Having raced into a two-goal lead courtesy of strikes from Zan Vipotnik and Liam Cullen, the Swans crumbled and threw away the chance to take all three points as Sunderland hit back with a goal from Dan Ballard and quickfire second half finishes from Dan Neil and Jobe Bellingham within 90 seconds of each other.
The result left the Swans boss, who had come into the game talking up a play-off challenge, very much downbeat on his side’s chances of breaking into the race for a top-six finish.
“We are miles off the level. Not even close,” said Williams to the media after the game.
“That is what a top team looks like and we are not even close.
“We were just pretending in the first half and in the second, the true colours came out.
“We went blow for blow with them in the first 45, but then we stopped. The gap then is very obvious.
“Thinking about it [the top six] is one thing. But playing against the top six and getting destroyed makes you realise that we’re nowhere near it.
“It’s not even about how we can play against the top six. It’s the mentality. We go two in front and then can’t wait to concede because it’s too much pressure. That’s one of the things that happens when you compete in the top six.
“One of the things that happens is you accumulate pressure. If you don’t like being there, it’s not the right place for you, you try and find a way to get out of that uncomfortable situation and we did a brilliant job of that today.
“We’ve tried to coast across the line for 55 minutes or so and it’s a ridiculous way to approach the game.
“I don’t want to be average. I didn’t come here for that. Today was an example of us doubting what we can do and what type of group we want to be.
“There was a lot of doubt – it stank of it. I could feel it coming off the pitch into the technical area.
“I have been with various different groups that have been on somewhere on the scale between can’t stand the pressure of winning and others that can’t stand the thought of losing.
“We have got enough quality if we work hard enough to establish ourselves in the game. As soon as we start to hide a little bit, as soon as we are not brave enough, then the sum of the individuals is not anywhere near the same.
“We need have a really good response now and show a much better 90-minute performance [against Hull] next week than we did today.”
[Lead image: Swansea City FC]
