By Paul Jones
Steve Cooper has defended Andre Ayew after Millwall manager Gary Rowett accused the Ghana striker of “embarrassing” behaviour.
The flash point came during Swansea City’s 2-1 victory at the Liberty Stadium, which Cooper described as a “men’s performance” as his club stayed among the early season Championship pacesetters.
Defenders Jake Bidwell and Ben Cabango scored second-half goals as Swansea made it 10 points from four Sky Bet Championship games and ended Millwall’s unbeaten league record.
But one of the game’s main talking points came in the 58th-minute when Ayew screamed in agony as he went down in an off-the-ball incident with Lions defender Jake Cooper.
Rowett said: “There are certain things I don’t like about his (Ayew) game but he’s a Premier League quality player.
“I’ve watched it back. They thought it was a blatant elbow, but as he goes across Coops he runs into his arm.
Millwall coach Rowett launches scatching attack on Swansea City superstar Andre Ayew https://t.co/xsxaq9cgJv pic.twitter.com/tWUYbiJ2UY
— Ghanasoccernet.com (@Ghanasoccernet) October 4, 2020
“No contact would make anyone roll around the floor screaming like that.
“There is no place for that in that game. I thought it was pretty embarrassing. There wasn’t a mark on him.”
Cooper, however, was quick to defend Ayew, although he did not accuse his Millwall namesake of striking his player intentionally.
“I’ve seen it back, and he’s definitely caught him,” Cooper said.
“I don’t think any of us would like an arm flush in our face. Whether it’s intentional or not I don’t know.”
Cooper revealed that Sweden winger Kristoffer Peterson had been withdrawn from the squad after he had been messaged by the club’s chief executive Julian Winter.
Peterson is poised to join German side Fortuna Dusseldorf for around £400,000, plus add-ons.
Steve Cooper stands by Andre Ayew after Gary Rowett criticism https://t.co/DAJB9FFG9g
— Rikoafrian (@Rikoafriann) October 3, 2020
“I didn’t want to lose anybody, We’re going into the busiest Championship schedule ever,” Cooper said.
“I had a message off Julian Winter this morning to ask for him not to be involved.
“He was in the squad and would probably have been on the bench, and that’s as much as I know about it.”
On the game, Cooper added: “We are a young side but I thought we came of age. You have to stand up to be counted when you play Millwall and I thought we did that.
“I told the players before the game that these are the kind of matches that we have to win if we are serious about what we are doing this season. Now we just need to keep going.”
Ben Cabango could well be marking Harry Kane in his next game and if he is, then the young Wales defender should not feel short of confidence after his winner maintained Swansea’s impressive start to the season.
Cabango is still only 20, but his composure and self-assurance reflects that of his defensive club partner Joe Rodon and the pair may well reconvene at Wembley on Thursday for a pre-Nations League friendly against England.
Few players at Swansea have grown as quickly – physically and metaphorically – as Cabango in the past couple of seasons and he gave more evidence of his stature with an accomplished display capped by a goal.
Rowett, who confirmed that on-loan Tottenham striker Troy Parrott will be out for five to six weeks with ankle damage, felt Millwall merited a draw after Tom Bradshaw’s equaliser.
“I think we did enough to get a point and we should have had a penalty in the 90th minute.
“It’s a bit of a cop-out from the referee because it was the most blatant penalty you’ll see.