Clement: “We were missing something in final third”

Oli Fisher

Paul Clement believes his Swansea City side were “missing something in the final third” as they were held to a 0-0 draw by Middlesbrough.

The fear of losing among players from both sides was clear to see as the relegation battlers failed to break the deadlock at the Liberty Stadium.

Clement accepted a point following the stalemate, but felt Swansea were the side who deserved to win if any.

“Our objective was to try and win game, we pushed and pushed but we were missing something in final third,” Clement said.

“A quality ball or sometimes that bit of luck where the ball falls in the right position. Boro defended their box well given the amount of crosses we put in, it was a big physical effort from the players. We tried to win game but just couldn’t get over line.

“Boro are a good defensive side and have been like that for the last couple of years. They are well-drilled and well-organised, they don’t score as many as they’d like offensively but they are a very organised team.

“That’s part of the reason Gylfi Sigurdsson was quiet in the first half, but things opened up in the second half.”

Rudy Gestede was inches away from snatching the points for the Teessiders right at the death, something Clement claims would have been harsh on his side.

“Boro haven’t had a shot on target in the whole game, they came close from Traore’s effort across the goal which beat the far post, and then on 92 minutes it would have been harsh if we’d lost that game based on the chances we’ve created.

“Gylfi came close on his free-kick, Mawson had one off the line, there was some last-gasp defending to deny Leroy Fer in the second half.

“Winning games will make the difference. That’s something we haven’t been able to do in the last three, so we’re disappointed.

“We put a point on the board, we wanted three but got one. And going into the end of the season I don’t know if it’ll be really valuable or not enough – we’ll have to see.”