SWANSEA stunned Manchester United for the third consecutive time with another comeback win at the Liberty Stadium.
Juan Mata’s close-range strike just after half-time put United ahead, but Andre Ayew and Bafetimbi Gomis gave Swansea a 2-1 victory which moved them above Louis van Gaal’s side and into the top four of the Barclays Premier League.
Gomis had scored the winner when the two sides last met in February, part of a Swansea double, and he did so again with his fourth goal of the season and his ninth in the last 10 Premier League games.
It all added up to another feather in the cap of Swansea manager Garry Monk and a desperate afternoon for Van Gaal, who was taking charge of United for the 50th time, and watched his side concede for the first time in the league this season.
United goalkeeper Sergio Romero might have done better for both Swansea goals, however Van Gaal refused to blame the Argentinian.
Romero was beaten by Ayew’s downward header just after the hour mark before allowing Gomis’s shot to squirm past him at the near post five minutes later.
But with doubts persisting over the future of David de Gea, United’s player of the season last year, in the final hours of the transfer window amid strong interest from Real Madrid, Van Gaal defended Romero after his side’s first defeat of the season.
“You can write everything you want,” he said. “What I always say is defending starts in front and not only in the last line. You have to see the way the team is defending as a team and then I know what errors have been made. At the end, of course, the pressure for the last defender or goalkeeper is always higher.
“We were the dominant team for 85 minutes but we lost it in five minutes. In five minutes Swansea changed their shape and scored two goals. It is a big lesson for us and we have to adapt much more quickly than we have done.”
Swansea’s win was the third time their manager Garry Monk has got the better of Van Gaal in the last 12 months. “It was a difficult game for us, especially in that first half when they started better than us but we scored the goals at great times and we had the best chances in the games.
“We’ve played some amazing football already this season but we’ve showed the other side as well and that’s part of being a good team, being able to adapt in certain situations.
“I don’t think anyone can grumble with that result with the way we applied ourselves.”
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