The Jack Army boss was impressed by the Ghanaian’s performance in Saturday’s Championship opening game
Swansea City manager Steve Cooper has expressed his pleasure with Andre Ayew’s contribution in Saturday’s Championship opening day victory over Preston North End.
Deployed up top alongside Jamal Lowe, the Ghana captain saw 90 minutes of action as the Jack Army grabbed a 1-0 away triumph at Deepdale.
Morgan Gibbs-White registered the match-winner in the 53rd minute.
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“I thought all the attacking players did well. Andre and Jamal ran so hard and put their backline under a lot of pressure. They did not let them play with any real composure or quality,” Cooper said after the game, as reported by his club’s official website.
“I liked us, I thought we were threatening. Maybe not so much after we scored, but that’s understandable.
“If you think about it, we are only three weeks in from the start of pre-season.
“We are not going to be 100 per cent up to speed, so the fact we have picked up a win here in the condition we are in at the moment is a big plus.”
Ayew’s fine performance on Matchday One comes amid intense speculation about his future at Liberty Stadium.
“It is definitely a great start, any result you get here is a good one,” said Cooper.
“It is a really tough place to come as you could see from the record they had here last season. They have pretty much the same squad and the same team and it was tough.
“But I thought our performance was good, in the first half we got into some really good positions and did not capitalise on creating that real chance on goal.
“We were getting in down the sides, we looked a threat and we kept that going.
“As Jake [Bidwell] does, he kept going, he kept doing the right things, he got in again off some brilliant play from Andre and Morgan gets in the six-yard box to put it in. It was a brilliant team goal.
“It’s a really good start.”
Ayew will be looking to make his second straight league start of the new season when Swansea host Birmingham City in their next game.
Last season, the 30-year-old netted 15 goals in 44 top-flight outings, finishing the term as his club’s top scorer.
