It is not so long ago that Swansea City were the role models for the Premier League’s ambitious mid-ranking clubs.
No longer. They still have an enviable track record in the transfer market, a fine success rate when hiring managers and a recent history of overachieving on a budget, but they will spend Christmas in the bottom three.
The danger is that they will go from surprise successes to a second-tier team.
They lack a manager and, with the exception of a triumph over the hapless Aston Villa, a victory since August.
Their displays have improved under caretaker Alan Curtis but their fortunes have not. They have taken one point from a possible six since Garry Monk was sacked and others’ exploits mean Swansea have gone down in the table.
Swansea’s passing has been crisper and their performances more purposeful but a stalemate with West Ham United extended both clubs’ winless runs to seven games.
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As Slaven Bilic was without each of his first-choice attacking midfielders and strikers, it represented an opportunity spurned by Swansea.
They were the more positive and the more progressive, having 73 per cent of possession.
“At least we looked like a Swansea City team again,” Curtis said.
But only two of their 21 attempts were on target and a goal eluded them.
So, too, might their preferred successor. Marcelo Bielsa is the favourite but replacing Monk is proving more problematic than Swansea anticipated.
“I have to presume that I am in charge for the next few games as time is tight,” Curtis said.
The prospect of relegation could deter some candidates.
“I don’t think we are a bottom-three side,” Curtis said, and they have not played like one under him, but their slump has now lasted four months.
The interim appointment has been inventive in his search for solutions.
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Curtis used a false nine at Manchester City last week, and he eschewed orthodoxy again by switching to a diamond midfield and deploying two strikers against West Ham.
The threat came from either side of the diamond. Ki-sung Yueng, nominally the man on the left, was particularly influential, popping up in the inside-right channel to drill a shot that Adrian saved. Jack Cork, the right-sided member of the quartet produced a volley that required an excellent save from Adrian.
Swansea appealed in vain for a penalty when Ki’s shot hit James Collins’ hand but, while Bafetimbi Gomis looked more motivated than he did at the end of Monk’s reign, his goal at the Etihad Stadium remains Swansea’s only strike in four games.
“We can all see that we are lacking a cutting edge,” Curtis said.
So are West Ham, whose past three games have ended goalless. Lukasz Fabianski saved well from Enner Valencia but their second-string attack was understandably unthreatening.
“When those injuries hit us big time a few weeks ago, I said was the only way we can compensate is with teamwork,” Bilic said.
“That is exactly what we’ve done in the past three games.”
They defended solidly instead and remain in eighth.
That was where Swansea finished last season, but times have changed.
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