Van der Hoorn positive despite poor Swansea form

Swansea defender Mike van der Hoorn insists it’s not all doom and gloom at the Liberty Stadium despite seeing his side crash out of the EFL Cup against Manchester City.

Pep Guardiola’s City extended their 100 per cent start to the new season to nine games in all competitions and face Swansea next up in the Premier League this weekend; again at the Liberty.

Van der Hoorn felt despite facing City’s star-studded cast list, Swansea were not second best throughout the game and can take much heart out of their performance ahead of the repeat fixture this weekend.

The game was goalless at the break, but the visitors were in front four minutes after the restart as Gael Clichy’s effort deflected off Neil Taylor and left keeper Kristoffer Nordfeldt wrong footed.

They doubled their lead through Aleix Garcia, before Gylfi Sigurdsson guided Modou Barrow’s cross past Willy Caballero late on.

Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images

And van der Hoorn, making his second appearance since his summer switch from Ajax, felt the Swans’ effort came just too late.

“We started a little nervously, but we gained more confidence after Borja went close to scoring,” said the Dutch centre-back.

“We did well in the first half, but it became more difficult when they scored the first goal – it was a bad time to concede.

“It was a dramatic finish. If we had scored a little earlier, it would have given us more time to get an equaliser. It was not enough in the end, though.

“We have to learn from this. We know how they play, and they know how we play.

“It’s a new game on Saturday, and we hope for a better result.”