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As Garry Monk prepares his team to face Aston Villa on Saturday, the harsh words of some of the pundits will be ringing in his ears.

His experiment of playing wideman Andre Ayew in Gylfi Sigurdsson's number 10 slot during the defeat against Stoke was widely criticized by none more strongly than former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher. The Sky Sports pundit said: “I thought Andre Ayew would have a bigger influence on the game in the number 10 position than Bojan would for Stoke.

“Before the game I thought Bojan would be more of a luxury because Swansea would keep the ball more. "But Bojan won the penalty, scored the goal and got more involved in the game.

“Stoke's stars got heavily involved in the first half and we just didn't see that from Ayew. “He looked better coming from wide areas earlier in the season and he really struggled to get onto the ball in the number 10 role.”Ayew, who sat out the international window for Ghana, returned for the Stoke clash, amid talk of his early season goal spree drying up.

Carragher's fellow Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville said: “Before the game against Stoke I was a bit bemused as to why the goals have dried up for Swansea. “During the game, I could see why it's become a struggle for them in front of goal.

“They didn't have much creativity and I didn't like Ayew in the number 10 role. “He looked better earlier in the season coming in from wide areas.

“In the number 10 spot, he didn't look inventive enough or clever enough to play in there.

“Stoke will think they played the perfect away performance and their clean sheet gave their star players the chance to win the game for them.”