Swansea City began the new Championship campaign with an impressive away win over Stoke City. The Swans fell behind to Eric Bocat's early opener, but responded just over 10 minutes later as Joseph Opoku restored parity. Adam Idah then wrapped up the points for the Swans, who had previously only won one of their last 15 outings at the bet365 Stadium.
Goalkeeper and Defence
Lawrence Vigouroux (7) produced a superb save to deny Thomas just before the hour and a smart stop to deny Bocat late on. Filip Lissah (6) did well to put Thomas off early in the first half, and initially looked really positive. He picked up a yellow after the break, however, and just seemed a bit flustered before being withdrawn.
Ben Cabango (7) played Rigo onside in the build-up to Stoke's opener, but grew into the game really well and made a couple of brilliant contributions as the game went on. A solid showing. Stephen Welsh (7) looked pretty comfortable on the ball, played some decent passes from the back, and made a superb header to prevent Gallagher from heading home in the second half.
Midfield and Attack
Josh Tymon (8) was a lot more involved at both ends of the pitch in comparison to last week. His only criticism was he probably could have tracked his man better for Stoke's opener, but he got behind Stoke's defence really well and bagged himself an assist for the winner. Marko Stamenic (7) made really good interventions in the middle of the park and linked up well with Swansea's front three. He was dominant in the air too.
Jay Fulton (7) didn't cover himself in glory for the opening goal, but otherwise competed brilliantly all afternoon in the middle. He twice unlocked the defence for Swansea's goals. Moussa Yeo (6) delivered a good cross for the goal, but was otherwise quite quiet for much of the afternoon. Elijah Just (6) was brimming with energy and had some good ideas, but execution wasn't quite there at times. Joseph Opoku (8) was the star man, producing a calm finish to level and being a nuisance for the Stoke defence all day. Zan Vipotnik (6) might try and claim an assist for the opening goal, but didn't really get into the game, although he held up the ball reasonably well.
Substitutes
Josh Key (on for Lissah 56) just calmed things down a little out wide in a decent cameo (6). Adam Idah (on for Vipotnik 65) scored with his first touch and might have had another had he connected with Eom's cross (7). Melker Widell (on for Just 65) injected some much needed energy on the edge of the box (7). Eom Jisung (on for Yeo 65) looked really lively (7). Leo Walta (on for Fulton 85) was not rated.
