The Review: Swansea City 0 – 2 Newcastle United

Losing 2-0 to Newcastle makes it three losses in a row for Swansea – the first time this season. With the precious safety point still required, is now the time to panic?

... No, it's not. Swansea remain 11th in the table, but with every team below them having a game in hand, and some with two, it's not a comfortable time.

As we've regularly seen this season, Swansea were able to out-pass a good team all day long. In the first half Swansea put together 466 passes to Newcastle's 81, but the visitors still managed to get a goal and Swansea's good passing record became, as one tweeter mentioned, irrelevant.

Another statistic that pundits and fans love to bring up is possession. Swansea again dominated possession and at one point had 82% of it. Then Newcastle scored another.

This will have to be put down to a bad day where little went right. There is nothing wrong with Swansea's playing style, and the shots taken – such as those from Sigurdsson and Allen – certainly tested Krul, but the need for someone who can score goals on demand is something to look into this summer.

Changes were made to the starting line-up, with Brendan Rodgers opting for Wayne Routledge and Nathan Dyer together, as I called in my match preview. However I don't think many would've called Luke Moore kicking off today. He's never been a favourite of mine, but I've given him a chance. Off the bench he always seems to prove me wrong, with a number of inspired flicks and, of course, the goal against Man City. Yet when he starts a game he lacks invention or energy. I was pleased to see him make way for Danny Graham in the second half.

At the same time that Moore went off for Graham, Scott Sinclair took the field for Dyer, however I'm not convinced that that swap was the best choice – Routledge was not having his most effective game, while Dyer was creating things here and there. Unless it was tactical in the sense that Dyer needed a rest for Wednesday or had picked up an injury, I feel Rodgers made a rare mistake.

Newcastle were well set-up, took everything Swansea threw at them and then took their chances (actually less shots on target than the home team) to win the game. It's a surprise, but I can see Newcastle getting that Champions League spot next season with the likes of Cisse in the squad.

With QPR on Wednesday, Swansea have five days to look at what happened then prepare for what should be an easier game. Having said that, it's never straightforward playing a relegation-battling team is it?