubling the stewards at a Premier League match in February, but these are abnormal times: not only are Bradford City in the Capital One Cup final, Swansea City came to Anfield and rested half a team because of it.
Parkinson was here to see Sunday’s Wembley opponents, but he must have left Merseyside with only half-formed thoughts. Swansea manager Michael Laudrup saw to that. In doing what he did here — no Michu, Ashley Williams, Angel Rangel and others — Laudrup declared that Swansea are taking their first major final most seriously.
They had already made a similar claim at Anfield this season, the night in October when Swansea won 3-1 in the fourth round. That was one of Swansea’s rising days. Sunday was anything but, the obvious problem being the team produced nothing as strong as the message from Laudrup’s starting XI or his words of disappointment afterwards. Parkinson has to work out the contradiction.
Difficulties: Michael Laudrup's reserves ran in to trouble against Liverpool Outplayed: Swansea could not handle Luis Suarez and Co‘It could have been 10-0,’ Laudrup said. ‘It was a nightmare, awful.’ This was not his naturally phlegmatic tone. He added: ‘I am the one,’ in terms of responsibility, and he apologised to the travelling fans. He sounded genuinely irritated and upset by what Swansea failed to offer.
Laudrup did not see the problem with making so many changes: ‘We made seven changes before Fulham and won. We have made two, three, four and five changes in the past few months and stayed competitive. This wasn’t what we wanted, but it’s what we got.’
Laudrup concluded: ‘It would be human, logical, to be thinking of Wembley; it’s the biggest game in the story of the club.
‘I wish to see this as an accident caused maybe by what is going to happen in seven days.’
Despite losing 5-0, it was a lot about Swansea. Anything Liverpool achieved yesterday needs to be viewed in the context of the Wembley distraction.
That is a measure of Swansea’s progress. Their fans will take Laudrup’s apology without acrimony. Whereas Liverpool fans watch their team from a perspective of past successes, Swansea’s understand their position from previous failures.
A vivid memory for many of them is that, five years ago this weekend, their team was in League One, an away trip to Port Vale just gone and a home game against Luton in front of them.
That was Swansea territory then. Now, it’s Anfield and Wembley.
Scouting trip: Phil Parkinson (left) watches on from the standsThat victory here back in October had brought other new ground, too — the Swans had never before been in the fifth round. Not long after, and they were comfortably beating Chelsea over two legs in the semi-final.
At the same time, Swansea have developed in the league. Newly found familiarity means it is possible to forget that last season — under Brendan Rodgers — was their first in the top flight since 1983. Swansea finished 11th in the Premier League, with 47 points. At kick-off yesterday, they had 37 points. The improvement is rapid and sustained.
So Swansea will take this ‘accident’. But they know they were undermined by sloppy individual errors such as Kemy Agustien’s rash foul on Luis Suarez that led to Steven Gerrard’s penalty-kick opener; then Wayne Routledge’s needless, peculiar handball in the 71st minute that led to Liverpool’s fifth. And, in between, Swansea showed little. This was not the way to mark their return from a week in the Dubai sun, a trip designed to relax and sharpen for Sunday,
