Monk expresses sympathy for Sherwood

Swansea City manager Garry Monk said he feels for Aston Villa counterpart Tim Sherwood after his side came from behind to condemn their hosts to a sixth successive Premier League defeat.

A late goal from Andre Ayew completed the comeback for the Swans after Ayew’s brother Jordan had opened the scoring with his first Premier League goal.

Gylfi Sigurdsson had earlier equalised with a trademark free-kick and Monk said his team deserved the win.

“I talked to the players this week a lot about the character of the team and what we stand for and that we needed to show it this weekend,” he said.

Monk had come under fire in the press for a poor run of form, with the Swans without a win away from home all season before their trip to Villa Park.

The Swansea boss had even been linked with a switch to Villa to replace Sherwood, but Monk said he ignores the “circus” away from football.

“It’s a difficult job,” said Monk.

“You can be flavour of the month and a few people who know nothing about football start talking and then everyone jumps on the bandwagon.

“Of course it’s results-driven, we understand that, that’s the job that we’re in, but it can turn very quickly. I’ve experienced that this week, from practically nothing to where I was at the end of the week in terms of the criticism I was receiving myself.”

Monk added that his team deserves “massive credit” for their performance, especially in the second half.

He said: “Some of our build-up play was a lot better. The goals themselves were excellent and we deserved that. I think overall we deserved the three points.”