Thursday 30 November 2017 07:58, UK
Swansea boss Paul Clement addressed Renato Sanches’s poor form after the youngster's woeful performance at Chelsea.
Sanches arrived at Swansea on loan from Bayern Munich with a big reputation but has failed to make an impact in the Premier League and was withdrawn after 45 miserable minutes in the 1-0 defeat at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday.
"He had a poor half," said Clement. "I feel for him because he is a very talented player and I don't think in any of the games this year he has shown the talent that he has.
"It goes without saying that if you go from Benfica to Bayern Munich and you win a European Championships with Portugal and you play in games in the latter stages of the competition then you are a very good player.
"He is a player who is struggling for confidence and is struggling for form. We believe we are the right environment to get him out of that.
"I am behind him, the technical staff are behind him and his team-mates are behind him. We hope that he is going to make the right steps that are needed."
The 20-year-old midfielder is yet to provide a goal or an assist in his eight Premier League appearances this season and gave the ball away far too easily against the champions.
"I think he has got to start with the basics and get the simple things right," added Clement.
"At the moment I am seeing games where he is trying very difficult things but today you see him misplacing lots of simple passes. His confidence is very low.
"He wants it very badly. I mean, Monday to Friday he is working, working and working. It is just not happening for him in games at the moment."
Away from Sanches' struggles, Clement admitted he was frustrated with the way Swansea conceded from Antonio Rudiger's header, but said his side defended well.
"I thought for long periods we defended very well. We were obviously under a lot of pressure and Chelsea had a lot of near misses," he said.
"We're frustrated and disappointed with the nature of the goal when we have been defending well over recent games. At the start of the season we conceded a couple of set plays but we put things right.
"After that though, we didn't collapse, we kept defending well and we were just waiting for that opportunity because, at 1-0, you're still in the game. We tried to create some opportunities but they were few and far between but the players put in a big effort."
