Sport

Swansea boss Vitor Matos: ‘We lacked sharpness and conviction’

17 Oct 2026 3 minute read

Swansea City v West Ham United – Sky Bet Championship – Vitor Matos, Swansea Head Coach. Credit: Chris Fairweather, Huw Evans Agency.

Phil Blanche, Press Association

Swansea stay top after losing for only the second time this season as West Ham’s won 1-0 at the Swans.

The Swans’ previous loss at Southampton came before they embarked on a four-game winning run.

Boss Vitor Matos said: “It was a really tight game and West Ham scored. They are an organised team who defends well, and it is hard to break them and push them back.

“We still did that and had some chances from set-pieces, and that’s the story of the game.

“I would be much more concerned if we didn’t create those chances and that’s what we need to take from the game.

“Small things can make a difference, but what we can do now is try to improve.

“We just lacked a little bit of sharpness and conviction, but what I saw is we can compete against every team and just need to push ourselves on to beat the best teams in the league.”

Nuno Espirito Santo was delighted West Ham finished a “demanding week” by toppling Championship leaders Swansea.

Divine Mukasa’s first-half strike in front of a record Swansea.com Stadium crowd of 20,973 gave the Hammers the win and took them into second place and within a point of the league leaders.

It was the Hammers’ second success in four days after a 6-0 romp at Lincoln, and ended a week that began with a 1-1 home draw against QPR following Jarrod Bowen’s last-gasp penalty miss.

Hammers boss Nuno said: “We wanted not only to keep the momentum, but to build on it.

“I think it’s been a good week that didn’t start very well for us.

“It was a very demanding week in terms of the opponents we had to face, but it finished really well due to the hard work of the boys.

“The commitment, the unity and the way they played was really good against a very good Swansea side that had its chances also. It was a very intense football match.”

West Ham move above Middlesbrough on goal difference but might have won by more against opponents who had not lost at home since April.

Swansea City v West Ham United – Sky Bet Championship – Moussa Yeo of Swansea City is challenged by Morato of West Ham. Credit: Kian Abdullah, Huw Evans Agency.

Swansea goalkeeper Lawrence Vigouroux produced brilliant stops to deny Bowen, twice, and Pablo in the second half.

Nuno said: “All the games are massive for us. Each game is a final, so I’m happy what we achieved in a tough place, a good performance and a good result.

”It’s not easy to try and block Swansea. They are very dynamic but, overall in terms of organisation, the team was really well organised.

“It’s then individual tasks, the duels and trying to win each individual battle. So we can improve.

“I’m happy with the way we are defending and they had situations, but we also had clear ones to kill the game off.”

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