Boss believes Swansea made 'statement' performance vs Stoke City
CommentsSportPeter Smith Stoke City reporter09:31, 09 Mar 2026Swansea City manager Vitor Matos believes his side put in a 'statement performance' against 10-man Stoke City.
Swansea were back home on Saturday after 3-0 defeat at Ipswich Town and Matos was desperate to show a big response to supporters. They got it on a rollercoaster afternoon that saw them dominate the opening stages, come through a spell of strong Stoke pressure and then put their foot down following a controversial red card.
Zan Vipotnik opened the scoring with a header from a corner early in the second half before Liam Cullen wrapped things up with a long-range stunner in the third minute of injury time.
Matos said: "It was a good game. We started the game really aggressively, with intensity, it was a good positional game with good pressing and good counter-pressing. The concentration level was really good.
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"Then, of course, the red card balanced the game for us but it's not always like that. You need our players to find the right structure, to have the right mindset, to keep the precision and constantly insisting on things.
"Credit to the players because the effort they put in, consistently trying to break the line and trying to push them back and push them back.
"I think that's what we were. It shows the character and mentality we wanted. It was a massive step for us in terms of quality, especially after the last game. We wanted to make a statement. The second goal summed up a beautiful performance."
He added: "The first goal gave us a bit of tranquillity. For a moment we had lost a bit of that. That's normal, Stoke is a good city - I mean a good team, a good city as well - really organised. There was a moment there we needed a bit of energy. The bench was outstanding when they came on."
Cullen got the headlines but Matos also had praise for his goalkeeper Lawrence Vigouroux, who produced an outstanding first-half save to deny Ashley Phillips.
Matos said: "He is massive. His concentration is unbelievable. The ball can spend 10 or 15 minutes in the opposition half but then he's there to make an unbelievable save. He was massive with the save in the first half, kept us in the game. The save he did is absolutely insane. He's a really important character for us as a club, a really important player."
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