Clement praises '90-minute' Swansea after Liverpool stunner
LONDON (Reuters) - New Swansea City manager Paul Clement praised his side's "90-minute" performance after the Welsh strugglers recorded a first ever league victory at Liverpool on Saturday.
Spain striker Fernando Llorente scored twice in quick succession after the break for the Swans and although Robert Firmino's double hauled Liverpool level, Gylfi Sigurdsson slotted in a 74th-minute winner to inflict Liverpool's first home league defeat of the season and lift Swansea out of the bottom three.
Clement replaced Bob Bradley at the start of the month to become the club's third manager this season but his first two matches in charge were a 2-0 FA Cup defeat by Hull City and last week's 4-0 home drubbing by Arsenal.
"We have talked all along about getting some performances, and today we produced a real 90-minute performance," the former Derby County boss said.
"We defended well, we took our opportunities on set-plays and we looked dangerous on the counter. This kind of performance can give everybody a big lift and help their confidence."
He said he was particularly pleased with his side's response to Liverpool fightback.
"We had a difficult moment in the game when we conceded two goals quickly to make it 2-2," he said.
"At that point the crowd lifted and gave Liverpool extra energy, so it was very pleasing to take another opportunity on the counter-attack and then see the game through.
"The players showed the character they have at 2-2 and that's a big positive for us."
Despite rising out of the relegation zone to 17th, Swansea's tally of 51 goals conceded in 22 games is the worst in the Premier League and Clement knows there is hard work ahead if they are to escape relegation.
"Our mindset is that anything is possible (in the relegation battle), but our only focus is on delivering performances, and we must now do that against Southampton," he said.
World Cup winner Llorente has now scored eight league goals this season since arriving from Sevilla.
"It was a crazy match," he said. "I am very happy to win at one of the biggest clubs in the league.
"It's an amazing result. Now we have to continue to work and try to move up the league table. We have to play always like we did today.
"Today we have demonstrated that we can play a good match. Now we have to carry on like this."
(Reporting by Martyn Herman,; Editing by Neville Dalton)