Garry Monk bemoaned his side's individual errors as
Swansea City crashed out of the FA Cup fifth round in a 3-1 defeat at Everton.
Jonathan de Guzman cancelled out Lacina Traore's early
opener, but mistakes from full-backs Neil Taylor and Jazz Richards saw Roberto
Martinez's men re-establish their lead and book their place in the quarter
finals.
Taylor's misplaced pass was seized upon by Steven
Naismith for Everton's second, before Jazz Richards felled the Scot in the
penalty area, allowing Leighton Baines to find the net from the spot.
"We were well in the game," said Monk. "We
finished the first half positively after going a goal down.
"Unfortunately, we made a couple of mistakes, which
is frustrating. But they were honest mistakes, and I can accept them.
"The players are their own biggest critics, and they
don't need to be told.
"The first goal was a set-piece and we didn't deal
with the second ball. We reacted well and if you look at the first half, we had
two or three really good chances. If they go in, it could be a different game.
"Neil then makes his mistake and Jazz then brings
Naismith down for a penalty. But apart from them, we were well in the game.
"They weren't cutting us open and having shot after
shot. It was just individual mistakes."
Explaining his decision to name a heavily weakened
starting XI for the trip to Goodison Park, Monk added. "When you have
seven games in 21 days, it's impossible to play the same team every game.
"It's a squad game. With Europe, you have to have
that rotation. I won't rotate for the sake of rotating.
"Until we conceded the second, you wouldn't have
believed we made eight changes."
Swansea host Serie A outfit Napoli in the first leg of
their UEFA Europa League round-of-32 tie on Thursday.
Culled from Soccerway
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