Luke Williams, the manager of Swansea City, believes he is a football dinosaur, but he relished seeing Ronald show that wingers are still relevant today.
After the team’s vital 2-1 victory over Sunderland, head coach Williams praised the Brazilian winger for his two goals.
With the victory, the Swans’ four-point lead above the relegation zone remained intact. If they had lost on a day when three of the teams below them all triumphed, that lead would have shrunk to just one point.
January signature As Sunderland’s first game under interim manager Mike Dodds ended in loss, Ronald scored twice in the first half and celebrated both goals with Ronaldo-style celebrations.
After a dominant first half, the visitors may have been out of sight, but Ronald’s double—his first goals since signing from Gremio in January—was sufficient to help Swansea bounce back from two home losses.
Swansea manager Williams stated, “I think Ronald has probably deserved one or two more key actions – assists in previous games. He deserved both goals.”
He posed a serious risk today. He is quite straight and quick, therefore I’m very delighted for him.
When Ronald crossed the ball for Przemyslaw Placheta at Sunderland, the Poland international winger missed the mark by a whisker. Ronald should have got an assist.
Later on, when his drive was turned on to the post, Ronald went dangerously close to completing what would have been an uncommon Swansea hat-trick.
On a day when Swansea’s wide players were having a great time, Placheta also found the woodwork. Williams was pleased with the two mid-season newcomers’ contributions.
Williams said, “I love to witness these kind of behaviors, but I believe maybe I’m a bit of a throwback, a dinosaur these days.
“To get behind these backlines, stabilize themselves, and deliver into the box, Pzemy and Ronald must put in a lot of high-intensity work.”
Josh Tymon also joined the assault and contributed some outstanding balls. That is great to see, and I enjoy it.
“In particular, the first half was excellent. We seemed like decent value considering the outcome.
“Performance indicators in games have been pretty strong, but it’s challenging when the outcome is bad. We felt like we were getting better little by little, and today is a significant improvement.
“In order to manage the game for longer stretches of time, we now need to work on improving.
“The team defended well, but the opposition was excellent in the second half and put us under a lot of pressure.”
After Michael Beale was fired earlier this week, Dodds took over as manager of the Black Cats till the end of the season. He had previously guided the team to two victories out of three games while in charge in December following the firing of Tony Mowbray.
However, Swansea outperformed the host team and secured a well-earned victory to allay their fears of relegation.
Late in the second half, Luke O’Nien gave Sunderland hope, but the Black Cats were unable to secure a draw. The Black Cats’ chances of making the playoffs are rapidly diminishing as they have already dropped three straight games.
It doesn’t take an expert to recognize that it didn’t work, according to Dodds.
“I’ll keep saying it, but one thing I showed the previous time I was in this situation is that I’ll continue to make risky choices while I’m in this role. That will occasionally have a good effect and occasionally a bad one.
“Me, the staff, and the players have to take that first 45 hard. We all have to take it on as a group because I wouldn’t have sent the players out if I didn’t think the message was very clear.
“I understand that I’ve been very daring in the choices I’ve made and the arrangements I’ve made, but I won’t shoulder all the blame because it’s a partnership between the players and me.”
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