Swansea 0 - West Ham 0: Managerless Swans fail to escape relegation zone in bore draw



Alan Curtis failed to lift Swansea out of the relegation zone

 

SWANSEA failed to escape the Premier League relegation zone as they were held to a goalless draw by West Ham at the Liberty Stadium.

 

Chairman Huw Jenkins had spent part of the week in South America trying to find a managerial successor to Garry Monk, with former Argentina and Chile coach Marcelo Bielsa understood to be top of his list.

And, for all caretaker manager Alan Curtis' experience in the game, the appointment remains a pressing issue as Swansea have now only won once in 13 games and find themselves in real danger at the foot of the table.

 

Despite dominating for long periods, the hosts failed to put away injury-depleted opponents who have failed to win in seven games since beating Chelsea at the end of October.

Swansea toiled to create clear-cut chances but they felt they should have had a 62nd-minute goal when James Collins appeared to block Ki Sung-yueng's goalbound shot with his arm, referee Lee Mason unmoved in the face of home protests.

 

Ki Sung-yueng was denied a penalty as the ball appeared to strike the hand of James Collins

 

Curtis, in charge of his second game, had overseen a far more cohesive performance at Manchester City and Swansea reacted to dropping into the bottom three by producing a greater sense of urgency than anything seen in the final weeks of Monk's 22-month reign.

There was a determination to get on the front foot but West Ham defended well and got bodies in the way whenever Swansea sized up shooting opportunities from distance.